Page 8 of A Clutch for Hutch
He pressed the sweetest kiss to my head, jumped back, and mid-jump shifted into his bunny, although I wasn’t sure if that was considered a rude way to refer to him, since technicallyrabbit was the name of his animal. I’d have to talk to him about that later. I had to talk to him about so many things, but for now, it was just the two of us in our animal forms.
At first, I walked as he hopped, but then he kept inching his head up, as if he wanted to watch me fly—as if I could deny my mate anything. I took to the air. I flew in circles, swooping and swirling, showing off quite a bit. My dragon wanted to make a good impression on this wonderful shifter Fate somehow deemed ours.
And then my rabbit took off, and I followed him, always cognizant of any dangers that might be around, ready to swoop in and save the day. He was an alpha. He didn’t need me swooping in, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to protect him and keep him safe.
Was that going to be a problem for us? Was he big into alpha/omega rules? If he was, I’d tamp it down. He needed to be comfortable.
Looking back, that was probably why I liked being CEO. For the time that I was there, I was looking after all those shifters I employed. I gave people starts in fields they weren’t quite qualified for so that they could get experience in case they wanted to go wherever the money led, or the experience, or their mates…
But in a relationship, what would that look like? I wasn’t sure. I never had one. I never even had any true friendships. The closest was Burns, and initially that started as me being his boss, so there was always some sort of power dynamic there. Whether we wanted it or not. Not anymore, but that part of our time together was still new.
I was officially overthinking everything instead of enjoying this beautiful desert evening with my mate. Determined to get out of my own head, I swooped down in front of him and ate a lizard, showing off once again and instantly regrettingit, because, well, they don’t taste that good. Next time, I was waiting for a mouse or something that was far less lizardy.
We reached an enclave of rocks, and my mate shifted back and took a seat, looking up at the sky, and I joined him.
“This is my favorite place,” he explained. “I come out here and watch the sky, usually looking for stars that might hold the answers.”
“Answers to what?” I asked.
“Answers to everything.”
He took my hand, and, with his free one, pointed out constellations. Some were the actual constellations and others were ones that he made up. I learned so much about him through his storytelling. He truly had a gift for it.
“Is it weird that I feel like I know you so well already, even though I’ve only just met you?” He curled in closer to my side.
“No, it’s not. That’s why Fate gave us to each other, don’t you think?”
I brushed a kiss against his lips, not wanting to push things too far out here in the desert, but at the same time wanting nothing more than to hold him close and never let him go.
“I think it’s time we move on.” He stood up.
“Move on? You got someplace else to show me?”
“I do.” He winked. “My room. Want to come?”
Before I could answer, he turned and shifted and bounded toward Animals again. I wasn’t far behind him.
Chapter Eight
Dirk
Everything happened so fast, and yet nothing was finalized.
And yet it was the most extraordinary night of my life. He was my mate without a doubt from the moment I scented him, days at least after he’d last visited Animals. But there were no rules that said he had to accept me if he didn’t like me for some reason.
Or at least so I’d heard. That Fate offered, but no one was forced to accept. And yet, if those who said such things were pressed for details, they without exception had not one single case to cite. Nobody they’d met, and nobody they could even mention by name had chosen not to accept the precious gift from Fate.
Was I going to be the first one?
By the time we reached the hallway outside my room, walls carved from the red stone of the Superstition Mountains, we were already kissing and yanking at the clothes we’d just put back on. Most shifters shredded their clothes by accidentally shifting too fast, but we’d not been guilty of that. Instead, we couldn’t get them off fast enough, and the tearing of scenes accompanied our first kisses, hugs, and groping. Of course, we’d seen one another undressed while shifting, and I wasn’t enough of a liar to deny having stolen a peek at him. My mate was fine.
But, just as I reached for the knob to open the door and let him into my room—in a hurry because while shifters were comfortable with almost anything, to me, our first time, our mating was not only private but sacred—I let my hand drop. “First, I need to say something.”
His eyes were glazed, unfocused. “Yes, alpha? Do you want to stop? Are things moving too fast?”
Shifters generally went from meeting to mating in minutes if not seconds, but everyone was a little different, and our love story belonged to us alone. But that wasn’t why I needed to slow things down. I would gladly race to a life together without any fetters, but things were rarely so simple.
“No.” I licked my lips, swollen from our kisses. “I don’t want to stop, but there are things you need to know about me before we—before I mark you. The sensible thing would be to sit down now and have a long conversation.”
