Page 41 of Protector

“Wait—abandon you? I didn’t abandon you?—”

“Whatever.”

“No. Not whatever. You’re doing it again. Putting up this barrier… not this time. I’m not going to let you.”

I snort. “You think you can stop me?”

He shakes his head. “Okay. There’s a disconnect here somewhere.” Damn right. “Last time that happened, I made a mistake. I stayed away because I thought that’s what you wanted. Not this time. I didn’t abandon you?—”

“You didn’t? After they got us out of there, you didn’t disappear on me to go to the town square? And you didn’t tell the Alpha that you were planning on staying at his cabin.”

Tristan frowns. “Yeah. I did. And I guess Luc told Fallon, too, but that’s because I wasn’t sure I would have enough time to get everything I need from the grocers to make this dinner. I had to call in so many favors… you needed rest. You needed food immediately. Honestly? I thought you’d be kinda sick at me by this point and want a night to yourself. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t wait.” He gestures at the table with his still-shaky hand. Nervous, I wonder, or guilty? “I wanted to feed you, my mate.”

Shifters say ‘I love you’ with food. It means so many other things to our kind, but at its core, it’s a gesture of love.

And I just can’t believe that Tristan would do this for me.

“Tell the truth, Tristan,” I say, purposely leaving any and all of the Luna’s power out of my voice. “Did Fallon tell you to do this so maybe I’ll stay?”

Tristan freezes. His whole body goes stiff for a moment. “Stay?”

Fallon had to guess I was going. Like I said, my face gives everything away… “Yeah. I’m leaving. I can’t… I can’t stay.”

“Okay.” He relaxes, leaning his hip against the counter. “So… where are we going?”

Oh, boy.

“We are not going anyway. The next time the Arcane Express comes through, I am going home.”

Until then, I’ll go back to that Luna damn cave if I have to. Anywhere that I won’t have to look at Tristan and see the one thing I’ve ever wanted for me—and the only thing I can’t use my claws and fangs to take for myself.

“Right. And I’ll be going with you. It’s fine. I can leave now. The curse is broken… I’m not trapped in Winter Creek anymore.”

Is he… is he offering to leave the pack and go with me?

Why? Why would he do that? Why is he messing with me?

“Tristan, stop. You don’t have to do this anymore. Pretend like you’re interested in being my mate?—”

“There’s no pretending, and I am your mate?—”

I cross my arms over my chest. I spent five days naked with this male, but the way he’s looking at me right now? I’ve never felt more bare. “You didn’t bite me.”

His jaw drops for a second before he recovers. Standing straight, dropping the cavalier, charming act, he moves so that there are only a few separating us.

“What in the name of the Luna does that have to do with anything?”

“When we mated… you didn’t scratch me. Didn’t bite me. It’s like you didn’t want to give me a mating mark at all.”

Tristan’s frown from earlier returns with a vengeance. “Aren’t I supposed to save that for our mating ceremony? That’s what I was taught.”

Screw being taught. “I told you. Follow your instincts. What did they say? That I wasn’t worth it? That, if you got it out of your system, maybe you could shake this whole ‘mate’ thing?”

“What? No. Jeannie…” He stops. “Jean Louise?—”

Fuck no. Flexing my fingers, I show him my claws. “You want me to carve you up after all?”

Taking one step toward me, he shows me his elongated canines. “Do it. Mark me, and then I’ll bite you all you want. I didn’t think I needed to make my mate bleed to show the rest of the town that you’re mind, but if that’s what you want, I’ll do it. For you, Jeannie, I’ll do anything.”

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