Page 4 of A Forbidden Mating

My mate.

He’s right outside the door.

He’s here.

Those words play over in my head, like a broken record, repeating until I’m drowning in them. As everything happens in slow motion, I watch the handle to the motel room turn, the door push open. And then he’s standing on the other side, this big, muscular wolf shifter staring right at me with half-lidded eyes, the growl coming from him one of possession.

I’m shaking my head as I take a step back, but the bed stops my retreat, has me sitting down abruptly.

And as I tip my head back and look into his face, I know one thing for certain.

Now that he’s found me, he won’t let me go.

4

COLT

Fuck.

She’s even more beautiful than I first realized. She’s tiny, probably only standing around five-foot-five. Her green eyes are shining like emeralds and have a liquid quality to them. Her dark hair is long and falls in waves. I can’t resist reaching out to touch it.

She is perfection.

“Your name,” I growl, the sound thick from the beast within me. I’m barely controlling the change. I can’t even form a complete sentence, proving I’m definitely more beast than man right now.

“Jasinda,” she responds and her voice pours over me, soothing me and my beast in ways I’ve never known before. I can smell how nervous she is, the shock of finding her mate resonating within her.

“I’m Colt.”

“This can’t be happening,” she murmurs, her head shaking no, strands of her hair moving against my fingers.

I frown in confusion, tilting my head to watch the myriad emotions on her face. I inhale deeply and even as her scent of jasmine and honeysuckle wash over me, I can smell her innocence and something much stronger.

Desperation.

“You can’t deny the mating bond.”

My voice is softer now that I’m calming. Still threaded with my animal, but also seductive. I move my fingers from her hair to her face, touching her delicate skin and memorizing the feel of it.

“It would be easier if I could…for both of us.”

“We were meant to be together, Jasinda. There can be no changing that. You belong to me.”

Her eyes narrow and she jerks her face away from my touch.

“I belong to no man,” she all but growls.

“You do,” I correct her. “You belong to me.”

“No—”

“And I, sweet Jasinda, belong to you.”

She starts to deny it, but my words stop her. I watch as her tongue darts out to wet her bottom lip. I can hear her heartbeat slamming wildly in her chest. My little mate is a mystery. She stands up to me, and yet I can smell her fear, sense her anguish. I don’t understand it, but it’s there.

Does she not know that I will never let anything hurt her ever again?

If she doesn’t now, I’ll soon show her. The days for my mate to worry are long gone.

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