Page 57 of Legacy Elite

I know what it feels like now. I didn't a year ago — a year ago it was just a pull I had no word for and no explanation for and filed under strange things about Jessica. But I've got Luke and I've got Torres now, and I know exactly what that particular warmth is and exactly where it sits, and I have felt it every single time this man has come within three feet of me.

I felt it in a clearing when every wolf in the world stepped back from me and he walked straight in.

I've been pretending I don't know what that is since April.

I'm done.

"Are we ever going to talk about this?" I say.

Jon goes completely still.

Not startled. Not confused. Still — the stillness of a man who has been waiting for a long time.

"Jessica—"

"That's not an answer."

He's quiet for a second.

"No. It isn't."

"So say it."

"What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to say what I feel." My voice comes out steadier than I expected. "Because I have spent a year being held at arm’s length by you. And you — you're the one who told me you'd rather make me wait than tell me something you'd have to take back, and I let you, because you were right." I put the form down on his desk. "But now I know. Is it real?"

Jon looks at me.

"Yes," he says.

Something in my chest lets go so hard it almost hurts.

"Say what it is."

"Jessi–"

“No.”

Swallowing, he leans forward and stares directly into my eyes. "You're my mate," Jon says.

The radiator ticks.

I knew. Of course I knew. It still feels like getting hit in the chest.

Jon hasn't moved from behind the desk.

"I am not trying to ignore you."

"Then what are you doing?"

His jaw shifts.

"Because I want you," I say. "And now I know you want me too, so I'm having a really hard time understanding what exactly we're pretending isn't happening here."

"We aren't pretending."

"Then how long?"