Page 70 of Never His Mate

“So… does that mean we’re going to do this?”

Poor guy needs something to calm him down. He just about ripped free from his chains, and if a quick lay will keep him from wolfing out entirely… well, he did say that he doesn’t want anyone else.

“No.”

And then, just like that, he puts another crack in my fragile heart.

“You… don’t want to mate me.”

“No. And if you’re smart, you’ll stop offering. I asked you to stay as far away from me as you can. Do it.”

I almost do. He put enough command in his words to have me drawing away from him, but only a spark of fury at his renewed rejection has me holding my ground.

Damn it, it’s last year all over again, isn’t it?

My eyes are drawn to his bare chest. It’s slick with sweat, heaving as he fights a battle with both of his halves. The wolf that wants to claim me, and the male who gave his word that he’d wait for me to come to him—until I did and he rejected my offer outright.

I don’t understand. I can sense it, and it’s… it’s different than his first rejection, but stronger, too. Undeniable. He means it. I just offered to mate him and he said no.

I can feel it through the bond—but it’s a bond that should’ve shriveled and died when he rejected our mating at the Alpha cabin last May. A bond that’s only grown in the days since he reappeared, and that seemed unbreakable following our first mating.

So while he’s pushing me away now, pushing me away again, the bond lingers.

What the hell is that about?

Biting my bottom lip, I stare at the marks covering his left pec. The five pale slashes settled right over his heart. The first time I saw them, when Ryker was daring me to defend my territory, I accused him of using silver to keep them burned into his skin. Why? I didn’t know, and he only said the mark was his. He said something similar when we were laying naked together in the weak moonlight.

But now, watching him suffer so much more than I ever have, I have to wonder.

To perform the Luna Ceremony, to turn a casual relationship into a permanent mating, it takes three conscious steps.

One: Accept your mate.

Two: Mate. Obviously.

And three: Get the moon’s blessing.

To a shifter, that’s the part that makes the union unbreakable. Sure, accepting your mate—saying yes—is the most important step, but if a mated pair sleeps together during the full moon, you’ll know immediately whether the moon’s blessed your mating or not. I’ve never heard of any union where she didn’t—which was why my Mom was careful not to trigger the ceremony while she lived with my bio-dad—which is why the actual performance of the words, the promises and the vows so similar to a human’s wedding, is what a pack looks forward to.

The act of performing the ceremony is a spectacle. A scene. It shows their fellow shifters that the two mates are choosing each other with the pack as witness. Later, when they’re alone with the Luna, it’s cemented.

Done.

I could fuck Ryker right here and we’d be bonded mates only if we accepted each other first; otherwise, it really is just sex. Honestly, I think that’s exactly what his pack council expects us to do. Why else would they snatch me and bring me here during the full moon of all nights?

I don’t think it was planned. At least, not for tonight in particular. Ryker told me that he’s spent the last year trying to track me down, oblivious that I was living in plain sight only a few miles away from Accalia. I was promised to Ryker during his Alpha Ceremony. The way those other wolves probably see it, as soon as I came back, it was my responsibility to fulfill that arrangement.

And look at me. I showed up on the full moon.

Fucking fate or what?

But in order for us to do that, the first step is in accepting the bond. I always intended to once I knew for sure he would take me as his, but I gave up on having a fated mate when Ryker rejected me. As for Ryker, I thought he made himself pretty clear last year—until he showed up with all of that ‘mine’ bullshit.

Maybe… maybe it wasn’t bullshit, though.

I can’t stop staring at his chest, and not for horny reasons, either. Well. Not entirely for horny reasons.

“You didn’t choose to keep those scars.”

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