Page 24 of Wooded Bliss

“I want you,” he growls, his eyes shifting slightly and this time I know I’m not making it up. “I was letting fear guide me instead of trusting in the Goddess’ plan for me. We only get one mate inthis life, one mate to mate, mark, love, and protect. I don’t want to lose you; I don’t want to lose my mate.”

Something, his bear, is peeking out at me. How strange. Why am I not freaking out about this?

“There’s no way I could walk away from you now. You’re mine, little one,” he grits out through his teeth as if he’s trying to hold himself back.

“Then why did you leave?”

“I wasn’t sure how to have this conversation,” he admits. “I felt badly because I should have told you everything before taking your virginity and giving you mine. It was like there was this big secret between us, one you had no idea even existed, and I felt horrible about it, like I was lying to you.” He sighs and shakes his head. “My bear was not happy about being away from you. He was giving me a lot of shit about it.”

I sigh and rest my head on his shoulder. “Well, I can understand that.” I rear back from him suddenly and glare at him, my tone threatening, “No more secrets.”

The smile that lights up his handsome face is one I want to see every day for the rest of my life. Mates. Somehow it feels right. I’m sure I have a lot more to learn about this whole thing, but I’m not afraid and I can take a moment to soak up how good this moment feels before I worry about all that.

“No more secrets,” he vows. I settle against him, and we sit in silence for a few moments before he muses, “You’re taking this a lot better than I expected.”

“I guess it helps that it happened right in front of me, but even before you shifted, I wasn’t afraid at all, even though I didn’tunderstand why.” I giggle softly and tease him, “Or maybe I’m just in shock.”

He scoffs and kisses the top of my head before standing up and starting to stalk through the house. “Well, if you’re in shock, I think I need to examine you. Thoroughly.”

I throw my head back and laugh as Thatcher looks down at me, his dark eyes twinkling. There’s a lightness around him which wasn’t there the first time I was here. It wasn’t even there when he showed up on my doorstep.

Silently, I make a promise to do everything I can to help him carry his burdens. No matter what.

CHAPTER 10

THATCHER

I watch Birdie’s face carefully, but I don’t see any stress there. She looks at me with so much openness and acceptance. Part of me believes I don’t deserve her or what she’s offering me so freely.

“Don’t,”my bear warns me.“Don’t second guess this.”

“I’m still pissed at you,”I murmur back.“I told you not to shift right then, but you did it anyway.”

“She took the whole shifting from bear to human thing very well,”he chuffs.

“But you didn’t know she was going to take it well. She could have run from us screaming and refusing to see us ever again,”I remind him, as if we didn’t argue about it from the moment he scented our mate on our way back from our run in the woods.

“I had faith in our mate,”he growls.

“Thatcher,” Birdie’s sweet voice has me focusing on the woman in my arms just as I shoulder check the door to my bedroom.

Hopefully soon it’ll be the room we share. I want to get her out here, into my den. It’s something I need, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to convince her to move out here with me. There’s not a lot out here to entice her.

But then again, she already lives on the outskirts of Whispering Pines. Maybe she’ll prefer it out here.

“Are you okay?”

Fuck. I love her voice. It’s soft with a hint of a rasp. There’s no doubt in my mind that I could listen to her talk all day long about anything.

“I’m good, little one,” I tell her honestly. “I was just talking to my bear.”

Her eyes widen and I realize I’ve done a shit job of explaining everything to her. Instead of laying her on the bed and covering her body with mine, I sit on the edge and maneuver her until she’s straddling my lap. Would I rather have her naked and writhing underneath me? Yes, but this is enough for now.

“You can talk to your bear?” There’s awe in her voice and I can’t help but smile.

“I can. When we turn 18 and can shift, our bear appears then. They are part of us, but they aren’t us, if that makes sense.” Her eyebrows pull together and I chuckle because she’s fucking adorable. “We share a body, and we share a mate, but we aren’t the same. My bear is driven by his instincts, more so than I am. They can help us when we get off track because we’re not beingtrue to our shifter side. We can help them to not be ruled by their primal needs all the time. We’re balanced, but without our mate we aren’t complete.”

“Wow,” she whispers, her blue eyes wide and round. “It’s not strange having another voice in your head? Someone that isn’t you, but is you?”

---