Page 17 of Fated In Winter

“It’s been a long time. Because of who I needed to be. Because of the things that happened. Maybe too long.”

“But we can’t blame this just on that. Should we?” I asked, not knowing what answer I wanted.

“I don’t know, Conner. It’s probably been far too long.”

“Then it’s dangerous.”

“So we just see—the two of us. We just see. But no marking. No mating. I don’t know you, Conner.”

“You can’t say this is just from being touched-starved. We both know that.”

“Okay. Okay.”

And then I kissed her again, and I couldn’t think.

How could I ever think when I was alone with Romy? I knew from the moment that I saw her that she was something to me. That she could be something. That the potential there could change everything, but we couldn’t do this. And we both knew that we needed to. That we desperately needed this.

Is this true? Is this what mating could be? Then again, mating had changed over time and was always different for each couple or triad. I didn’t think mating could look or feel like this anymore. Not instant. It took time. It took moments of sensation and pain and agony until you could finally find that one person for you. It wasn’t supposed to be an instant look of peace and knowing. It wasn’t supposed to be a glance, and suddenly that was the person for you. At least, that’s not how it had been recently. Not since the mating bonds had changed, since the moon goddess had been forced to make different decisions.

And yet, here we were, these choices, these decisions. And this was the person for me.

“I’m not ready for a bond. I’m not ready for what this could mean. I know this might hurt you, but I’m not ready,” she whispered, cupping my face as I leaned toward her.

“I’m not either.” I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to be. But I couldn’t tell her that, then again, maybe she saw it, maybe she already felt it.

Maybe that first sight didn’t happen. It wasn’t our first sight. It wasn’t even our first touch. The first time I saw her, she had touched me. She had saved my life.

Maybe this was it? Maybe this is why our wolves were pushing so hard. My own wolf clawed at me to come in closer, but I had control. I had needed to have that control for so long because of who I was.

Maybe that this was this moment.

“Just us. Just to see. Just to touch.”

“I can’t deny that. I can’t deny this.”

“In my home? Or out here.”

“I don’t want to fuck you for the first time outside in the dirt.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh?”

“Kiss me.”

She did.

I growled into her, then reached around, gripped her ass, and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and I walked towards her house. The door was already unlocked, and we stumbled into the small one-bedroom open-concept area, feeling like a small gingerbread house to me.

I kissed her again and slowly made my way to the back bedroom.

“It’s not much. But it’s mine.”

“And you’re mine.”

Her eyes widened. “Conner.”

“At least for now. Right now.”

I lowered her to the ground once we were inside her bedroom, the small double bed not big enough for the two of us. My brows raised.

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