Page 57 of Not Your Ordinary Shifter

He was silent, trying to figure out what to say. This whole thing had been a shock. Changing, finally, after so many years. Finding his mate at the same time. The intensity of that was like nothing he’d experienced. No one had ever warned him.

But then… maybe they hadn’t expected him to ever form a mating bond.

And then there was the fact that she was a shifter too. That was rare. All the shifters he knew were relatives which could be awkward. He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So, we should probably talk about family.”

Her head snapped up; eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean… we’re both bird shifters. We should make sure we’re not too closely related. Usually mating bonds don’t form between close relatives, but… none of this has been normal.”

She just stared at him. “This is… I need to go.” She jumped to her feet and started to leave, but he found the idea of her walking away to be unacceptable to his bird half.

He had to protect his mate. “Wait. I’ll walk you home. Make sure you get there safe.”

“No thanks.”

He grabbed her arm. “Listen, I know this is weird, but we need to talk. We’re mates now and?—”

“I don’t know what that means, but we’re nothing to each other.Noth-thing,” she said, emphasizing it into two words.

“You know that’s not how this works.” Even he, who had never changed before, knew that much.

She yanked at her arm. “Let go of me or I’ll scream.”

One eyebrow went up and a slight grin slid into place. “Go ahead. You’re on my family’s property and there’s no one else around for miles. They’re going to want to meet you anyway.”

He’d meant it as a joke, and only realized when she flinched, that she had taken it as a threat. His hand dropped away from her arm. “You’re safe, Lizzy. I would never hurt you. Ever.” He couldn’t even if he wanted to.

“What do you call what you did to me on the lake?” She practically hissed the words.

His mouth dropped as he gaped at her. Was she implying…? “You accepted my advances. You encouraged the mating.”

“I didn’t!”

She absolutely had. His goose had known that, and from the way she looked away now, it was clear she knew it too. “I mean, I didn’t know what it meant. It was all... instinct,” she added.

“Instinct is a lot of how it works when we shift. Or so I’m told. Like I said, this was my first time, but the bond was already there. Couldn’t you feel it?” He blew out an exasperated breath. “God, I wondered why I was so awestruck by you in the restaurant. No wonder I could barely string two words together.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You do. Think about it. Think about what you felt when you saw me. You must have… there must have been an attraction for you too…” He trailed off uncertainly as she shook her head again.

Obviously he’d never had a mating bond before. Geese tended to mate for life, but he knew the stories of how it wassupposed to work and feel. If he hadn’t cut himself off so fully from the idea that he was a shifter too, he might have recognized the symptoms from the start.

“No, no I just thought you were weird. I’m going home. Please—please, don’t follow me.”

Before he could reply, she turned, and sprinted up to the tree line and disappeared.

“Fuck.”

Chapter

Five

Sex.

Sex as a bird. With another bird. What the hell was I thinking.

And it hadn’t even been good sex. Birds were definitely getting screwed, no pun intended, in that department—at least the females were. It had hurt a little, but it was over so fast even that barely registered. When he’d pulled free there had been a tearing sensation that burned, and that part had lasted longer than the whole event.

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