Page 14 of Her Purr-fect Christmas Mate

But that would require an intimacy he wasn’t ready for yet.

What? You talk to other shifters like that all the time!his dragon protested.

Yes. Shifters he was facing across the negotiating table or manipulating by edging their thoughts with fear of the dragon lurking inside him. Not his mate. Not the woman he was meant to treasure, not terrify.

As though I haven’t done that already.That must be why she was stuck in her animal form. The shock of finding out he was her mate had been too much.

I should have let her go.

“Tell me what you need.” He tried to make his voice gentle. The tiny cat stared at him suspiciously. “Whatever you need to help you take human form again. And then we can discuss…thisfurther. Stay here, if you prefer. You can’t go anywhere like this.”

*That’s where you’re wrong.* Tiny claws flexed through his merino suit jacket and the cotton shirt beneath to prick into his skin. *You’re going to take me to the board meeting. And because you’re my mate, once you’re there, you’re going to say you’ve changed your mind about destroying the Hypatia.*

I must be mad.

The logical thing to do would have been to leave Peony back at the building, or, better yet, take her to his home, where she would be safe, and attend the function alone. Enjoy his victory and then deal with his mate. In that order.

Instead, he was ferrying her around in his jacket pocket like some sort of sharp-clawed Christmas elf.

He was mad. Clearly.

But the idea of leaving her in the Hypatia, pretending so hard she wasn’t so overwhelmed that she couldn’t even control her shifting, left him with a pit in his stomach. And as for taking her home—

He never took anyone home. Normally, he told himself this was because it was his sanctuary. The one place he could be free of the bullshit that dogged the rest of his life.

For some reason, when he thought of bringing her there, his luxurious apartment felt as cold and dim as the matchbox-sized excuse for an apartment his mate lived in.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough…

You have it the wrong way around,his dragon insisted with a derisory puff of smoke.You shoulddealwith your victory, and thenenjoyyour mate.

You are not helping,he told it sternly.

What? I have already helped a great deal. Remember when I made you fall over?

Mordecai gritted his teeth.Unfortunately.

Enjoy Peony? The thought tore at him. She was so full of life and fervor, and he was… himself.If the world were different… If I were a different man… If I’d made different choices…

Except his choices hadn’t been choices at all. They were his fate, the same as she was. One he’d pursued like a hunter chasing its quarry, with no time for anything else. And now she was here, in his life where he’d left no room for her.

*Where are we?* Her voice skittered nervously against his mind, and he repressed a sudden urge to pat the pocket she was hiding in.

“Outside the club. You can’t hear it?” He wasn’t concerned about anyone overhearing his one-sided conversation; outside the club, they would assume he was talking on the phone. Inside, it would take a shifter’s enhanced senses to have any chance of hearing him.

*I can hear lots of things. And smell lots of things.*She sounded amazed. *Is this what it’s always like? Um. Here, I mean. I’m not a big club person.*

Neither was he. But his dragon offered him a vision of Peony in the skimpy clothes favored by most of the men and women waiting to be let inside.

She would be very cold,it suggested.You would have to find a way to warm her up.

If he gritted his teeth any harder, they were going to shatter. “I have no idea what it’s like to have a cat’s senses.”

Tiny claws pricked the lining of his jacket. *Thanks for rubbing it in. What’s it like for whatever amazing creature you can turn into, then? The one that was so incredible you couldn’t show me back at the shop?*She paused and then added, *The GIANT ASSHOLE animal. Giantus Assholius.*

He was fairly certain she hadn’t meant to say that last part out loud.

“My animal’s sensory input is different, but it soon becomes second nature.” He hesitated. “Or so I expect. Like you, I don’t spend a great deal of time in my animal form.”

---