Page 72 of Never Been Gargoyled
“Did you just call me your mate?”
“It's a gargoyle thing,” he said quickly. “Like girlfriend, but more permanent.”
“More permanent how?”
“Very permanent. Like, for life permanent.”
I stared at him. “Are you proposing to me?”
“No! I mean, not exactly. Not yet. It's complicated.”
“Feydin.”
“Gargoyles mate for life,” he said in a rush. “When we find our person, that's it. There's no one else, ever. And you're…” His wings flared out and he met my eyes. “You're mine. If you want to be.”
The vulnerability in his voice, and the way he braced himself for rejection, made my heart ache. “You're saying I'm your person?”
“Yes.”
“Your one and only?”
“Yes.”
“For life?”
“Yes.”
Tapping my chin, I pretended to consider this seriously. “Well, when you put it like that.”
“Dazy.”
I grinned. “I like the sound of being your mate. It's very official. Very permanent.”
Relief loosened his shoulders. “Really?”
“Really. Though you might want to work on your delivery next time. That was possibly the least romantic declaration of eternal love I've ever heard.”
“I'll practice.”
“You do that.” I stood up and kissed him, tasting happiness and hope and the promise of whatever future we'd build together. “Now come on, mate. We have a garden to finish.”
As we worked through the afternoon, I felt something I hadn't experienced in a long time, a sense of belonging. Not just to this place, but to the community that had embraced me, and to the male who loved me enough to follow me anywhere.
Rebecca might have the law on her side. But I had something more powerful.
I had people who believed in me.
Chapter 26
Feydin
Watching Dazy work alongside me in the garden, her face flushed with determination and hope, I felt something shift in my chest. She'd called herself my mate without hesitation, had embraced the permanence of what that meant between gargoyles. The way she'd grinned when she said it, like she was claiming something precious, made my wings twitch with the urge to wrap them around her and never let go.
That evening, after she'd gone inside to shower, I found myself staring at my phone. There was one person who might have advice, someone who understood both the intensity of gargoyle bonds and the complexities of navigating relationships after years of solitude.
My brother.
We hadn't spoken since our argument two years ago. Pride and stubbornness had kept us apart, but watching Dazy fight for what mattered to her mademe realize how foolish I'd been. Some things were more important than wounded feelings.
