Page 37 of Stolen By The Beast
“Gotta keep you on your…” I paused, glancing down at his back feet. “Hooves.”
“You wish for me to stand?” Karvik made a movement to stand, but I shook my head.
“I’m sorry, Karvik. I’m nervous about what you want to talk about, and I’m teasing you to distract myself.” I took a deep breath and turned serious. “What’s on your mind?”
Karvik didn’t speak immediately. After a heavy pause, he rubbed his skull. “I wish to speak of mating.”
I sobered, my playful mood draining away. Was this where he told me it could never work between us?
Sure, he’d talked about mating, but that could just mean sex. He’d asked about humans bonding to each other, but he’d never said he would consider bonding to a human.
“I’m listening.” My words came out in a high-pitched squeak.
“I understand arousal and the primal need to mate. Those are the things that drove my kind to bond. But how do humans decide who to bond with?” Karvik leaned toward me, eager for my answer.
“They commit to each other, or bond, when they find the person they love and want to spend the rest of their life with.” I met his eyes, letting him see how I felt.
“Love? What is love?”
He was asking a question as old as time, and I didn’t know how to begin to explain it.
“It’s when you find your other half. The one who makes the rest of the world fade away. You know, when all you want is to be with that person, and your day is better just because they exist.”
I took a breath and continued. “You know, when every fiber of your being wants to touch them and be touched by them, and the thought of anyone else touching you is repulsive. It is something you just know deep in your soul.”
I fell silent, struggling with how to make him understand.
“Do you feel this for me?” Karvik’s voice held a longing, or was that sadness I heard?
I hadn’t expected to be asked that question so bluntly. Weren’t declarations of love generally made spontaneously in the heat of the moment?
But I had to remember I wasn’t speaking with a human male. I was speaking with a beast who was still learning about emotions and human behavior.
So I shouldn’t have been surprised by his direct approach, and I had a decision to make. Did I try to save my feelings by dodging his question? Or did I admit to my growing feelings?
“Love is something that starts as a seed and grows stronger with time.” Taking a deep breath, I plunged into the terrifying unknown. “But yes, I’m falling in love with you, Karvik.”
“Do you wish to bond with me? Or does your body just crave the release of mating?” Karvik’s matter-of-fact reaction to my revelation stung a bit.
He’d moved straight on to asking if I wanted to marry him or just bang him. My cheeks burned and my tongue refused to make words.
Thankfully, Karvik spoke again. “Juniper, I do not know if I am capable of love. I wish to be with you, but I cannot swear that I will ever be able to return your love.”
I scooted across the grass to sit in front of him. Stroking his soft fur, I tried to clear my throat of the lump that was blocking it.
“I understand that, Karvik. It doesn’t matter.” I smiled up at him. “I want to bond with you, to be yours… not just for one night, or a few months, but forever.”
Karvik snorted. “How can you want that? I cannot offer that which a human male can.”
Gathering my courage, I asked the questions that had been swirling in my mind the past several days. “Do you enjoy spending time with me?”
“Yes.” His answer was immediate.
“Does my touch make you happy?”
“These are foolish questions. If it were possible, I’d let you lie in my arms, petting me for moons on end,” Karvik huffed.
I hesitated, remembering how he’d stopped us both times when things had gotten heated. “Do you want to mate with me?”
