Page 32 of Stolen Mate

Once Tess was settled, he asked her if she wanted to go for a walk. Taking her hand, they strolled away from the main compound but still within the safety of its borders.

“Is it hard to learn to shift?” she asked without much preamble.

“Not at all. Without the Celtic knot to keep your instincts at bay, you’d have learned to shift as a kid or at least by the time you were in your teens.”

“Why do you think my parents hid that from me, even after I started talking about having a polar bear as a spirit guide?” Tess stopped and took his hand in hers, looking into his eyes.

Derek rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. “That must have scared the shit out of them. And in their defense, they had no clue what they were dealing with. Remember, the only polar bears they’d seen were violent, lethal beasts—certainly not what they wanted for their darling baby girl.”

“How’d they know about the iron?”

“It’s one of those universal myths about magical creatures that’s actually true,” he said with a shrug. “It keeps a lot of things from shifting. But you shouldn’t be upset with them. You lived surrounded by humans in a place where polar bears don’t exist. Nothing good would have come of you shifting in the wrong place in front of the wrong people.”

“That’s true. Could you teach me?”

“Sure, there’s no reason not to. It really isn’t all that hard,” he said as he continued their stroll without releasing her hand.

“But how do I make her give me control back? She was always lurking in my mind, but since I quit wearing the Celtic knot, she’s been far more of a presence.”

“She came forward when she thought you were in danger. It is only in that instance that she would not wait for your invitation, and she will give up control when you ask her to. The nice thing about Otter Cove and Mystic River is that you can shift pretty much anytime you like.”

“So, what’s with the ending up naked?”

He laughed. “Clothes, shoes, and all that stuff except precious metals and gems do not survive the shift, so you have to either get naked before you shift or plan to have clothes afterwards.”

“You want to tell me why Wyatt referred to me as your ‘mate?’”

That stopped him in his tracks for only a moment before he continued on. He’d really hoped she hadn’t picked up on that, but she had.

“Not particularly. Wait, let me rephrase that. I don’t really want to talk about it at this exact moment; not that I’m glad it isn’t true.”

“What makes you think it’s true?” she persisted.

“The buzzing in your head, the nausea, and dizziness—that only occurred when you were around me and vice versa. Sure sign that your fated mate is near.”

He thought he might have lost her, but she seemed to be thinking. “Is that why I feel so comfortable with you? That feeling we’ve been together before?”

He nodded. “I didn’t tell you because you already had so much to deal with.”

“What usually happens with fated mates?”

He sighed, but it was with humor. “I guess we’re talking about it, then. They become a bonded pair. If you were pureblood human or a different kind of shifter, at our bonding ceremony, we’d cut an X in our hands and co-mingle the blood so that you would be turned.”

“As in made into a polar bear-shifter?”

“Yep.”

“But we don’t have to do that?”

“Technically no, but a lot of people do it anyway. Part of the ceremony is ‘blood of my blood.’”

“If we shift down here, can I go back to the lighthouse to shift back?”

“Yeah. It’s usually easier to shift outdoors at first. If you want, I can turn my back to give you some privacy.”

“Do you want to turn your back on me and not see me naked?”

Derek growled and she laughed. “You are killing me here. You need to remember that while what you see before you is a man, I am also part polar bear. Every biological instinct tells me to cast aside human convention, throw you on the ground, and claim you for my own. But I’m trying to remind myself of all you’ve been hit with lately. I’ve got a tight hold on my lust, but if you keep teasing me, I’m not promising that I won’t let my bear off the leash and follow my baser instincts.”

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