Page 8 of The Fated Mate Bandit

“I could make them, if you like,” I suggest. “Maybe I could cook and clean for you in exchange for staying here. I know it isn’t much?—”

He shakes his head. “Absolutely not. Your feet are swollen. Why don’t you sit down and put them up?”

I glance down at my feet. They’re almost twice their normal size.

“I’m sorry?—”

“Lucas, it’s okay. You came here for help, right? I want to help you, and I don’t mind cooking.” He pulls out a chair and gestures to it.

I sit down in the chair reluctantly. How will I work with feet this swollen? I had a hard enough time holding down my job with all the throwing up I did in the first trimester, but at least I could still walk.

Silver pulls out the chair next to it and pats the seat. “For your poor feet.”

I lift one foot, then the other. I hate the way Silver winces at their size. There was a time when he looked at my body like I was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Silver walks over to the kitchen and starts grabbing ingredients from the cupboard. “My boss said I could telework for the next few days. I still have a lot to do, but at least I’ll be around. I figured we could go shopping tonight after I get off. You’re welcome to wear one of my shirts until then. It won’t fit well, but at least it’s clean.”

Wolf shifters often wear their mate’s clothing in the honeymoon phase of the relationship. It’s the smell. We like being reminded of our lover while we go about our day. It’s completely inappropriate for me to wear another alpha’s clothing, though. Kissing Silver would probably be less intimate than that. But the idea of being surrounded by Silver’s scent is so wonderful, I know I won’t tell him no.

It’s only until tonight when we can buy something else.

“Thank you,” I say softly. “I’ll pay you back when I find a job?—”

“No way. You don’t owe me a cent okay? And no rush on getting a job. I can take care of the expenses for now. You said you’re six months along, right? You could stay with me until the pups come, and then start looking for work once they’re six or seven months old.”

That would mean staying here for nine or ten months before I started looking for work.“I couldn’t impose on you like that,” I say.

He looks away from me. “What if it wouldn’t be an imposition?”

“What are you talking about? You’re spending money on me and cooking for me.”

“I just mean, what if I want you here?” he asks, meeting my gaze again. “What if I missed you?”

He missed me? It’s been five long years since we were together, and here he is, living in a big, beautiful house with a good job. Why would it even occur to him to miss me?

“I’m bonded to Daryl,” I remind him and myself. Especially myself.

He drags a hand through his short hair. “Do you still want to be?”

“It doesn’t matter what I want.”

“There are ways to remove a bond,” he says.

I hold back a bitter laugh. “I can’t afford a warlock, Silver. You know that.”

“A warlock isn’t the only way.” He watches me closely, as if he’s waiting for some kind of reaction. I have no idea what he’s talking about. If there was an easy way to remove a bond, half the wolf shifters in Texas would do it. Hating our fated mates is something we pass down generation to generation, like poverty.

“Like what?” I finally ask, when it becomes clear he isn’t going to volunteer the information on his own.

He swallows hard. “My paws. I could break your bond if I put my paws on you.”

He means claim me as his mate.

The enormity of what he’s offering makes me speechless. He’s always been kind, but that’s on another level.

“No,” I say so quietly, I’m not sure he heard. I’m not even sure I want him to hear. It wouldn’t be fair to let Silver sacrifice his own chance at a happy future to save me. But a small part of me wants to let him.

If only I was selfish enough to ignore what it would cost him.

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