Page 29 of Clash of Kings

“Of course. I’m getting way ahead of myself since I don’t know if you want to be mated to me. I’d like to spend time getting to know one another, and if at any time you feel like I’m not the male for you, you can walk away.”

“And you’ll go find another mate?” Dakota didn’t like the sound of that. At all.

“No. You’re it for me. I could find someone to date, or marry even, but I’ll never be able to give them my heart. It belongs to you and you alone.”

“Then why would you let me walk away? Why wouldn’t you fight for me?”

Sebastian squeezed her hand. “Oh, I’d fight for you, like I was ready to do back at the pack house, but I don’t want you to feel like you have no say in the matter just because the fates deemed us to be mates. I won’t treat you the way King has.”

Dakota relaxed in her seat. “That right there is how I know you’re an honorable male. You’d allow me to walk away to the detriment of your heart. I guess it’s a good thing I’ve been hoping to find you all these years. Like you said, we have a connection, and I’m looking forward to getting to know you better. Hell, it might turn out that you don’t like me once you’ve spent time with me.”

“Yeah? Do you snore? Or leave wet towels on the bathroom floor? Do you leave the peanut butter knife on the counter? Or worse, do you put ketchup on your eggs?”

Dakota grinned. “Are all those deal breakers? Because I do one of those things. I’ll let you guess which one.”

Sebastian hummed. “Well, if you snore, I’m sure it’s cute. Your cabin was spotless, so I’m guessing you eat ketchup on your eggs.”

“Do you eat ketchup on hash browns?” she asked.

“Of course. Don’t you?”

“I do, and I’m not one of those people whose food can’t touch, so sometimes the ketchup gets mixed in with the eggs. I don’t purposely put it on the eggs, but I don’t mind the taste.”

“Whew, there for a minute I thought I was going to have to drop you on the side of the road,” Sebastian joked. She knew he was kidding by the big grin on his gorgeous face.

“Are you saying you don’t have any weird food combinations you like?”

“No, ma’am. My tastes are perfectly normal including putting pineapple on pizza. Now Anthony on the other hand… Wait until you eat with him and he orders steak. It’s not so much a weird combination, but he likes extra Worcestershire sauce on his.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Dakota marinated her steaks in both Worcestershire and spicy steak sauce.

“Nothing’s wrong with it, but when he was little, he had trouble pronouncing Worcestershire, and he called it wash your sister sauce. Still does.”

Dakota barked out a laugh. “Somehow, I can see that. Since he spent the night with Jolee, I assume he doesn’t have a mate?”

“You’re correct. Very few of our generation have found their mates yet. Connor met his when they were both kidnapped as little kids. His story is similar to ours in that he found Alyssa a few months ago after twenty years. Connor has visions, and it was one of those that led him to South Carolina and the mess with the wolf shifters there. Alyssa was the biologist tasked with studying the obscure sample taken during the autopsy.”

“Back the truck up. They were kidnapped?”

“It’s a long story, but yes. Many of our parents went through hell finding their mates, and Connor was used as a pawn against his mother. But those are stories for another day. You’ll hear them all when you meet the family.”

“Tell me more about your parents,” Dakota encouraged. If she was going to meet them, she wanted a heads-up on what kind of people they were. She already knew Rafael had been King, but that didn’t tell her if he had been a fair and kind one. As Sebastian talked about his parents, it was clear both meant the world to him. While he drove, Sebastian also tossed in details about his uncles as well as Rafael’s cousins who were more like brothers to him. Sebastian listed all his cousins and their jobs, some like Lydia and Carleigh, who had taken roles from their fathers. He talked about growing up with a group of best friends in those cousins as they learned and trained from their parents. Dakota was a little jealous. She wasn’t close with Phoenix, and other than Jolee, she didn’t have many friends. From what Sebastian told her, that would change as soon as she met his family. She would become one of them. It was another reason she couldn’t wait to accept the mate bond.

Sebastian’s phone rang, and he pressed a button on the steering wheel to answer. “What’s up?”

“Lydia has to pee, so I’m taking the next exit.”

“Roger that.” Sebastian disconnected. “I should have said this to you before now, and I apologize that I haven’t, but if you need to stop for any reason, all you have to do is say so.”

“I appreciate that. Growing up in my family meant you learned to hold it. My father wasn’t one to stop often when we traveled.”

“I’ve never understood that. If I need to take a leak, I stop. Why make yourself or someone else miserable for something that takes less than ten minutes?”

“Yeah, well, my father isn’t like yours. Mine’s an asshole.”

“I’m sorry,Cucciolina.”

“What does that mean?” Dakota asked, never having a nickname other than Kody.

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