Page 29 of Kodiak's Heart

“Jesus,” Jensen muttered.

“She’s my mate,” Laramie stated again, the words ringing with a truth that resonated inside him every time he spoke them.

“Maybe,” Jensen replied grudgingly. “Biologically speaking, I’d say your bear is trying to prove that by marking Emersyn in the most primal way, with scent and seed.”

“Okay.” Laramie shrugged. He was on board with marking her as his.

Jensen shook his head. “If you mated a female bear, your scent would change, merge with hers, until the two of you created a unique scent all your own, with underlying layers of your family scents. Mating a human, she would take on your scent, marking her so all other bears would know.”

“I know how it works, Jensen,” Laramie muttered.

“I added in the fact Ruby has marked Emersyn with her scent, the one from her father, Malachi.”

“And? Get to the point,” Laramie ordered.

“The minute amount of blood I salvaged shows Emersyn as human,” Jensen admitted.

“No surprise there. She’s never professed to being anything else.”

Jensen’s gaze locked onto him. “Then why is your scent changing?”

“What do you mean?” Laramie turned his head, lifting his shoulder and inhaling, but he didn’t smell anything different.

“Your scent is changing. It’s still subtle. Some might not even pick up on it. I can.”

“Are you telling me I’m starting to smell like Malachi, too? Because that will seriously piss me off.”

Jensen snorted out a laugh even as he shook his head. “No, your scent and Emersyn’s are merging.”

“You just said that’s a normal thing to do with a mate,” Laramie reminded him.

“A bear mate. Hell, any shifter mate at all. Not with a human.”

“Stop playing word games and just tell me what they hell you’re saying,” Laramie demanded.

“I’m saying there’s more to Emersyn than we know. Be careful. Stop and ask some fucking questions before you let things go any further between you two.”

Laramie nodded, but in his mind, he already knew it was too late.

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