Page 54 of The Alien Reindeer's Bounty
“Absolutely.”
“I feel—I don’t know. Lighter,” she said. “Did you know that people at the store have been teasing me about smiling so much?”
“Sounds like a good problem to have.”
She gave him a speculative look. “Maybe, but I can’t do casual. It’s not me. So, I need to know if this is just fun for you or if it means something more.”
“You are everything.” He could not say it more plainly, yet she still frowned.
“The last time you kissed me, I didn’t see you for a decade. I can’t do that to myself again if you’re just going to leave again.”
“I will always be by your side. No force in the universe will make me leave you. Never again.” If anyone stood in their way, he’d gore them with his antlers and let their blood cover him as a warning to others who would deny him his mate. Awareness flitted through his mind that such thoughts were barbaric and exactly what his father had warned him against. Bonding to a primitive human would eventually make him barbaric.
Such a realization should have cautioned him to control his emotions, to shy away from humans and their blindingly brilliant auras, but he was too far gone. He had never fit in with reilendeer society and only had apathy for those who tried to make him fit.
He fit with Odessa. She was his home.
“Odessa—”
She shook her head. A troubling green settled in her aura, driving away happiness as it pushed the gold to the edges. “You don’t understand. Last time you left, it nearly broke me. I fell into a depression. Stopped going to classes. The fact that I didn’t fail my second semester took a miracle. My parents didn’t want me to go back in the fall. They thought I couldn’t handle it.” She paused, searching for the correct words. “I can’t fall apart like that again. Ruby needs me. So, tell me now that you’re going to stay.”
“I am here. I will not leave,” he swore. His heart hurt when he thought of the pain his mate suffered. Their mate bond was half-formed at best, but the emotional connection was real and went deep, to the core of his being. As soon as Karl found a way to neutralize the trackers grafted to his nervous system, his promise would be reality.
She gave a thin, cold smile. “You’re already leaving, Mads.”
He ran his hands through his hair and growled in frustration. His antler bubs throbbed. They had ached for days, but the current need clouded his judgment. Displaying his antlers to his mate almost seemed like a good idea. “I am standing before you, Odessa. I am not leaving.”
“Bullshit. Everything about this,” she waved broadly, “screams that you’re going to cut and run.” She took a hasty breath and continued, “I know how much this house rents for and I know it’s a short-term rental only. You’re spending a fortune for what, a month or two? You’re not staying. God, it doesn’t even look like you live here.”
“Karl acquired this cabin for me,” he said. The money did not concern him, and he never considered the short-term nature of the lease to be a problem until that moment. “I have spent every available moment with you. I have dedicated myself to learning about you and your life. I want to build a future with you.”
His voice remained calm, but his antlers demanded to be displayed. Vaguely he wondered if that was a primitive instinct to dominate a troublesome mate and subdue them. The notion disturbed him. Female reilendeer had antlers and could fight off an aggressive male, but Odessa did not. His antlers could seriously harm her.
“We always talk about me, or Ruby, or you trying to get my complete dating history out of me. Spoiler: it’s pretty empty because none of them were you. But you never tell me anything about you.”
“I have told you what I can.”
She tossed her hands in the air and huffed. “There! I don’t need your deep, dark secrets but do you even have a job, Mads? Tell me that much.”
“I have a job.” Truth.
Another frustrated huff. “Right there. What kind of job, Mads? You never go to an office, so do you work from home? Or is it something shady?” She tugged at the cuffs of her sweater, breaking eye contact. “I need to know who you are.”
He growled in frustration. “You know who I am.”
“Now. Who are you now?”
“I’m a bounty hunter,” he said.
Her eyes went wide. “Seriously? Are you tracking someone? Is that why you’re back in town?”
“Technically, yes, but it is my last contract.” He stepped closer to her, his hand stroking along her arm. “I do not intend to leave again. That is the truth.”
“Are you a hitman?”
“I—no, I am not.” Her question surprised him. “Why would you think that?”
“Because this place has zero personality. It’s like a ghost lives here.” Her teeth worried her bottom lip. “Have you ever killed anyone?”
