Page 20 of His Lost Mate

Phoebe frowned but didn’t argue as Jonah moved closer, his large frame making the already small cabin feel even tighter.Beside her, his movements were deliberate as he reached for her injured arm.

“Let me see,” he said, his tone leaving no room for debate.

Phoebe extended her arm, her lips tightening as he carefully unwrapped the old bandage. Jonah worked in silence, his focus intent as he inspected the wound. It was healing, the edges less angry and inflamed than before.

“You’re lucky,” he muttered, his fingers brushing lightly over the surrounding skin. “Given everything we’ve been through, it’s looking good.”

Phoebe let out a faint huff of laughter. “Define ‘good.’”

Jonah glanced up, his expression serious. “Good enough that you’ll keep moving. That’s all that matters.”

Phoebe met his gaze, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Is that really all that matters?”

Jonah didn’t answer right away, returning his attention to cleaning the wound. Her question lingered in the air, pressing against the thoughts he’d been wrestling with all night. Phoebe wasn’t just someone he was protecting. She was his fated mate. The fact that she didn’t know that had no effect on his feelings. He could feel it in every fiber of his being, an unshakable certainty that pulled him toward her regardless of his feelings on the matter.

“Try and hold still. This is going to sting,” he said in a low rumble as he swabbed the wound clean.

Phoebe hissed softly as the antiseptic touched her skin but didn’t pull away. Her resilience was something Jonah had come to admire, even as it frustrated him. She didn’t back down, didn’t let the pain or the fear control her, and that strength drew him to her in ways he wasn’t ready to admit.

She reached up and knocked softly on his forehead. “Hello in there. You’ve been awfully quiet,” Phoebe said after a moment, watching him carefully. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

Jonah glanced at her, his expression hard to read. “Just thinking.”

“About?” she pressed, her voice soft but insistent.

He hesitated, his jaw tightening as he finished wrapping the fresh bandage around her arm. “You.”

Phoebe blinked, clearly caught off guard. “Me?”

Jonah nodded, his hands stilling as he secured the bandage. “There’s more going on than even you may know.”

Her eyes searched his face, a flicker of uncertainty crossing her features. “What do you mean?”

Jonah stood, putting space between them as he paced toward the window. His broad shoulders were tense, his hands resting on the windowsill as he stared out at the forest beyond. “Your friend, Amelia. Did she tell you anything—about her and Carson?”

Phoebe frowned, confusion and wariness mingling in her gaze. “What are you talking about? What do Carson and Amelia have to do with any of this?”

“The sabotaged plane? Probably nothing,” Jonah said, changing his mind about telling her. The last thing she needed was for him to drop something like his being a shifter without the ability to talk it out. Now was not the time, and this was not the place.

Phoebe shook her head. “Then why bring it up?”

“Because when we get back to safety and you hand that thing off to whoever you need to hand it off to, we need to talk about last night… about us.”

“Okay, fine, but I don’t want you to think that I have any expectations about you based on what happened. We were both tired, stressed, and cold. I don’t know about you, but I enjoyed myself immensely. But it doesn’t mean I think you were making some kind of declaration.”

“What if I was?”

The words hung in the air, heavy and unshakable. Phoebe’s lips parted, but no sound came out as she tried to process what he’d said. Jonah turned back to face her, his expression unreadable.

Phoebe stared at him, her chest rising and falling with shallow breaths. “And what if I wasn’t?”

Jonah’s eyes softened, though his voice remained steady. “I’ll still keep you alive. But don’t believe for even a minute that when we get you back to the Air Force that this will be finished. Last night won’t be enough—for either of us.”

His words seemed to strike her like a blow, and for the first time, Jonah saw something crack in her defenses. She took a hesitant step closer, her eyes shining with uncertainty and something deeper.

“I don’t know who to trust anymore,” she admitted, her voice trembling. “But I believe I can trust you.”

Jonah exhaled, his shoulders relaxing slightly as he closed the distance between them. He cupped her face gently, his calloused fingers brushing her cheek as he met her gaze. “That will have…”

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