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“More like you’ll be seventy when I’m eighty,” I scoffed, taking a step back to force some distance between us.Why had Mariam never mentioned how hypnotic his dark eyes were?“But it doesn’t matter. I’m sorry, Gabe, but I’m not attracted to you in that way. And I’m waiting for my true mate. I’m not interested in anything else.”
For the first time since barging into my bedroom, Gabelooked a little unsure of himself.
“Are you really not attracted to me at all, Ella?” His voice was strained, like the question was painful to ask. He reached to brush some strands of wet hair away from my face. His hand strayed lower, tracing my collarbone that the robe had left exposed.
I sucked in a breath at his touch. It lit a fire inside me, and heat pooled between my legs. And it was at that moment, before I could try to hide it, that he saw everything. He saw my desire, and he knew the effect he could have on me. He knew how weak I was to temptation, and his look of concern shifted until he appeared almost predatory.
He quickly closed the distance between us, forcing my chin up so that my eyes met his. I swallowed hard again.
“What are you doing?” I asked, hoarse and shaky. I licked my lips nervously, which only drew his attention to them.
“I think you know exactly what I’m doing,” he purred. “Isn’t it what you want, Ella? I’ll savor the taste of you. I’ll make you feel so good, like the goddess you are.”
I shivered at his words, my brain fogging over. I was about to give in, to reach up and draw his mouth down to mine, but there was a hesitant knock at the door that severed the connection between us. I stumbled backward, shaking my head to clear my mind from the spell he had put me under. Gabe growled, irritated at the interruption.
“Is everything alright?” Mariam’s voice was a little muffled through the solid wood, but it was enough for me to recognize her concerned tone. I slipped past Gabe and opened the door before he could stop me. I could tell thatmy eagerness to let her in annoyed him even more.
“Hey, yeah, I… I mean,wewere just coming out. I mean, Gabe was actually leaving. I still need to get dressed, as you can see. Ha-ha.” Mariam’s eyes widened at my disheveled rambling, and even I had to admit that my fake laugh at the end was a little excessive. There was no way I wanted to analyze how close I had been to sucking Gabe’s face off, and being overly cheerful and perky apparently helped prevent me from focusing on that.
“Good talk, Gabe. Glad we could get that sorted out.” I opened the door wider and sharply gestured for him to leave. For one horrible moment, I thought he was going to refuse, and I would be stuck wearing the bathrobe for the rest of eternity, but instead, he flashed me a knowing smile and moved to walk out the door without putting up a fight.
“I agree, Ella. I’m glad we were able to clear all this up.” I let out a slow breath and tried to close the door behind him, but he caught it at the last minute. “I look forward to seeing you at dinner tonight, mate. In fact, I think we should go out to celebrate. I’ll tell everyone not to expect us this evening.”
I shut the door hastily as soon as he removed his hand and felt my expression of triumph crumble. Here I thought he might be open to seeing reason, but it would take even more for him to realize this was a bad idea.
I sighed deeply, falling face-first onto the bed, and wishing that things would go back to how they were that morning when the only thing I had to worry about was watching Mariam and Trace fawn over each other. No, this new set of problems was much worse.
__________
“This is really exciting if you think about it.” Mariam had returned to check on me after Gabe announced to everyone downstairs that we were true mates and would be spending the night celebrating together privately. She rubbed my back through the robe that I still hadn’t managed to change out of, using small circles to soothe me the way I did when she was sick or upset as a kid. “Gabe is great. Like, he really is the best, and he’s someone you can grow to love. Especially when... you know… the mating bond is in place.”
I groaned, the sound muffled by the pillow my face was buried into. Someone I could grow to love? What about swoony, instantaneous attraction? What about everything being so perfect that neither one of us could deny how right it was to be together? This wasn’t my dream, not by a long shot.
You felt that attraction! We both did!My wolf pouted at me for trying to deny the legitimacy of the encounter earlier.
I scowled at her.That’s what happens when you’re celibate for thirty-six years, I reasoned.Any amount of sexual tension probably feels that intense when you aren’t used to any at all. And that still doesn’t make up for the fact that he is basically a child and that he has the muscle tone of a toddler.
That seemed to piss my wolf off even more. She glowered at me, exasperated with all my reasons and excuses for why she couldn’t be with Gabe’s wolf. None of them made any sense to her. That much was clear.
“I just think that you should give him a chance,” Mariam continued, oblivious to my ongoing internal argumentwith my animal. “Gabe is so nurturing. I’m sure he’ll give you the time you need to adjust.”
Nurturing? Wasnurturingwhat I really wanted from a mate? I stifled a laugh at the idea. Nurturing wasn’t what made shifter men so hot and attractive. No, what made werewolf women swoon was the hot-blooded, dominant men who could throw them over their shoulders without a second thought. That’s exactly what Mariam got. I bet she wouldn’t be so happy with Trace if she had to wonder which one of them would win an arm-wrestling match.
“I don’t want to go to dinner with him,” I mumbled, flipping over to stare at the ceiling. “Can’t you just tell him that I’m not interested? Tell him I’ve taken a vow of chastity or something.”
Mariam grinned. “I could,” she agreed. “And it wouldn’t even be very far off from the truth, actually.”
I threw the pillow at her and it felt surprisingly good when it made contact with her face. Avoiding sex until I found my true mate was NOT the same as taking a vow of chastity. In fact, it was what almost all shifters did, as it was a rule given to us by the moon goddess. Mariam was one of the few she-wolves who had ignored that rule, but in her mind, it made me a total prude.
“Okay, okay,” she said with a sigh. “I get that you aren’t interested in Gabe, but speaking from experience, sometimes things change and work out better than you expect them to when it comes to true mates,”
I rolled my eyes. “This is nothing like what happened with you and Trace, Mariam. Trace is… well, he is strong and tough and all the things that Dad was for Mom. He’s your rock. It only makes sense that you’re attracted to him.”
The statement earned me a low growl from my sister. Male werewolves were known for being territorial when it came to their mates, but females weren’t much better.
“That’s not what I meant,” I said quickly. “I’m not interested in Trace like that. I just meant that it makes sense that you would be into him. Gabe is nothing like Dad. He looks like he doesn’t get enough sunlight or eat enough protein or something.”
Mariam tilted her head back and gave a big belly laugh, her moment of jealousy quickly over and forgotten. “I can’t argue with that. He does spend too much time inside the library looking up old werewolf bylaws, and he could probably use more fresh air, but maybe you could help him with that. You know, you could help him loosen up a little bit.”
