Page 12 of Finding Our Home

“Where’d he bite you?”

I pulled my collar down. “My neck.”

Chris inspected it for a second, then nodded. “Looks healed. Good. I would’ve had some words with your beholder.”

“Hey, Neo!” Spencer, a shifter in Chris’s pack, called out. “Stop hogging him, Chris.” Spencer came over and gave me a hug, too.

The pack never strayed far from each other, so soon I was getting hugs from the rest of the Arlin pack; Teagan, Cameron, Nate, Tre, Kai, Patty, Zeke, and the young wolf, Felix, that had been stuck in his wolf form for years.

After everyone greeted me, Chris put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Why don’t we go for a walk?”

“Sure.” Blowing out a relieved breath, I followed after him with a little wave to the others. I didn’t want to have this conversation with an entire pack of wolf shifters.

Once we were close to the water, Chris asked, “Which vampire drank from you?”

“Dorian.”

He nodded. “He’s a good guy, but tends to stick to himself lately.”

“He was very kind to me. I, um, I like him a lot.”

Chris smiled at me. “That’s good.”

We walked for a bit in silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. That was one thing I loved about Chris, he never rushed me and was always patient, allowing me to gather my thoughts. I said, “I have a question for you.” He nodded, so I continued, “I mentioned it to Remi, but he didn’t know what I was talking about. Okay, so… the first time Dorian and I kissed…” My whole face burned so hot, it was probably on fire.Just get it out already to end this.“He, um, sort of rumbled. I mean, like, his chest made this rumbling sound, and it felt like my chest was trying to rumble back.”

Chris stopped walking, and when I turned to him, I saw his soft blue eyes staring at me with something that looked like shock. Then a slow smile spread on his lips and he grabbed my shoulders. “His chest rumbled? Like deep, really deep?”

I nodded.

“And yours tried to rumble back?”

I nodded again.

“Oh my god, Neo, do you know what this means?” He was yelling now.

I shook my head.

“Holy shit. You found your True Mate!”

“I found my what?”

“Your True Mate!”

“I don’t… I don’t know what that means.”

“Oh, that’s right, you humans don’t call it that. What do you call it? Uh… soulmate? Dorian is your soulmate.”

I wrinkled my nose. “What in the world are you talking about?” I’d heard the term before when people referenced Dregan and Chris as a couple, but I’d assumed it was some weird shifter or vampire name for being married or something.

He sighed. “I’m not sure why some humans don’t believe True Mates exist, but they do. I know because Dregan is mine. If he wasn’t, his bite would kill me because vampire bites arepoisonous to shifters—as in, we die. If he wasn’t my True Mate, I wouldn’t be able to hear his thoughts in my mind or have him hear mine. Which, by the way, woke him up because I’m so excited for you.” He laughed and grabbed the back of my neck, squeezing it.

“And you think Dorian is my True Mate?”

“Yes. That rumble that you heard? That only happens when we find our True Mates and connect with them. My chest rumbles for Dregan, and his does for mine. It’s leveled out and doesn’t happen as often now that we’ve completed our bond, but it’s still there.”

What the heck is he talking about? I need to sit down.

Instead of heading back to find a seat, I just planted my ass right there on the grass.

---