Page 14 of Shifting Hearts

“Yeah, well. There is a first time for everything,” I say with a chuckle.

“I think I am meant to be here, that I was meant to meet you.”

“There is one more thing you need to know,” I say softly, grabbing my jeans and slipping them up my legs. “Shifters … we mate for life.”

“Mate?”

I blush for the first time since we met each other. I mean,she just saw me naked and this is the thing that makes me blush.

“Each shifter has a fated mate, a soulmate, so to speak. At eighteen we can find our fated mates. Some find them quickly, some search for years, and some never find their other half. You are my mate.”

She stares at me in disbelief. “Is that why I have been dreaming of you?”

“We have been dreaming of each other.”

“Really?” She frowns.

“I have been dreaming of you for more than six months. I didn’t know how to find you or where to start looking. It was driving me crazy,” I explain. I take her hand now that I am fully dressed and lead her back to the truck.

“What does that mean?” she asks as I help her into the truck.

“It means I belong to you. Mind, heart, and soul,” I say once I join her inside the cab.

Chapter Eleven

Akasha LaVey

What I Want

The drive back to the apartment building is long and tense. I have a million more questions I want to ask, but I’m not sure Korvin is in the right headspace at the moment. I want to know about his bear, about other shifters, about Aldron and the coming danger he spoke of. But most of all, I want to know about fated mates and what that means for us.

Korvin parks the truck in the basement and leads me to the elevator. The air between us feels charged, especially remembering what he did to me mere hours ago in a metal box just like this one. The memory alone is enough to have arousal thrumming through my veins once more.

When the elevator door slides open, we both step out.

“You have a lot to think about,” Korvin says, his gaze locked somewhere over my head. “And some hard decisions to make.”

“Korvin…”

“Take the night, Akasha,” he cuts in. “Get some rest. The shock hasn’t hit you yet, you are taking this much too calmly. We can talk in the morning if you want.”

I want to argue with him, tell him he doesn’t know what I can handle or what I want, but he is already gone. The door to his apartment is closed and I hear the lock click in place.

How fucking dare he make decisions for me?

Slamming the door to my own apartment I stomp through my living space, wearing my anger like a cloak. It takes me a moment to realize that my cell phone is ringing and another to dig it out of my handbag. I stare at the screen, not sure if I should answer or not, but I do need someone to talk to.

“Ari…”

“Can I come to you? We need to talk. I can’t believe Aldron talked to you without me.” Her words are going a mile a minute and I can’t even get in a word edgewise. “I should have smacked that smug smirk off his handsome face.”

“Ari!” I all but shout to get her attention. When she finally stays quiet, I talk again. “Please…” but the word gets caught on a sob.

“Open the door.”

I stumble to the door, opening it to find the only friend I have standing there. I didn’t even realize I was full-on crying until she wrapped her arms around me, closing the door and leading me to the couch.

“Hush now. Everything will be all right.”

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