Page 69 of Married into the Mob
“I’ve missed you.” I’d relayed that message many times in phone calls and texts during the week.
He nodded, his eyes glistening with tears.
“How about we go onto the terrace and talk.”
“Okay.”
He sat in one of the loungers and hugged a cushion, and I pulled a stool opposite him.
“Talk to me.” If we continued as we were, he might never return.
“You hate me.”
“Where did that come from? Never. There’s nothing that you can do or say that would make me hate you. Even if you run away and I never see you again.” No matter how upset I was, I could never do anything but love him.
“I owe Aunt Louisa so much. My life, really. And she is adamant that I stay with her and resume it.”
He extended a hand, and I took it, our first skin-to-skin contact in a week. Now the tears streamed over his cheeks, and he let out a sob. My wolf insisted I take him in my arms, and I longed to. But not yet.
“Every day I waver about being the person she brought me up to be and the best mate. You’re upset and so is Aunt Louisa. And I feel like my insides have been ripped out and I’m just a shell.”
“My darling Dellie. When true mates are apart, they pine for one another thanks to instinct that has been honed over the centuries. That instinct keeps mates tethered to one another.”
My mate placed a hand over my heart. He gasped. “Hunter, it’s different. It used to thrum so beautifully, and now it’ssimilar to music being played off key.”
“That can’t be good. What do you think might fix that?”
He pursed his lips. “I can’t imagine.”
But we had to be serious, and I had a confession. “I was also worried that despite being fated mates, I was wrong for you and your aunt was correct.”
“But I’m concerned that part of the attraction to you is the excitement, the adrenaline of getting away from those goons and taking down Stefan. That’s not real life.”
And there was that gap between his human existence and my shifter mafia one.
“Itismine,” I admitted.
He looked down, and I followed his gaze, wondering if he was thinking the stoneware needed cleaning.
“But in here,” he pounded his chest, “it feels right. And Aunt Louisa doesn’t know you like I do.”
“I hope not.” I caught his eye, and we giggled. “What if there is something else that bonds us, not just fate?”
Odell rested his chin on his hand. “Go on.”
“Perhaps your heart—or if you prefer the word soul—was destined to be linked to mine because of our personality. Your love of danger, how you can almost taste it. We’re connected not just because of our hearts but because we love taking risks. We’re thrill-seekers.”
A smile tugged at the corner of my mate’s mouth. “You think so, do you?” Now he was grinning. “You want to know what I think?” He charged ahead without giving me a chance to reply. “I think you’re full of shit.”
Whoa, really? And I was so hopeful that he’d see and sense that connection and agree with me.
My mate put his hands on my shoulders. “You want me to know I’m not a bad person if I kick some bad guy’s ass.”
He could kick my butt any time if he thought I'd been bad.
“You’re a good person, Dellie, one who lives a life according to human laws and donates to charities if they can and helps little old ladies across the street.”
“Does the pack look after its elderly members?”
