Page 96 of Destined Mate

“Yeah,” he rasped, his teeth grazing my skin again, scratching it just enough for blood to well and the metallic scent to swirl between us.

The sting shot heat through my body, and something inside me began to churn like never before. “I don’t want you to make a rash decision and do something you’ll regret. I don’t want one moment of pleasure to lead to resenting me.” My breathing turned ragged from desire and fear, and my traitorous hands wrapped around his neck, pushing his mouth closer to my neck. Every cell in my body wanted him to claim me.

He chuckled as his tongue licked my blood. I sagged against the door.

“This isn’t a rash decision.” His hand slid under my shirt, touching my bare skin. I shivered. His touch was intoxicating, and when he pulled back, I groaned in protest. He freed a hand and tipped my head. We locked eyes. “I’ve been miserable ever since I told you we couldn’t be together. Your leaving the next morning left me devastated.” His face twisted in agony. “I’ve barely been able to function. The only reason I carried on was so that Zeke wouldn’t see he had control over me through you. But Callie, I’m done pretending. I need you.”

“Why didn’t you contact me?” Now that his teeth weren’t so damn close to my neck, some of my logical thinking reappeared…some, not all. His hands were still on me.

His hands stilled. “Because you asked me not to. I thought I’d lost you, especially when I saw you withhimtonight. I was terrified I’d missed my chance to make it up to you.”

Placing his forehead against mine, he held my gaze. “You don’t have to decide now.” He winced as if the thought of me not giving him an answer would be agonizing. “After all, you could have your own fated mate out there. It isn’t fair for me to decide for us both.”

“Bodey, I don’t care. I never have.” I cupped his face with my hands. “I loveyou. I don’t want anyone else, even if Fate has chosen them for me. That’s never been a question for me.”

He flinched. “I feel the same way. It just took me a minute to get there. My whole life, I’ve sensed that someone is out there for me. I grew up determined to be with her. I needed time to wrap my head around the fact that even though it’s what I’ve wanted my entire life, you changed me fundamentally.”

Guilt weighed on me. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad.”

“You aren’t. I hate that I was a dumbass.” He shook his head. “The first time I saw you, something about you captivated me. A wolf shifter in human form, fighting five wolves. You’d been fighting them for a while before we got there, and you were still standing.” He smiled sadly. “No one, not even my strongest pack members, could’ve done that, but there you were. I see that strength in you every day, yet you’re so kind, beautiful, and loving. There’s no question you’re who I want. I just needed time to realize it, and I’m sorry I hurt us both and that it took me so long.”

The sincerity of his words washed over me like a rainstorm on a hot, muggy day. But there was one more thing I had to be certain of. “You don’t want to mate with me to protect me, do you? Because I don’t need that. I want love and to make a family, not be someone’s charity—”

He kissed me, cutting off my words. Then he growled, “That isnotwhat this is about, Callie. I swear. I know you don’t need protection. I’ve always known that. Even when I helped you with your injuries, it wasn’t because you couldn’t handle the torture. It was because people were taking advantage of you.” He removed one hand from my shirt and rubbed his thumb over the juncture of my neck and shoulder where he’d broken the skin. “Just tell me when you decide you want me forever, and I’ll be here waiting for you.” His irises glowed as his wolf surged forward, man and animal making the promise.

All hesitation melted away, and I sank into his chest. In two weeks, I’d completely fallen in love with him because he was that damn amazing.

Unable to resist him anymore, I kissed him. My tongue slipped into his mouth as my hands fisted his shirt.

He moaned, dropping his hands to my waist again. Our tongues collided, and it wasn’t enough. I’d been craving him for way too long. I slid my hands over his body, desperate to touch every part of him but also wanting to take my time. The conflict was torture, yet the best feeling in the entire world.

He chuckled and pulled back slightly. “I need to know your answer before we move forward. Was that a yes to being my mate, or are we going to take this slow?”

I couldn’t process his question. I was on a high, and he was refusing me my drug of choice—his lips. Then his words replayed in my mind, and I placed my hands on his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat thumping under my palms. My heart was so full that I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had burst. “I feel the same way. There’s no reason to take things slow.” I wanted him more than I needed oxygen to breathe.

A deep growl ripped through his chest as he pressed my body back into his. His tongue swept into my mouth as he walked backward toward the swing. I stumbled forward, unable to focus on anything but the carnal need clenching deep within me.

My lungs caught when we moved past the swing, and he pressed my back against the door to his room. His hand gripped the doorknob, and he held my weight against his body as he opened it.

Our mouths remained fused together. He sucked on my tongue, sending shivers down my spine, and I nipped at his lips. My hands were around his neck, my fingers tangled in his hair. In this moment, we were the only two beings in existence.

He moved me backward again, and I didn’t put up a fight. I trusted him, and I wasn’t surprised when the back of my legs hit the top of a mattress. He gently lowered me, and my scent became stronger and surrounded me. How was that even possible? It was like I was on my own sheets.

I hesitated, my mind foggy. I detangled my hands from him and ran them over the comforter.

He raised himself up. “What’s wrong?”

I glanced down and remembered the white comforter from when I’d slept in the other room. It was on his king-size bed, a little too small. “Is this…?”

“Your bedding from when you stayed here?” Bodey scratched the back of his neck and blushed. “Yeah. I told you I missed you.”

My cheeks hurt from how widely I was smiling. “You brought my comforter in here?”

“And your pillows.” He nodded toward the top of his bed. Sure enough, two pillows covered in white pillowcases lay next to his mustard-colored ones.

“Bodey,” I whispered. He’d been in as much torment as me. In fairness, it might’ve been worse for him because he had memories of me around him.

I glanced around the room, taking everything in, wanting to learn more about him. His decor had similar colors to the rest of the house, but above the bed hung a huge drawing of a guitar. He had black nightstands on either side of his bed and a matching dresser across from the foot. A maroon sports jersey with the name Valor and the number sixteen underneath hung on the wall with no windows.

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