Page 42 of Unforeseen Mate
“You learn quick, but you seem fine about it.”
“You forget. I was there; drugged out of my mind, but there,” she teased.
“I wish we’d had more time. I actually had begun figuring out how I could court you, but then fate stepped in and said, ‘the time is now.’”
“I take it none of them knew that you believed I was your fated mate.”
“None. I kept that little tidbit of information to myself.”
“I’ll just bet you did. Don’t be mad at Nora about the fist to your face…”
“I’m not. She was defending her best friend. She may not know it, but she and I will most likely become good friends. We both care for you and would do anything to see you safe.”
Fallon nodded. “In that case, you, the Resistance, Nora or some conglomeration need to kill Abraham Strode and see that he is banished into a realm from which he can never escape or harm anyone again.”
CHAPTER 17
HAYDEN
They were alone, and suddenly there was an awkwardness that made no sense. They’d been alone together more often than they’d been around people. They’d had sex numerous times—not only in their dreams, but in the real world; they’d faced danger and escaped with their lives. He was alpha of the hellhounds—he could do as he pleased, and yet he felt like a silly schoolboy.
“Please tell me you’re feeling it, too,” Fallon said quietly, almost demurely, as she put space between them and went to stand by the doors leading out to a large balcony that overlooked a stormy sea.
“A bit,” he admitted. “And feeling downright foolish for it. We are mates and not even ones who had an arranged bonding forced on them by others.”
“Does that happen with hellhounds and shifters as well?”
“I believe it happens wherever there are people or creatures with dynastic ambitions.” Hayden joined her and lifted her hands to his lips. “Being your fated mate is interesting.”
“Really? How so?”
“It was all I could do not to reach down his throat and rip his lungs out when Colby kissed your hand.”
“Jealous?”
Hayden shook his head. “Not at all. Jealous would mean I didn’t trust you. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are things about Reynolds I know that I suspect others don’t. But even knowing what I know, I also know Reynolds has never lacked for female company.”
“Ah, so even as a shifter, it’s better to be born a man,” observed Fallon.
“Not necessarily,” chuckled Hayden. “More than one male has found himself being wed or bonded against his will.”
“Well, at least we escaped that.”
“True. Did Nora question you to make sure you had not been forced and claimed against your will?”
“She was a bit more subtle than that. Colby and his associates?”
“Not subtle in the least, but as I hadn’t done anything wrong, we dispensed with the unpleasantries and had a beer.”
Fallon laughed. “So, what is it you know about Colby?”
Hayden decided he would trust her even with things that might seem silly or beneath him. “He has a fated mate, he knows who she is, and at some point he might have to force the issue with her. But the secret is he refuses to acknowledge it, much less talk about it. Deke and I used to always believe as a cave lion-shifter and a hellhound we were amongst the loneliest of creatures, but now I think that distinction belongs to Colby.”
“How so?”
“Surrounded by people, ensconced here at Windsong with his own clan and with a network of those loyal to him that stretches around the globe, there is no one he fully trusts, no one with whom he can relax and drop his walls. He used to do that with his sister Kyra, but she is no longer here at Windsong.”
“Is she dead?”
