Page 45 of Bones

The powers-that-be were pricks about a lot of shit. Most shit.

But they hadn’t fucked me over when they created my mate.

Only in every other way.

Her smile faltered, and she gestured to my oversized clothes she wore, her socked feet, and where her shoes sat caked with mud in the plastic tray next to my equally dirty work boots.

“I’ll run to the store and be back.” That time when I left, I didn’t even make it off the porch before opening the door to say, “We’ll stop on the way.”

That got her smile back. It erupted into a surprised laugh when I lifted her to carry her to the truck.

Everything was better—wasright—when I began to drive again with Aurora next to me. Once we reached town, I pulled into the lot of a big superstore. “Anything specific you want?”

She pulled the neckline of the hoodie she wore up and then pointed at her throat.

I want to taste that skin and feel her pulse pound under my tongue.

I ignored my thoughts and focused when she repeated the gesture before pointing at the V-neck of my shirt and shaking her head. “No V-neck, just high ones?”

She nodded.

Better for my sanity.

“What size shoe are you?”

She held up six fingers.

“Got it. Be back.”

I hated shopping for anything unrelated to food—and even that was more tolerated as a necessary evil. If I found clothing I liked, I bought it in multiple colors and called it a day.

The women’s department might as well have been a labyrinth of alien objects. I had no damn clue what I was doing, so I just grabbed a variety of whatever was soft and warm, hoping at least some of it was wearable.

I was headed for the registers when I passed a book display on an endcap.

These. Get these.

I didn’t bother to check the descriptions before adding one of each to the cart.

Carrying the load back to the truck, I opened the passenger door and set a shoebox on Aurora’s lap.

Her wide eyes moved from the bags to me without looking at the box.

“Check if they fit,” I prodded.

She pulled the boots out and slid her foot in one.

“Not too tight or loose?” When she shook her head, I replaced the box with a few of the bags. Her lap was too small for all of it. “Any of this work?”

Sifting through the clothes quickly, she turned even wider eyes my way. She grabbed my phone and typed in the notes app.

This is too much.

“If you don’t like it, I’ll run back in and try again. Or you can come with since you’ve got boots now.”

I like it, but it’s just too much. I don’t need all this for one day.

“It’s more than one day.” I wanted to say more but left it at that as I stepped back. “Too many people here to change in the car.” I ignored the jealousy that made me want to stab their eyes out at the thought of them seeing her. “You can wait till we get to Black Horse or run in here.”

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