Page 100 of Protected By Her Mate

Iknow the moment he’s back in the castle having seen everything in his head. I turn to watch the door he’ll come through any second. I think about putting myself back together. I’ve been crying, pacing, worrying. But before I can glance in a mirror, he’s opening the door, peering around to see if I’m alone.

“Oh, Lennox, I saw everything!” I rush at him, babbling and sobbing at the same time. “I’m so sorry you had to give up your immortality. I should have realized what would happen. I just assumed you’d stay with me until I died a natural death and then leave to continue your adventures. I didn’t know you would have to tear part of yourself away.”

He gathers me against him, curving his hand over my head, pressing my ear to his chest where I can hear his heart beating. The deep rumble of his voice vibrates though me. “It was never going to happen that way, sweetheart.” He tips my face up and wipes away my tears with his thumbs. “I could never live on this planet without you.”

“I know that now.” I sniffle, using my sleeve to scrub away the last of the tears. “I was selfish, only thinking of myself and what I wanted. Now you’re… you’re…”

“What?” he asks. “Mortal? Like you.”

“You’re vulnerable!” It destroys me to think what he’s given up to be with me. “What if something happens to you? What if you’re killed?”

He smiles gently. “I’ve always been able to be killed, but my shifter blood makes me hardy and will continue to do so. The only change in me is that I’ll die after I’ve lived the length of a human lifespan.”

“I’m sorry.” If I’d known that my rejecting the gift immortality would lead to this, I would have… I don’t know. I made the right choice for me, but I hate that my choice has done this to Lennox.

“Charlie, I don’t think you get it. I’m very happy to give up my immortality. I want nothing more than to live a human life with you and Luke. It’s a dream come true. I can finally become a Lopez.”

“Do you really mean it?”

“There’s no place in the universe I would rather be than with you and your crazy family. Even Maria when she’s pissed.”

I can’t help but giggle, mock thumping him on the chest for insulting my sister.

He catches my fist, holding it to his heart. “Easy, sweetheart. I’m mortal now, you can hurt me.”

I flatten my palm against him, feeling him, feeling his heat, his heart, his lifeblood as it flows through his veins. “I’ve never felt so guilty in my life as that moment when you gave up your immortality for me.”

“There’s nothing to feel guilty about. I’ve lived a long life and I have very few regrets. I’m ready to live and die with my mate, the woman I love.”

“Oh, Lennox.” I rest my head against him, soaking the front of his shirt in a fresh batch of tears.

He curves his hand over my head. “I’m here, Charlie, I’m here.”

We stay that way for a long time, holding each other in the shadowy room. Slowly my guilt dissipates and I accept what Lennox is telling me. I have no reason to disbelieve him. He might have parted with his immortality for me, but it was his choice, a choice he accepts wholeheartedly. It would do him a disservice if I marred his sacrifice with my guilt and fear.

My voice is husky from crying when I ask, “What does it feel like to be mortal?”

His eyes glitter in the lamplight. “It feels like a new chance at life.” He bends his head to mine, exploring my lips with his, barely touching while sending waves of sensation through me.

I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling myself up against him, our chests pressed together as I deepen the kiss, telling him without words that I need him.

A deep groan rumbles up his throat and his broad hands cover my back. Without breaking our kiss, he lifts me against him and I wrap my legs around his waist as he walks us to the bed.

We fall together, landing with a bounce.

He frames my face with his hands, his thumbs brushing against my cheeks. “I need to be inside you.”

“Yes,” I whisper reaching for him. “I want that too.”

We cling to each other, kissing and touching, wordlessly painting a picture of our love with our hands and our tongues. I close my eyes and see a kaleidoscope of images in my mind. When I focus on them, I realize Lennox is showing me our time together, every thought and feeling he had when he was around me.

The first time he saw me, his heart raced, his palms sweated and he knew in an instant his life had changed. “I was in love from the start,” he says, trailing kisses across my face and down my throat.

Next, he shows me image after image of him sitting on my fire escape watching me and Luke, protecting us.

I gasp as he drags my shirt over my head and pulls my breast into his mouth, sucking like a man about to die if he doesn’t taste me.

“Lennox!”

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