Page 62 of Rugged

The scratch I gave her last night was enough to mark her.

She was my marked mate.

Shit. I hadn’t meant to do it.

It should be perfect, the connection we now had. Especially since she now knew I was a shifter. Except it wasn’t.

Looking down, I saw the scrape on her neck. The little scab. I’d marked her without her consent. Without her knowing what carrying my mark meant. Hell, she hadn’t even known I was a shifter at the time.

I needed to explain everything, but was she ready to hear that I’d marked her for life? That my wolf had claimed her and would never let her go?

She was human. She wouldn’t understand how deep this thing ran for us. To her, if she wasn’t ready to commit to forever with me, it could feel suffocating.

She stirred in my hold, sniffed.

I stilled.

“Morning,” she murmured then froze.

Fuck. The peace and calm that should be our new existence was gone.

She remembered.

I didn’t let her up, not that she was trying to move. My hands began their caresses again.

“Morning, baby.”

“Last night was… um, crazy.” She rubbed her cheek across my bare chest.

My dick stirred because she was conscious, but I ignored it. This wasn’t the time to fuck. Well, it was always time to fuck my mate, and especially now that she was marked, but there were things to talk about first.

“You have questions,” I assumed.

She tried to push up, but I was afraid she was going to leave, so I slid her off me, and I shifted her so we were both on our sides facing each other. Reaching down, I grabbed the sheet and pulled it over us.

Her eyes still looked sleepy, but they were bright when they met mine.

“So you’re awolf.”

“Yeah.”

“You were born that way?”

“It’s the only way,” I replied.

“My parents are shifters in a Nebraska pack. I mentioned my sister. She’s obviously also one. And her pups.”

“Pups?”

“Kids.”

“And the guy who attacked her?”

I nodded.

“And everyone here at Wolf Ranch?”

“The guys. And Willow. The other womenare human like you.”

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