Page 21 of Ronen
Mason tried to move, then groaned, holding himself still and gritting his teeth tightly together. Instinctively, I reached out, touching his shoulder. I had meant it to be a soothing gesture, offering comfort to someone in pain.
Instead of soothing, electricity crackled between us, the nerve endings running up my arm tingling almost to the point of pain.
Mason’s eyes flew open, and we stared at each other in surprise. The concrete beneath my knees where I knelt next to him wavered, shifted, slipped away. Replaced by…my entire life flashing before my eyes. Or my future?
Mason, me, the feeling of flying, the cold wind biting my flesh and my hair blowing wildly. Staring down into the eyes of an amber eyed baby with silky auburn hair.
The vision–or whatever it was–left me feeling shaky, breathless, unsure, and…surprisingly calm. Staring down into Mason’s shocked amber eyes, my soul whispered the words I wanted to hear but dreaded at the same time.
Mate. Fated mate.
Jerking my hand away, I fell back on my ass, trying to scoot as far away from Mason as I could get.
This man, this infuriating, sexy beyond belief man, couldn’t be my fated mate.
It had to have been a…a…
A what?My honey badger asked dryly.Your imagination? It wasn’t. He is. End of story. Best get on board with it. He’s ours and he’s yummy.
Nope, no, nada, not happening.
Oh, it’s happening. You, of all people, know better than anyone what this means. Look at our family. Full of fated mates.
This conversation is over.
Mason frowned when I pulled away from him, stretching his hand out to me in a weak attempt to keep me near him.
Ignoring it, him, all of it, I turned to Hank Anderson, one of Mason’s deputies. “Did you call an ambulance?”
He cocked his head, listening, and I could hear the distant wail of the sirens. “On its way. Did you see what happened?”
Shaking my head, I couldn’t keep my eyes from Mason’s strained and pale face. “No, I was inside behind the checkout counter. Maybe he tripped?”
“Pushed,” Mason sounded sure of that fact.
Hank gave me a questioning look, and I whispered, “There was no one behind him.”
“Pushed me,” Mason started to raise his right arm, winced, and tried his left one. Pointing an accusing finger at me, he vehemently wheezed, “He pushed me.”
Straightening to my full height, I glared down at him. “I did not! Did you hit your head on the way down, because you are delulu right now.”
All thoughts of what that shock between us had meant fled, in the wake of his accusation.
“Del…huh?” He wrinkled his nose at me in confusion, and fuck it all, why did he look so adorable when he did it? His hair was all mussed, one dark red lock falling over one squinting amber eye. He was battered and bruised, possibly broken in some way, and yet he looked fucking adorable.
“Never mind,” I told him frowning, “I did not push you.” Turning to Hank, I pointed at the library behind me. “There were witnesses.”
“Ronen didn’t push him,” one of the patrons that had been inside spoke up.
Apparently, everyone had come outside to see what was happening, but I was thankful for it. “He was behind the counter and the Sheriff had already left. Well, they did seem to have some kind of confrontation prior to that, but Ronen didn’t push him.”
Narrowing my eyes at her, I rubbed at my brow. Really, that last part hadn’t been necessary for her to add. No one needed to know that Mason and I had been…clashing, while also eye fucking each other, and possibly–maybe–on the verge of kissing one another.
Hank seemed highly interested in that piece of information, as the ambulance pulled up to the curb and the EMT’s jumped out. “What kind of confrontation?”
Shaking my head, I waved a dismissive hand. “It was nothing. He’s always losing books. Or ruining them. He said his goat ate it. He’s always making excuses to annoy me.”
Talking too much, my honey badger warned me. He wasn’t wrong; I was giving too much information and would come across as not truthful.
