Page 5 of Wild Fated Mate
She extended her hand straight in front of her, waiting to shake my hand. I clenched my fists, the tips of my claws digging in my palms, before I wrestled control into my limbs. Dumbass. We were not rubbing against her, marking her the way my bear wanted.
She still stood there, her hand outstretched for another heartbeat, until her smile died, and her hand fell to her side.
I could read the hurt and confusion in her eyes and hated it. There was no way to explain that I was saving her. This wasn’t the time or place for shifter show-and-tell.
The mood my bear was in, he might lose it and scare her, accidentally hurt her, or worse. He and I were one; we would never come back from that.
She’d be lost to me forever, even into the Shadowlands. Only mates went to the Shadowlands together, and if we didn’t mark each other, no matter how I knew she was my mate in my soul, we’d never be together without that mark here on Earth.
I didn’t know how, without explaining more about my bear, and mates, and the risk it was to fall in love and have a fated mate. The risk it was to her.
Maybe she would understand. She was friends with my sister…but I didn’t think their girls nights extended into admitting Olivia was a bear shifter. Or the existence of shifters.
My bear rumbled in my chest, his need to mark her, make her ours, overriding his senses.
Who the hell was I kidding? He didn’t have any. He was a total animal. He wanted what he wanted and never understood the human choices I made.
Now that he’d met our mate, he’d be fucking insufferable. There was only one way to handle this.
Walk away. Go back to the fireground, to hell with mandatory downtime. To never touch her, be near her, or talk to her. Maybe this would all go away, and I could go back to being on my own. Because if I let her in, she’d never escape.
This was the only way to save her. I turned away from her, from the only thing I’d ever wanted for myself, for my bear, for my future.
I concentrated on breathing exercises, the kind I used to keep my bear cool and calm, even while fire raged around us in the most intense wildfire infernos.
This was the longest I’d been near her since that day almost a year ago. It wasn’t so hard during wildfire season. But that part of my life was changing. My chief had retired and tapped me for the position. Less time in the field. I already felt trapped.
Jimmy droned on, and Serena gave the crowd a smile, but I could tell it wasn’t her usual. Not that I’d been graced with many, after the first time I met her and acted like the colossal asshole I was. Not after a year of avoiding her, ignoring her, walking away when she walked in a room.
But I watched her. More than she realized. And I knew she was nervous, even though she acted as if she was having a great time.
That was her. Sunshine on a cloudy day. She made everything around her bright and beautiful, just because she existed. She was pure light and joy, and I was dark, dirty, and dangerous.
I would taint her with my ferocious needs and ruin the sweet innocence in her eyes. A better man would let her go. A better man wouldn’t tie her to him for a day, growling and snarling, ready to fight anyone who looked her way, fighting my animal side just so no one else could have her.
This farce was the excuse I needed to make her mine, and nothing was going to stop me, because I wasn’t a better man. I was a bear shifter who’d met his mate.
“And the next pair…Gavin Walker and Serena Grant!” Jimmy called out, and my bear roared in triumph. She wasn’t getting tied to any man but me.
Serena’s gaze shot to mine, her smile frozen in place.
We were meant to be mates. Meant to be together forever. But I’d fucked it all up. This was the second-chance I needed—Fate wouldn’t give me a third.
The one time I’d let Olivia light into me about the way I’d rejected Serena, she’d said an apology and an explanation would go a long way.
My jaw ached from clenching it so hard. Nothing was that easy.
I stood next to Serena as the last matches were made, her heat and scent filling my heart and making my bear twitchy as fuck.
Her breathing was rapid and uneven, anxiety rolling off her in waves, increasing my bear's agitation. Our mate was unhappy, and it was my fault.
How the hell was I going to make this right?
3
Serena
Gavin and I were the last team to depart the stage, everyone else rushing off for the scavenger hunt, as soon as they were tied together.
