Page 49 of Mate Night Snack
Loved. The word settled in his thoughts like it belonged there, waiting for him to acknowledge what his wolf had known from the moment she stepped out of that dusty Jeep.
"You're thinking loud enough to wake the dead," Katniss said, glancing up at him with those hazel eyes that seemed to seestraight through his carefully constructed walls. "Want to share with the class?"
"Just processing," he said, which was true enough. "Today's been heavy."
"That's one word for it." She squeezed his arm gently. "Learning that I'm apparently the latest in a long line of doomed heroines wasn't exactly how I planned to spend my morning."
They reached the cabin as the sun began its descent toward the mountains, casting the cedar siding in warm honey tones. Emmett had built this place with his own hands during his first year in Hollow Oak, needing something that was entirely his after losing everything else. The river rock chimney, the wide front porch, the windows positioned to catch both sunrise and sunset—every detail had been chosen with care, creating a sanctuary that had felt empty until now.
Until her.
He held the door open, watching as she stepped inside and immediately made herself at home. She kicked off her boots by the door, hung her leather jacket on the hook beside his flannel, and moved to the stone fireplace where embers from this morning's fire still glowed faintly red. The sight of her belongings mingling with his sent a possessive satisfaction through him that his wolf answered with a low, pleased rumble.
"I'll get the fire going again," he said, moving to add kindling to the grate. "Evening's coming on cooler than expected."
"Emmett." Her voice was soft but firm, the tone she used when she'd made up her mind about something important. "We need to talk."
His hands stilled on the piece of oak he'd been about to place. "About?"
"About what Twyla said. About patterns and choices and what happens next." She settled onto the worn leather couch, tucking her legs under her. "About us."
He finished building up the fire, using the familiar task to steady his nerves. Flames caught and began to dance, casting flickering light across the room and painting Katniss in warm golds and deep shadows. When he turned to face her, she was watching him with that focused intensity that made him feel like she could read every thought he'd ever had.
"What do you want to know?" he asked, settling beside her but leaving space between them. Close enough to touch, far enough to run if this conversation went sideways.
"Everything." She shifted to face him fully, one hand resting on the couch cushion between them. "The real everything, not the careful version you've been feeding me. If we're going to face whatever's coming, I need to know exactly where we stand."
Emmett studied her face, noting the determined set of her jaw, the way her fingers curled slightly like she was preparing to hold onto something precious. His wolf paced restlessly under his skin, urging him to claim, to mark, to make this woman his in every way that mattered.
But that was exactly the kind of thinking that had destroyed the other couples Twyla had described. Fate and instinct and magical compulsion overriding choice and genuine feeling.
"Katniss," he said carefully, "there's something you need to understand about what I am. About what happens when wolves find their mates."
"I know about the mate bond," she said. "When you left to go help the Tansley brothers after this morning, Twyla explained some of it, and I've done enough research to understand the basics from there. Magical connection, heightened protectiveness, that whole 'two souls becoming one' thing."
"That's part of it." He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. "But there's more. When a wolf finds his true mate, it's not just emotional. It's biological. Chemical. The scent recognition, the need to claim and protect, the way every instinctscreams that this person belongs to you—it's all hardwired into what we are."
Her expression didn't change, but he caught the slight hitch in her breathing. "And?"
"And I need you to know that whatever this is between us, it's not just the bond talking." He turned to face her fully, his storm-gray eyes meeting hers without flinching. "My wolf recognized you as mate the moment you stepped out of that Jeep. Hell, maybe even before that, in whatever dream or vision brought you here that was more than just the cold case. But that's not why I love you."
The words hung in the air between them, simple and raw and more honest than anything he'd said in years. Katniss's eyes widened slightly, her lips parting in surprise.
"Emmett..."
"Let me finish." He reached for her hand, covering her smaller fingers with his callused palm. "I love you because you argue with me when I'm being an ass. Because you see a mystery and chase it down even when everyone warns you off. Because you looked at my scars and didn't flinch, didn't see a monster or a victim, just a man who'd survived something hard."
Her fingers curled around his, warm and steady.
"I love your stubborn courage and your sharp tongue and the way you make me laugh even when I'm trying to brood." A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I love that you came to this town chasing ghosts and ended up saving us all from becoming them."
"You don't know that yet," she said quietly. "We haven't won anything."
"We've already won the thing that matters most." He lifted their joined hands, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. "We chose each other. Not because fate demanded it, not because some ancient magic forced our hands, but because we wanted to.Because when I look at you, I see my future. And when you look at me..."
"I see home," she finished, her voice barely above a whisper. "I see the man I want to build a life with, supernatural drama and all."
The fire crackled in the hearth, sending sparks up the chimney and filling the room with the scent of burning oak and cedar. Outside, the wind rustled through the trees with the soft whisper of evening settling over the mountains. But inside the cabin, the world had narrowed to just the two of them and the weight of words that couldn't be taken back.
