Page 79 of Never Feed a Dragon

My stomach tightened more.

“But Eli isn’t Gavin. And a mate bond isn’t a human relationship.”

“How do you figure that? And why does him not being Gavin matter?”

“Just look at their personalities. Gavin was very… analytical. Everything was about facts and numbers with him. He didn’t care about anyone else’s feelings. He didn’t make jokes. You were both driven, but all you ever really talked about was your plans for the future. You guys weren’t passionate, either. Don’t tell me you were—I was there. You hooked up like once a month.”

“Eli and I haven’t had sex since heat,” I protested.

“You told him you’re just roommates, remember?”

I had told him that.

And he’d mentioned jerking off in the shower.

Every day.

My body flushed.

I’d caught a few small glimpses of us together from his mind when he was in the shower, but I hadn’t put together what he might’ve been doing. And I hadn’t dared touch my vibrator. If he heard it, I had no idea what he would think or how he would feel.

“So there’s a lot more passion between me and Eli,” I finally said. “It doesn’t really mean anything.”

“You have fun with him,” Randa reminded me. “It’s been years since I’ve seen you smile as much as you did that night we came to visit you guys.”

“He has a really good sense of humor,” I admitted, slightly grudgingly. “We’re always teasing each other.”

When I wasn’t hiding in my room, at least.

Which I’d been doing ever since Randa and Jasper left that night, because my mind had been racing. I hadn’t been sure I wanted the truth, but I hadn’t been able to act like I wasn’t thinking about it.

“And a mate bond is a lot different than a human relationship, because it’s not only based on trust and promises. There’s literal magic binding you together. Eli couldn’t cheat on you if he wanted to—and he wouldn’t want to. The magic makes you the center of his world even more than it makes him the center of yours.”

She added, “Every time I get irritated with Jasper, he picks up on it in my scent, and he makes me talk about it until we’re both satisfied. If I do something to bug him, he makes me some kind of dessert and we sit down to have a conversation about it. It’s never comfortable to talk about those kinds of things, but the mate bond ensures that we know when we need to have those chats.”

“So it’s not exactly a relationship,” I said, my mind still spinning a little. I was going to have to pull off the dirt road soon to give myself time to think without focusing on driving too. Or maybe just head back to Eli’s cabin.

“It’s more like a partnership that involves love and really good sex,” she said. “Really, really good sex.”

My lips quirked upward.

She wasn’t wrong about that.

“But I still don’t know if I want it,” I said.

“You don’t have to decide today, or even this month. You’re immortal now, remember? You can think about it, or maybe even give it a test run or something. I’m sure Eli wouldn’t be opposed to that.”

“I would feel bad if I decided I wasn’t interested in more after a test run, though.”

“Why? You guys are a team, remember? If he didn’t want to be romantic with you, would you push him for more?”

I wrinkled my nose. “Of course not.”

“Exactly.”

“I guess that makes sense. I’ll think about it,” I said.

“Just give yourself time,” she repeated. “You’ve been so determined not to have a relationship that you haven’t even stopped to think about how different it would be with Eli, right?”

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