Page 46 of Entering a New World

Rhett sucked in a breath and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay, I’m able to feel when you’re close; I even know where you’re coming from. Like today, I knew you were right outside the front door.”

I bit my lip as I saw Rhett grabbing the steering wheel tighter, his knuckles turning white, his brows pulled together, lips pressed into a thin line.

“I’ve never heard about a human being affected by their fated mate like this prior to being mated,” he eventually muttered. “Never. The human mates in our pack told me they felt attracted to their mate, and they fell in love hard and fast, but that’s it.”

Snorting, I shook my head. “Maybe I’m not human after all,” I quipped, then giggled upon seeing Rhett’s shocked face. “Calm down,” I said, following my instinct and placing a hand on his right arm. Immediately, he took a deep breath and his shoulders sagged a little as the tension left his body. “I’m definitely human. As human as one could possibly be.”

It took him a while, but in the end, Rhett managed a small smile. “You certainly smell human to me. It’s just… weird.”

Laughing, I squeezed his arm. “Hey, I’m the guy who cuddles what he thought was a wild wolf and then even followed the wolf’s survival tips. By now, you should know that weird is my middle name.”

When Rhett let out a small laugh, my body relaxed. Though tentative, the sound was genuine. Free.

For a while, we just drove through the night in comfortable silence. I didn’t need him to talk, and I honestly didn’t know what to say. What to make out of our whole situation?

“Does it freak you out?” Rhett finally asked into the silence, briefly glancing at me. “Your reaction to our mate bond, I mean.” He took a deep breath, tension returning to his features, the muscles in his arm beneath my hand tightening rhythmically. “I’d get it. You didn’t sign up for any of this.”

“I sure as fuck didn’t, but meeting you is the only good thing that came from me being dumped in the middle of nowhere, soo… I don’t know. Freaking out might be the wrong word. Or maybe not. It is freaky to know where you are, but also… I kind of like it. I like being able to feel you, to feel the warmth when you’re close. Maybe I’m more freaked out by the fact of how much I enjoy this bond. But I’m worried about what it means for us.”

His whole life was here. His work, his friends, his family. His pack. Here, he had a place to shift and run, a place to let out his wolf.

My whole life was in Vancouver; friends, family, apartment, job—if I still had one, that was.

What would happen when I had to return?

“We’ll figure it out,” Rhett vowed, his eyes boring into my soul. “Whatever life throws at us, we’ll figure it out.”

Smiling at him, I finally gave in to what a part of me was urging me to do: I touched him. Placing a hand on his thigh loosened something in me, made my stomach unclench and my heart skip a beat before my pulse evened out into a slow, steady pace. I didn’t understand how this was possible. How a simple touch could cause such a visceral reaction, especially since we didn’t have direct skin contact, but it didn’t matter if I understood or not, I couldn’t deny what was happening. Couldn’t deny the way Rhett’s eyes lit up, couldn’t deny the way a tingling sensation slowly crept up my arm, spreading throughout my whole body, sparking a fire inside my gut.

My eyes roamed over Rhett, taking in his form, the way he smiled while staring out the window, never taking his eyes off the road. He had a death grip on the steering wheel, knuckles white, muscles in his forearms drawn tight.

He bit his lip and holy shit… how could this one gesture be so hot? An electric shock raced through my body, right into my groin, and for a moment I couldn’t breathe.

I wanted to pluck his lip free, and I wanted to kiss him. Right here, right now. I wanted to be the reason his lips were swollen and shiny, wanted to muss up his hair, wanted to know how his beard would feel against my skin.

Fuck. I bet it’d feel so good. A little scratchy, a little rough, and oh-so intense.

Rhett let out a strangled sound, and I watched his Adam’s apple bob in his throat as he swallowed heavily. Nostrils flaring, his hands gripped the steering wheel even tighter, the plastic crunching precariously beneath his fingers.

“I can…” He swallowed again, eyes flashing as he looked at me. “Just for your information, I can smell your arousal.”

Oh.

Oh shit.

Chapter 13

Rhett

Even in the darkness of the car, I could see Levi’s face turn beet red. Shaking his head, he tried pulling away from me, snatching his hand back as if he’d burned himself on my skin.

To be fair, I felt like I was on fire. Having my mate so close, scenting how much he wanted me, knowing how much I affected him, set my wolf on edge.

Mate, claim, he screamed, pawing at my chest, urging me to reach out, grab Levi’s hand, chase the contact we’d just lost.

It was a war inside my head. A fight for control. Usually, I didn’t have a problem controlling my wolf, but when a part of me agreed with my animalistic side, things got complicated.

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