Page 16 of His to Mate

“This is nice,” he said softly above her head.

“What?” she asked, her cheek pressed into his chest.

“This, being here with you.”

“Why do you sound surprised?”

“I’ve never done it before you. I’ve been to bed with women before, but I’ve never cared enough about one to keep her in my bed.”

“You care about me?” she asked it very carefully, as if it wouldn’t matter if he said no, to give him that escape. This was still new to them both, and they’d only been together for less than two months.

“I do, Ann. Which is why I will do all that I can to keep you safe. I swear that to you.” He kissed the top of her head and she put her right arm over his chest, to cup the place over where his heart was.

“I’m glad you do, Rager.” She didn’t know what to say other than that. I care about you too just seemed trite. She wasn’t ready to say love, but she did care. She turned her head enough to kiss his chest, and settled down a little more into the bed. She’d taken her robe off, and now it was just the silky feel of her nightgown and her skin between them.

The night was warm, but the house was just cool enough that the covers weren’t too much. With a deep sigh, she closed her eyes, and just relaxed against him. She was happy she realized. Peaceful and happy. She thought about his smile, the way his eyes caught hers sometimes, and passed along a message without words. He’d tell her he was happy with a wink, or that he wanted her naked beneath him with a hot look. She had come to know him well in a short time.

She even knew his parents were back on his home planet, that he had a brother and a sister, but he wasn’t in a rush to go back to his own world to see them. He was dedicated to this project, to repopulating Earth with people from all over the universe. He was also looking for a cure to the wolf situation. That still hadn’t been explained, but who knew what had been released from the depths of the planet during the cataclysm?

They’d all learned one thing the day the whole thing started; anything was possible, and wolf-shifters were hardly a surprise at all. Now, if they could all just learn to reach for a common cause, that would really be perfection.