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Nacho took the phone from me and gave her a tour of the house. We walked her through but she said nothing along the way. I feared that she didn’t like the place or that we hadn’t done enough to make it nice. “You don’t like it, female?” Nacho asked as we sat back down at the table.
“I love it. The tree is right out of a dream. It’s a really beautiful place you live. Can I ask why you call me female? Is that a shifter thing?”
While we were sure she knew we were shifters since the Mail-Order Mating app was a place for shifters to find their mates, we hadn’t broached the subject of what we were.
Nacho came up with the answer before I did. “It is. You are a female after all. For us, the word female has more reverence than woman or girl. Eventually, when we get to know you better, we would come up with our own sweet names for you but will still probably call you female. It’s who we are. Does it bother you? You knew we were shifters, right?”
She nodded. “I did. I dated one in high school. But I’ve never met a polar bear shifter, much less two. I have no problem with you calling me female. It’s endearing, actually.”
“If I may, Marney, what are the boxes behind you? Are you moving? Or is someone else moving?”
My stomach swirled in anticipation of her answer. She glanced over at the boxes and while she did, her shirt slipped off her shoulder as though it were too big for her, or maybe she wore it like that on purpose. Either way, Nacho and I both sucked in a breath at the sight of those couple of inches of her bare body.
Who knew a shoulder could be so damned sexy?
When her eyes met ours again, her lips were pursed. “I’m moving out. There was…a big life change for me recently, and I have to move out.”
My bear bowed up, wanting to provide her shelter, whatever it took to make that happen.
“Where will you go?” Nacho asked.
I put things together in the few seconds while we waited for Marney to answer the question. She was between jobs. She was now between homes. Whatever this life event she had alluded to had to be something big—something life-changing.
After a shrug and a giggle, she admitted that she didn’t know where she would go. That she was looking for something she could afford but also something short-term so that if she needed to move again, there would be no lease holding her down.
“Marney, would you excuse us for a few minutes?” Nacho said.
She nodded. “Yeah. Go ahead. I’ll be here.”
I already knew what my best friend wanted to talk about—I would bet a lung it was the same notion churning through my head.
“Tell me you’re feeling like she’s ours,” he said as we stepped outside and he closed the door behind him.
“One hundred percent. Should we ask her to come here? Is it too soon?”
Nacho inhaled a great draw of winter air. “Is there anything too soon when a female is your mate?”
No.
Hell no.
“Let’s ask her. She could say no, but that doesn’t mean she’s not our mate. We might have to be more patient.”
Nacho nodded. “Let’s hope she’s feeling us as much as we’re feeling here. Here goes nothing.”
We went back inside and Marney was already on her Kindle, probably searching for Nacho’s books. “Hey, you two,” she said.
“We would like to ask you something, Marney,” I started.
She put down the Kindle and dramatized a serious face. Her eyebrows drawn down. Her lips puckered. Arms crossed over her chest. Her serious was seriously adorable. “Shoot.”
“If you think we’re what you want, would you want to move here with us and give it a real shot?”
Her walls broke. Her arms uncrossed. “Are you sure? You barely know me.”
“Are we sure?” Nacho asked. “Are you, female? Because we were sure when we saw your profile picture. Our animals both cried out for you. I know things are different for humans.”
He didn’t say the word mate, but it was implied, rightfully so.
