Page 25 of Feels Like Home

“First, I need you to calm down, kitten.” Ian was dying to touch Jace but thought it wise to keep his hands to himself. As wigged out as his mate appeared, there was no telling what the guy would do.

A bubble of hysterical laughter erupted. Jace slapped a hand over his mouth then let it fall.

“The endearment makes so much sense now.” His mate’s rapid blinking worried Ian. “My thoughts are all over the place. They won’t settle down.”

“You’re in shock.”

“I’m definitely in something,” Jace said. “This is… I suppose this is better than finding out you have a murder basement.”

“Murder basement?” Did he still think that Ian wanted to hurt him? “Right now, you may not think so, but I’m perfectly sane. I’m sorry I revealed this to you in the worst possible way, but I would never hurt you.”

“It’s just mind-bending, shocking, beyond belief.” Jace pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. “Why am I still sitting here when I should he running away as fast as I can? None of this makes any sense.”

“Your mind just needs time to accept your new reality.” Ian reached for his mate but pulled his hand back. It was killing him not to touch his mate, not to haul Jace into his arms so he could calm him down.

“New reality.” Jace lowered his hands. He inhaled sharply, frowned, and then shook his head vigorously. “You were a cat. A cat!” He laughed again then just as quickly sobered. “That might be normal for you, but for me? It’s the equivalent of seeing Godzilla rise out of the ocean or something equally jaw-dropping.”

“Tell me how to help you through this.” With the need too overwhelming, Ian pulled Jace’s hands into his. “Do you need a glass of water? Rest? To see my panther again?”

Should he get Jace a cold rag to put over the back of his neck? Was his touch helping like his mate said it did?

“I don’t know what I need.” Jace gripped Ian’s hands tighter as he stared wide-eyed around the room. “Fresh air. I need fresh air.”

Since Ian didn’t have neighbors, going outside in the nude wouldn’t present a problem. In fact, he did it all the time. His panther enjoyed lounging on the deck after a run in the forest.

Keeping a steady hand on Jace, Ian guided him outside. His mate tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and inhaled a lungful of pine-scented air. “It would really help me if you had some clothes on.”

“Are you going to take off if I leave you out here to grab something to put on?” Ian asked.

If Jace took off in the state he was in, he could have an accident. Plus, Ian didn’t want him to leave. He wanted to try and help Jace come to grips with this.

So much for telling him we’re mates. That’ll have to wait until he stops blinking like his eyelids are glitching.

He glanced over his shoulder at Ian.

Then his gaze dropped to Ian’s cock. Now he seemed intensely focused, his eyes squinting slightly. His breathing picked up a little, and he panted through his parted lips. There was no way Ian could stop his body from reacting.

He took a step toward Jace but stopped when he heard a car coming up his long and winding driveway.

“Get inside,” Ian snarled. “I hear a car, and I’m not expecting company.”

Jace jumped up and rushed inside. Ian joined him and closed the door.

“I’m going to get dressed. Don’t answer the door.” He moved swiftly to his bedroom as he heard a horn honk. He threw on a pair of shorts and a white T-shirt, shoving his feet into a pair of Nike sandals.

It took Ian less than a minute to get dressed, and now he was heading outside. A white Pathfinder was parked in the driveway, the motor idling.

All four windows were rolled down, and an older woman, maybe in her early fifties, her brownish-blonde hair in a ponytail, was behind the wheel. She smiled at Ian as he crossed the yard. “I’m so sorry for bothering you,” she said.

Ian drew closer and saw a small child in the back, strapped into a booster car seat. The little girl was watching something on her phone but looked up when Ian stopped a few feet away.

“The GPS on my phone is going nutty, and we’ve been lost on the back roads for at least an hour,” the woman said.

“Where’re you trying to get to?” Ian smiled when the little girl waved at him with a huge grin. While the older woman had fair skin, the child had a bronze complexion like him.

“We’re going on an exploration,” the woman said with a laugh. “Right now, I’m trying to find somewhere to eat.”

“I want nuggets!” the little one exclaimed from the backseat. “And a shake! Grandma promised me snacks since I ate all mine already.”

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