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It occurred to me when Ivaylo’s grip grew even tighter that to Worren and all of the shifters who had followed us, my words may have made it sound like I was open and available.
That… was not my intention.
“I am mated to Ivaylo,” I added, forcing my voice to remain calm. “And I’m glad I am. But there are more humans coming soon, and many of them won’t be willing to accept fate’s decision when it chooses their mate. I can teach you how to win a human’s heart, so you’re ready when they get here. Let yourself fade if you want, but don’t do it because your future is hopeless. It’s not,” I finished.
The determination in his gaze told me my speech had worked.
Until he took a step toward me.
Ivaylo’s chest rumbled in warning.
“Not me,” I added hastily. “I’m taken.”
Worren stepped back, but his determination didn’t fade. “When do the lessons begin?”
I opened my mouth to tell him we could start then and there, but the alpha spoke first. “Two weeks from now, in the pack’s den. All are welcome, so long as they don’t touch Ezra.”
Worren dipped his head. “I will be there.”
The agreement seemed like a victory to me, even though I wasn’t sure why we needed to wait two weeks.
His gaze remained fixed on me. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
Worren took a step back toward his den—and then stopped, shifted, and slipped into the trees.
“We’re leaving before your inspiring speech convinces one of these bastards to ask how they can defeat the bond tying us together,”Ivaylo growled into my mind, gripping my hand firmly as he started walking back toward our den.
“That part didn’t come out quite right,” I whispered, looking over my shoulder to find a whole heap of men still staring after me. “How long until Serae can retrieve another woman?”
“We don’t know. She wasn’t sure how much time it would take her to recover before she could go back. It may be a day, or it may be a year.”
Damn.
I was going to need to drag my human romance lessons out a lot…
And frankly, I was nowhere near a professional when it came to human romance.
But at least I had bought Worren a few more days of purpose. Hopefully, Serae’s recovery time would be on the shorter end.
Ivaylo sweptme into his arms as we reached the den, and my legs went around his hips automatically. It was bizarre to me how quickly I had become comfortable around him, but I supposed it wasn’t a shock.
In theory, our souls had made some kind of agreement to remain together, after all.
Ivaylo set me down on the bed and then strode to the kitchen. I wasn’t hungry yet, but I knew he was going to cook lunch for me.
“Why did you tell them we’ll start in two weeks?” I asked.
“Because I need time to wrap my head around it.” His back was to me as he began pulling things from the icebox, which was a fridge, from what I’d gathered.
“I didn’t mean to suggest they should try to convince me to mate with them,” I said quickly. “I was just trying to help them understand humans.”
“I know.” He let out a long breath and didn’t say anything else.
Since I wasn’t sure what else to say either, I tucked my legs beneath the blankets and pulled my book off the bed, opening it back up to where I’d been.
I had screwed up… but he didn’t seem to want to talk about it, and I wasn’t sure how to do so without making him angry again.
