Page 28 of Mated to Fenrir
"I think I can survive," I promised. "That's really great that you're doing that."
"Thanks." She took a deep breath. "I'm excited. So thank you." She reached out to put her hand over mine.
"I didn't really do anything."
"True. But it was what you said that finally made me do something I've wanted for a long time, so I appreciate that."
"Then you're welcome. I guess I do see that as my job as your fated mate."
She raised an eyebrow.
"To support you," I said. "And encourage you to be the person you want to be."
"I like that," she agreed. "I want you to feel that way too, though I know that I haven't really had many opportunities to show that to you yet."
"They'll come," I assured her.
"I'm sure they will."
"Speaking of dates. Are you free tomorrow night?" I asked.
"I am."
"And Monday?"
"I'm not. I'm going running." She paused for a moment, as if considering something important. "But you could come, if you wanted."
"I'm not much of a runner."
"A wolf run," she said softly.
"Oh." My inner wolf perked up at the idea. Not just of getting to spend time with her in our shifted forms, but about letting myself run free too. "Do you think that's a good idea?"
"It depends," she said. "You don't have to decide now, but if you think you're ready for us to move on to the next step of our mating bond, then I am too."
My surprise must have shown on my face because she laughed.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have sprung that on you."
"I just wasn't expecting it," I said. "It's not been that long."
"It's been a couple of weeks," she pointed out. "Longer by Monday. And I think that's a couple of weeks longer than I've left it every other time."
"Fair point."
She took a deep breath. "I guess I've been thinking about it ever since you stayed over last week. I know that wasn't the right time for us to seal the mating bond, but we've been on a couple more dates, and can maybe go on a couple more this week. SoMonday...I guess it just feels like if we're ready, why wait? But I understand if you're not."
"I just don't want you to feel rushed," I said.
"I don't. And I feel like we've talked about a lot of the important stuff."
I nodded, realising that she was right. By denying the wolves for as long as we had, even if it wasn't a huge amount of time in the grand scheme of things, it had given us time to have conversations together. But by virtue of knowing the bond was hanging over our heads, they were the more serious kind.
"All right, let's go for a run on Monday," I said. "But we should have dinner on Sunday to make sure that it's what we want. And dinner afterwards so that we can talk about it before we do anything about sealing the bond."
She let out a sigh of relief. "That sounds good."
"It does." I turned my hand over in hers and gave it a squeeze, feeling as if things were falling into place. My wolf was certainly happy about the development. I could feel him settling within my chest, content that things were going the way he wanted with the wolf he thought of as his match. "Do you have anywhere else to be right now?" I asked her.
