Page 1007 of One More Kiss

The guys physically restrained me on the couch as Austin walked over and sat down on the coffee table in front of me. I was furious and my wolf was on edge, but he seemed remarkably calm all of a sudden.

“Look, I’m not going to fight you. I know this isn’t what you wanted, and I can’t imagine what you’re going through. We were all there through the Ashley debacle.”

“This isn’t the same thing,” I tried to argue.

“Wyatt, I love you man, and I love Kate too. But neither of you are in a position to make something like this work.”

“I’m not sure that’s really how it goes with true mates,” Clay argued. “I don’t think either of them has much say in the matter.”

“She’s never going to take a mate, not you, not anyone. I hate to be the one to break it to you,” Austin said sadly. “I wish it weren’t the case man, but it is.”

“Maybe you should let her decide that.”

“If you spend time with her, it’s only going to make things worse.”

“I think he’s right about that,” James agreed.

“I can already feel the bond between you two. It’s an Alpha thing,” Thomas admitted.

“That’s right. It’s too late. It’s already started. So we can both be miserable for the rest of our lives or you can let me go back in there and figure this shit out.”

Austin shook his head.

“At least tell me why? She said she didn’t believe in true mates. Why?”

He pondered whether to tell me or not and then sighed. “Her parents are true mates and they’ve been fighting for years, separated but living in the same house. When her dad told her he was finally moving out, she left to come here. They tend to throw her in the middle of their shit. She hasn’t told me much, but I gather life’s been pretty tough for her. Like I said, she has her reasons.”

“I have to talk to her,” I said, feeling this insane need to protect her in a very different way than I’d tried to with the boys while she was naked and vulnerable.

“It’s not a good idea,” Austin argued.

“Tough shit.”

This time when I tried to get up, no one stopped me. I turned and walked back to Kate’s room letting myself in and shutting the door behind me.

“He shouldn’t have told you about that.”

“Yeah, he should have.”

I moved to sit on the bed next to her as she laid her sketchbook down and looked up at me.

“I have no grand illusions about true mates, Wyatt. It’s okay. You’re off the hook. Go run back to Ashley or whatever her name is.”

“Don’t do that, Kate.”

“Do what?”

“Push me away like that. I can’t change the past. Yeah, Ashley was important to me, or so I thought. It’s funny how hindsight is always twenty-twenty. I thought I was in love and we’d be together for the rest of our lives, and then she went away to college and found her true mate, leaving me behind. She broke up with me in a goddamn letter. Who even writes letters anymore? Anyway, if I’m being honest with myself, I knew it was over long before that, but it still hurt, still does hurt. I’m not going to lie about that. I swore afterwards that I wouldn’t take a mate or give my heart to anyone else. I don’t even know if I can, but if you’ll let me, I’d like to try.”

“That’s just the bond talking, Wyatt.”

“Yeah, well, it’s pretty freaking convincing. I feel like we owe this to ourselves to at least see what happens.”

“And the longer we’re together, the stronger it will grow, and the harder it’ll become to break it, so that’s a really dumb idea.”

“Then be dumb with me, Kate?”

“What?” she asked as tears started welling up in her eyes.

“Be dumb with me, only me. Maybe it won’t work out, but just maybe it will. Take a chance on us and let’s just see where it leads.”

Tears escaped from her eyes and dampened her cheeks, but slowly she nodded yes.

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