Page 13 of Jacob

“Nothing.I’m sorry.”

Hewassorry, but not sorry enough to stop.He took another step toward the desk.That was where the scent came from.Trying to resist was useless, so Jacob let his nose guide him until he stopped next to Tony.His tiger yowled in his mind, incredibly smug and happy.It took a second for Jacob to understand why the tiger felt that way, and he shouldn’t have.There was only one reason for his tiger to react like that to someone—to react like that to thesheriff.

Taylor made a strangled sound and suddenly sat up in his chair.Forest’s eyes widened, and he pushed away from the desk.Gal appeared surprised, but not as surprised as Jacob felt.

Tony cleared his throat.“I’m sorry, I feel like I’m missing something.What’s happening?”

Jacob watched him as he tried to find the right words.It was simple, though, wasn’t it?“You’re my mate.”

* * * *

TONY STARED.HE WASN’Tsure what else he was supposed to do.

The rest of the room was silent as he and Jacob watched each other.Eventually, Taylor cleared his throat and wiggled in his chair.

“Congratulations,” he said.“I think?”

Jacob turned to glare at him.“What do you mean, youthink?”

“I’m just not sure either of you are happy about this.You’ve just been staring at each other for five minutes.”

“Because I’m in shock.”

Jacob wasn’t the only one.When Tony had agreed to let Taylor drag him to his alpha, he hadn’t expected to meet his mate.Hell, he hadn’t expected tohavea mate.He was human, and while plenty of humans discovered they were shifters’ mates, Tony had never thought he would be that lucky.

He’d worked with bonded people, and he’d seen the devotion and love the couples shared.It had been impossible for him not to want the same, but he’d always tried not to be too hopeful.Even if he was a shifter’s mate, he might never meet them.

He had.Jacob was standing right in front of him, and Tony had no idea what to say.

His first instinct was to ask Jacob if he was sure, but he didn’t.Jacob wouldn’t have said it if he wasn’t sure.Shifters recognized their mates by scent, and if Jacob had smelled that they were mates, it meant they were.

“Are you happy, though?”Taylor asked.“Is it a good kind of shock?”

“I don’t know if shock can be good.”

“In this case, it will be if you’re happy.I can’t believe that you met your mate before me.I’m the only one in our friend group who hasn’t,” Taylor whined.

Tony had dozens of questions.He didn’t know where to start.He wanted Jacob’s attention back on him, but at the same time, he was fine with having a few moments to think.

Gal cleared his throat.“Maybe we should go back to what this meeting is about.”He glanced at Tony and Jacob, who was still standing next to Tony’s chair.“The two of you can take some time to talk once the meeting is over.”

Tony nodded.He didn’t know what else he was supposed to do.He wanted to look at Jacob, but he was afraid of getting distracted, so he kept his focus on the alpha.

To be fair, he’d been distracted since Jacob had walked into the room.Tony couldn’t have known that he was Jacob’s mate, but one look at the man had been enough to catch Tony’s attention.

Jacob was tall, with brown hair that flopped in front of his forehead and dark eyes.He had a mustache, something Tony usually wasn’t into, but Jacob was incredibly gorgeous with it.It suited him, and Tony wanted to reach out and touch it to see if it was soft.He’d been wondering how the mustache would feel if he were to kiss Jacob, which was unlike him, but he understood why now.Of course he wanted to kiss Jacob.He wassupposedto want to kiss him.

Jacob turned his big brown eyes toward Tony.Tony couldn’t help but smile, and he was relieved when Jacob smiled back.

Gal cleared his throat again.Tony forced himself to look at the alpha and gave him a polite smile.He felt Jacob shift on his feet, but the man didn’t move away.It was as if he wanted to stay as close to Tony as possible.

“So we have reports of some kind of bear shifter hanging around town and pride territory,” Gal said.“It’s not someone anyone has recognized, either by sight or by smell.I think it’s safe to say that we have a new shifter in town.”

“It could be an animal,” Tony offered.

“It could be, but as we agreed on earlier, I doubt we’ll ever see a polar bear in this area.”

“Maybe the people who made those reports didn’t see the bear well.It might not be white, or if it is, there might be a logical explanation.”

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