Page 28 of Brody
Mate.
The word resonated through every cell in my body as I shifted forms without conscious thought, bones cracking and reforming until I stood before her as a man.Naked.Vulnerable.Completely unprepared for the tidal wave of emotion crashing over me.
She was beautiful, all dark skin and fierce intelligence, her hazel eyes wide with a mixture of fear and something else.Something primal and knowing.
Her scent intensified, sweet notes of arousal cutting through the savanna heat.The bond between us flared to life, weaving invisible connections between my soul and hers.
“Fuck,” I growled, the word torn from somewhere deep and instinctive.“You’re my fated mate.”
My wolf surged forward, howling with joy and triumph.Mine.Ours.Finally.The perfect mate the universe had crafted just for us.My body responded instantly.
But as I stepped toward her, my father’s broken face flashed before my eyes, the hollowness after my mother died, the way the mate bond had destroyed him so completely he’d abandoned his own son.The terror of that memory collided with the joy of finding my fated mate, creating a war inside me that tore me apart.
If I claimed her now, would I become him?Would I destroy her?Would I lose myself if I ever lost her?
“There is a probability of zero for encountering one’s fated mate in a random location,” she said.
“Apparently, fate doesn’t give a shit about probabilities,” I replied, moving closer despite the screaming in my head.Her scent was intoxicating, intelligence and strength and sweet female arousal wrapped in a package that called to everything primal in me.
“Jesus,” I breathed, inhaling deeply as her lust spiked.“I can smell your arousal.”
She lifted her chin with a defiance that made my wolf growl with approval.Strong.Perfect.Ours.
“You’re my fated mate,” she said simply.“Biology doesn’t lie, even when it’s inconvenient.”
My hand lifted of its own accord, fingers trembling as they hovered near her cheek.One touch.That’s all it would take to seal this connection.One touch, and she would be mine forever.
And I would be hers.
I didn’t even know her name.She didn’t know mine.We were strangers recognizing each other on the most primal level, yet we hadn’t exchanged the most basic information humans shared when they met.
I was about to reject a woman whose name I’d never asked for, whose life I knew nothing about, all because of a fear that gripped me tighter than any enemy ever had.
My father’s hollow eyes.His final words before he walked away.“I can’t do this without her.I can’t be half a person.”
Fear crashed through me with such force it stole my breath.Not fear of her, but fear of what claiming her would mean.Fear of the vulnerability it would create.Fear of becoming my father, either hurting her or being destroyed by losing her.
I jerked back like she’d burned me, forcing ice into my veins where fire had been raging moments before.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, the words like knives in my throat.“I won’t claim you.”
The shock and pain that flashed across her face nearly broke me.My wolf howled in protest, clawing at my insides, fighting to reclaim control.To take what was ours.But my human fear was stronger.
“What?”she asked, the word barely audible.
I turned away, each step physically painful, like walking on broken glass.My body screamed at me to turn back, to claim what the universe had given us.
“Find someone else,” I called over my shoulder, my voice cracking as the mate bond stretched between us, already beginning to fray with distance.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”she snarled.“You just told me I’m your fated mate, and now you’re walking away?”
Every instinct in my body demanded I turn back.Claim her.Make her ours.My wolf was in agony, fighting my control with everything he had.
“That’s right,” I forced myself to say, my voice hollow.
“No.”The word exploded from her.“Absolutely not.You don’t get to drop the fated mate bomb and then just leave.”
“Watch me,” I said without looking back, afraid that if I met her eyes again, my resolve would crumble.
