Page 47 of One True Mate

“It's certainly a possibility, or will be once they get a whiff of you, so try to steer clear of people in general. And whatever you do, don't let anyone hug you.”

“Lily and Elise are the only two that would dare come that close.”

She nodded. “We'll have to let them in. They can help with your training. In fact, I'll call Elise and ask her to go home with you this afternoon. I don't think that would look too out of the ordinary. I know your good friends already. But where to practice unseen?” She was more or less talking to herself at that point.

“Kelsey's den is plenty big enough and private. If you run over, Mom, no one would suspect a thing. Her car would be in her driveway and by all appearances proceeding through life normally.”

“Great idea.”

“Is that okay with you, sweetheart?” Kyle asked, surprised by the flicker of unease in her eyes. “What's wrong, babe?”

“It's just last time Elise and Lily were in my den it was... hard,” she sighed, embarrassed.

I kissed her temple. “That was my fault. With me not there, you'll likely be okay, especially now that we've bonded.”

“Mated,” his mother corrected. “Don't confuse the girl, son, there's a very big difference between mating and bonding. Though I suppose you are technically bonding mates at the moment, still, not bonded.”

We both looked at her with guilt written all over our face.

“Do we tell her?”The small voice I loved asked in my head.

“Not unless she puts two and two together and all out asks. Don't lie to her, though.”

Kelsey nodded her head that she understood.

Mom's eyes were huge like she couldn't believe what she was seeing right in front of her.

I sighed,“Looks like we may be telling her after all.”

She smiled sheepishly,“She's very intuitive.”

I snorted,“I think all moms are.”

“So,” I finally said aloud, “I think that'll be a good plan to start. You and the girls can get her training going and I'll be by tonight. We'll go for a run and head home.”

“But I don't think we'll be getting much sleep,”I told her slyly through the bond, remembering how it felt to have her beneath me. My wolf practically howled in delight.

“Kyle,” mom scolded me, “you know you shouldn't be around her. You can't take her back to your house. You need to keep your distance until it's all sorted. It's for the best.”

“Mom, you know I can't do that.”

“He's tried, even before the, uh, m-m-mating,” Kelsey stuttered, clearly nervous. “He'll just spend the night in the woods and be completely miserable without sleep, and too grumpy to live with.”

“Hey!”

“What? It's true. You're horrible to be around without your beauty sleep.”

“Me? What about you? It was like waking the dead trying to get you up this morning.”

“Maybe, but I'm going to sleep regardless. And besides, once I'm up, I'm up. You mope around like a zombie for half the day, snapping at everyone, when you aren't getting proper sleep.”

I opened my mouth to protest then shut it knowing she was right.

My mother actually laughed out loud.

“My my my, this is going to be quite fun to sit back and watch the two of you. I always expected my boy to take a meek mate. Someone caring and nurturing and catering who would stroke his ego. You, my dear, I never even saw coming, but how he needs someone capable and strong enough to dish it back at him and keep that big head of his grounded.”

After the plans were finalized, I dropped Kelsey off at the office. The story was that her car broke down and I was helping her get it repaired and would take much of the day to do it. It wasn't any surprise to anyone. I loved tinkering with cars and had skipped work on more than one occasion to do just that for others. It would also explain why her car was currently at my house and why Elise was taking her home. I'd see to it that her car was back home before they got there.

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