Page 63 of Sparks Flying

I reached down and pulled her shirt up and over her head then took my sweet time removing her bra while assaulting her with light kisses between her neck and shoulder stopping every now in then to lick the exact spot I knew I’d someday mark her as mine.

Her sharp intake of breath told me she knew exactly what I was thinking, too.

If I stopped to think about it, I just might freak out. I’d made it my life’s mission never to get attached to a female. Keep them at arm’s length. Enjoy the moment and let it go. But since the first moment I saw Bailey, everything has been different.

She was my mate. I couldn’t do casual with her. It was all or nothing, so I needed to be damn sure we were both all in on this.

Every kiss, every touch, every laugh was designed to pull us closer together. The bond between true mates was like an invisible string intertwining their lives together. To me, it felt much like a drug making me crave more and more with each little shared moment.

“You’re so beautiful. And this is crazy. Tell me a raven and wolf can really make it in this world. I need to know we have an actual chance, Bailey. All of this, it’s what I never thought I wanted or needed. I went out of my way to avoid relationships or getting close to anyone. And now all I want to do is spend time with you.”

“I guess it’s the mating bond making us feel that way. It’s so confusing. What’s real and what isn’t?”

“When a raven finds his true mate, it’s almost always all in. Sure, sometimes people try to fight it. Even Ryan and Gracie went through a rough patch during their mating, but that’s not the norm for us. It’s also not as common for us to find our mate because our raven has to meet her first. And once that happens, it’s usually a pretty smooth transition to bonding.”

“But I’m a wolf and we notoriously fight against the bond. Our mating periods tend to be far more volatile with a lot of poor decisions made.”

“Maybe that’s what we’re both feeling, then.”

“What do you mean?”

“The pull and tug between a raven’s bond of acceptance and a wolf’s tendency to question things. You asked what’s real and what’s isn’t. I’ve never heard a raven question that before, not when it comes to true mates.”

“How can you not? Is it the bond making us want things neither of us thought we wanted? Or is it really what we desire? I’m eighteen years old, Dean. The last thing in the world I want right now is a mate, or wanted, I guess. Now I don’t know what to think.”

“I likely put up barriers between relationships and intimacy because I was waiting to find you.”

“And my shrink tells me I’m terrified of intimacy because of the volatile environment I grew up in watching my mom being abused.”

“I will never purposefully hurt you, Bailey.”

“I know that. I wouldn’t be here, half naked, having this conversation if I didn’t fully trust you. But then, I barely know you, so when I stop to really think about it, it’s just confusing and weird.”

“It’s not. It’s in our nature to connect. The physical part is easy and feels good. But the emotional part, the showing up every single day part is a whole different ballgame.”

“So you’re saying we can be physical but not connected?”

“Exactly. Wait, no. Not with you.”

It was true. I couldn’t just do a one-night stand with Bailey. And more importantly, I didn’t want to.

When I looked at her, I could see forever. I could see our hypothetical kids and the excitement of discovering if they were ravens or wolves or a mix of both. I could see coming home to her every single day, having dinner, playing video games, making love to her, and so much more. It was the clearest path of my life that I’d ever known. And I knew that even though a raven and wolf didn’t exactly make sense, it felt right because we were destined to be together.

“I don’t want to fight the bond,” I finally told her. “I want to let it grow and see what happens.”

“What about school? Your family? You have a life here, but mine’s in California. Until coming here, I’ve never even left Westin Pack territory.”

“And all I’ve ever known is Ravenden. But Bailey, you are more important to me than that. I can’t promise you that you can just go away to college and have a normal experience there. If that’s where you need to be, then that’s where I need to be.”

“Your head of security here. That’s an important position, maybe now more than ever. You can’t just pack up and go off to college with me.”

“It is important, but I don’t know how to be more clear. You are more important than all of that. And if we’re going to do this, then you are my family now. You take priority over everything else.”

“You can’t put that kind of pressure on me. It’s too much.”

I smiled and shook my head. “It’s not too much. It’s not a burden. At times it may be a compromise, but we’re going to have to figure some of that out along the way.”

“I’m only here a few more days, maybe a week tops.”

---