AllFreeNovel
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“What is it? Now I’m scared.” Her cheeks had pinked in the chilly wind, so I threw another log on the fire. No reason for my mate to be cold.
“Don’t be scared. Do you remember in the airport when I touched you? Taking your bag from your shoulder?” Orion asked her. There was no doubt in my mind that Druscilla had a reaction to his touch and mine.
“I remember.”
“Other shifters recognize their mates by sight, but we have to touch our mate to know that they are the one. I felt that mating sensation when I touched you. You felt it, too, right? That’s why your eyes went wide and you ran to the bathroom.”
I took a seat on the other side of the room. I was still protecting myself from the chance that she would accept our animals but not our claim of love.
I was still protecting myself from her.
Druscilla blew out a long breath. “I felt something. I didn’t know what it was.” Then she nailed me with a stare. “I felt it from you, too, Koa. Wait, am I your mate or both of your mates?”
“Both of us,” I responded. “We think that you are fated for us both. We knew since we were younger that we would share a mate.”
Orion leaned forward and put his forehead on their joined hands and paused. Perhaps whispering to Fate. Begging her even. “You belong to both of us, Druscilla, and everything we are belongs to you.”
Something about his words triggered her. She stood up and eyed the door. The hallway. She was going to run again, but this time, I wouldn’t let her. I stood and picked her up, standing her on the chair so that I was eye to eye with her. “No running, baby. Not this time. Let’s face this together.”
Her eyes searched mine and, second by second, she softened, became pliable in my arms. “I didn’t come here for a mate. I was clear. I told the truth.”
“I know you did. You would never lie.”
She shook her head at Orion’s words. He now stood beside me. “I wouldn’t. I came here to research. I won’t give up my career.”
I chuckled a bit. She was fucking adorable when she was frazzled. Making up all kinds of stumbling blocks not to be with us. “No one is asking you to, Druscilla. Neither of us would ever ask you to give up who you are or what you do. We want you just as you are.”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “This doesn’t happen to humans. I didn’t know it could happen this fast. I…I’m confused. My mind is all…” She shook her head.
“Listen to me,” I said, regaining eye contact. “There’s no pressure. We want you to take your time and think about all of this. There’s no rush. No one is asking you to put on a white dress and run down the aisle. That’s what humans do, right? Weddings?”
She laughed. “Yes.”
“Not here. Not now. Not ever if that’s not what you want. Orion and I have put the truth on the table like you did. For us, you are it. You are the one we’ve been searching for all of our lives.”
“And what if I don’t think I’m your mate?”
My chest cracked with pain. Still, I wouldn’t let it affect her decision. This was her life. “Then nothing changes. You can still write your book and publish your findings. You go on with your life as planned.”
She nodded.
After a few moments, she wrapped her tiny hands around my forearms. “I’m going to go to my room and think. Have some time to myself.”
Orion looked deflated, but we had to remember she wasn’t a shifter. Patience was key here.
“We’ll bring you some lunch later.”
She got down from the chair and allowed me to help. She was such a tiny thing. My best friend and I followed her movements until she was no longer visible.
Orion grunted. Said he was going outside.
I would make my mate lunch. Because even if she never accepted us, I would honor her in every way I could. She would be cared for and fed under our roof.
Chapter Eighteen
Orion
Druscilla came out of her room while I was in my shed. Not really working. It was more frustration carving. There wasn’t any rhyme or reason to the shaving of the wood other than to vent my aggravation in a nonverbal way. Koa texted me that she was in the kitchen while he was making dinner. I didn’t expect the knock on my shed.
