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“The minute I saw you, I knew you were the only person for me. You were perfectly chosen. The minute I saw you, there was no more chaos. My human and animal sides were completely in balance.”
“That’s … big,” Rhiannon murmured and took a grateful sip of her wine.
“It is,” he agreed. A lone nightingale sang in the distance. “It was difficult at first, not being with you in every way I wanted. The urge to be with one’s mate overwhelms all else.”
Rhiannon couldn’t deny that she was struggling to understand him. Mars clearly sensed that too.
“I know I’ve just made a big statement. And we’ve only been dating for a short time. I just hope I haven’t said anything to scare you away.”
“It is kind of overwhelming,” Rhiannon admitted. Mars nodded, squeezing her hand. “But as long as my life doesn’t have to change in a large way, I think I can deal with it. But I want to know more about your shifter side too.”
FOURTEEN
RHIANNON
“Iown some land outside the city,” Mars said as they finished their dinner. “We can take a drive out there, and I can show you my shifter side.”
Several waiters came out to clear up the table after they finished their four-course meal. The food had been decadent and fragrant, and the cool, brisk evening air had enhanced each separate flavor.
Maybe she was just exhausted from the difficult week, but the food seemed to cut through her fatigue.
“Are you ready?” Mars helped her up, and his arm went around her waist as though it had found a permanent place there.
Rhiannon could not deny that she was nervous. She would be seeing Mars in his bear form for the first time.
Her thoughts flashed back to the dreams she had been having of him several weeks ago. Dreams of Mars turning into a large black bear.
Would he actually turn into a black bear? She thought back to the mating bond that Mars spoke about.
He claimed it was an intrinsic connection that was deeply embedded in both their souls.
Mars said that finding one’s fated mate was an honor, and some fated mates were so closely connected that they could read one another’s thoughts.
Was that what had happened with her when she dreamed about him? Had she somehow foreseen what he would look like in his shifted form? All because of a mating bond that tied them together.
And how had Gerri Wilder, of all people, known?
Mars tipped each one of the waiters with three-hundred-dollar bills each, and they all thanked him profusely.
Rhiannon knew how grateful they were. She had been a broke waitress throughout college. Tips like that kept her lights on an extra three days after her salary was gone.
Then Mars gently took her hand into his, and they walked hand-in-hand to his vehicle. The evening air was sweet and cool, like soft lips brushing against her skin. They passed every kind of flower, bush, and plant as they strolled through the botanical gardens to the parking lot.
She relaxed more with every minute that passed. The night air became even chillier, but it didn’t matter.
Right then, with Mars's arm around her waist, she wasn’t cold at all.
“Where are we going?” Rhiannon asked when Mars helped her into his SUV. This vehicle was a lot flashier than what he normally drove. It was a large, shiny black four-wheel drive. It towered over Rhiannon, even though she was almost as tall as Mars.
“I mean, with a car like this, I assume we won’t be anywhere near the city.”
“Well,” Mars grunted slightly as the SUV purred into life at the push of a button, “you’d be right about that. Shifters need privacy, so my grandfather made sure to buy some land right on the outskirts of the city.”
“Do you spend a lot of time there?” Rhiannon wasn’t prepared to hide her curiosity any longer.
She was very steadily, and very quickly, falling for Mars. And she wanted to know everything there was to know about him.
Mars turned onto the main road outside the botanical gardens, and he put his foot on the gas. Rhiannon hardly felt the vehicle speed up.
