Page 73 of Hawke

I smiled cheekily. “I wish you had a tail. I bet it would be wagging. Does your dick wag instead when your tail isn’t out?”

“Delilah, I’m trying to be serious!”

“And since when have you known me to be serious around you?” I poked his chest. “I can’t be all serious when you make me happy.”

Hawke’s eyes softened. “You mean that, after all I put you through?”

I nodded, playing with my fingers. “Of course. You spent a lot of time with me. You tried to do what was best for me. Maybe at the time, I got mad at you.” I smirked. “Now that I know why you did it, to protect your family, friends, even the other little humans like me.” I batted my lashes flirtatiously. “I always knew you did it for a reason.”

Hawke sighed, pulling me into a hug. “You’re too good for me.”

“I know.” I patted his back. “Now tell me.”

I could hear Hawke’s steady breathing as he held me close, his arms not loosening. His hand went down to my lower back and a zing of arousal hit my core.

“As much as I want to start something—” I rolled my hips on his crotch. He groaned, grabbing my ass cheeks and letting his claws sink into the fabric. I moaned, my head rolling back. “I need to know why I got sick.”

He grumbled and agreed. “Bond sickness. It happens when you wait too long to bond with your mate. Our bond was weak since I met you because I didn’t believe in the goddess. But once I prayed to her again, once I asked for help and for my second chance, it snapped into place. It caused our two years apart to come rushing at once, and now we get sick if our souls are not close.”

I pensively looked at him. It made sense. I didn’t like being away from him, especially not since yesterday.

“When did you pray to her to ask for help?”

“Yesterday morning, and by yesterday afternoon when I left you, it was solidified, further making me believe you are my true mate. That was why you got so ill. For a human, you feel it ten times worse. I was still in pain, but your little body felt the brunt of it.” Hawke’s shoulders slumped, and his hand cupped my cheek.

“You are a stubborn butt.” I crossed my arms. “You could have prayed to your goddess to find out for sure, and you didn’t?”

How could he have waited two years, not praying to a deity? This shifter was like any other human male who would not ask for directions.

Hawke nodded sheepishly. “We both now have Bond Sickness. We cannot leave each other’s side until we have completed our bond.”

“What is a completed bond?” I asked.

“Like a marriage for humans, except this is deeper, Delilah. It’s so much more. This is for eternity.” Hawke leaned back against the headboard, his hands never leaving my body.

Hawke was touching me all over—my arms, my hips, my waist. His hands ran up and down my legs and even through the black leggings, I could feel the fire run up my inner thighs.

“And you want to complete that with me? Right?” I asked.

Because I was really curious how this would work if he didn’t bond with me. We couldn’t leave each other’s sides without being sick; I can’t imagine how his job and mine would even work out.

“Of course, I want to bond with you!” he snarled. “I want it more than anything!”

“Then act like it. You act like I’m going to be the ball and chain!” I snapped.

Hawke snarled, pushing me into the mattress. His fingers dug into the back of my hair, pulling my neck so it was bare to him. I could feel the heat of his breath trickle down my shirt, to my breasts. They hardened with each breath he took.

His nose traced down my neck until it tickled my shoulder. A zing of fire ran from my collar bone down between the apex of my thighs. I let out a helpless whimper, wanting nothing more than for him to bite me there.

I didn’t know the reason, I just wanted it.

“I want you more than you will ever know. And that makes me question if I should bond with you. Because let me tell you something, when we bond, you will change. You won’t be my little human anymore. Your body will change into something more feral, more animalistic. And with that change comes pain, pain I never want to see you experience.”

I swallowed. Hawke’s voice deepened further.

“Two things could happen. You finish your shift, and you become like me or—” The deathly silence was thick, the room becoming smaller by the second. “You die in the process, and my fucking heart can’t take that.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

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