“Fine. I’ll go with you and then I’ll shift and run back.”
That was over an hour drive. “It’s kind of far.”
He put his arm over my shoulder and pulled me into his side. His need to be close to me beat along the bond. “I’ve done it before.”
That was true. “Okay.”
“Did you tell your mom what happened?”
Maybe I should’ve called her, but I was too busy watching Dastien sleep off Dr. Gonzales’ cocktail. “I haven’t really had time.”
“Wasn’t I out for hours?”
My cheeks heated. He wasn’t going to let me get away with this one. “Yeah, but I was brooding and watching you sleep.”
He squeezed me tighter. “Now who’s creepy?”
“It’s not creepy.” I elbowed him. “I’m your mate.”
He was quiet for a long moment. Almost so long that I thought he was done talking, but then he said, “That’s definitely true. I’m your mate. And you’re mine.”
It didn’t take us long to pack what I needed. I wasn’t taking everything, only the essentials. It was like a long, mandatory vacation. Only it was definitely not my idea of a good time.
Meredith stopped by as we were about to get into bed. She fidgeted with the bottom of her T-shirt. Meredith wasn’t one to fidget. “Are you guys okay?”
“Of course.”
Meredith relaxed a little. “Good. I was worried after his reaction and it’s kind of my fault—”
“None of this is your fault. At all.”
“But you went to the coven to help me and—”
“No. They were always going to be upset about this. I’m surprised they didn’t show up before now. So just push that guilt away because it shouldn’t exist.”
She hugged me. “You’ll be back before you know it.”
I gave her a small smile. That was something people said when they didn’t know what to say. This plain sucked, no matter how I cut it.
“I’ll see you soon. Okay?” I didn’t meant to be short with her, but if this was the last night I was going to sleep in the same bed with my mate, then I wanted to enjoy it.
She gave me a tight nod. “Sure. Goodnight.”
“Night,” Dastien said. He was already under the covers, but he lifted them up for me as I walked to the bed. The bed was all nice and warm thanks to his body heat. I rested my head on his shoulder and wrapped an arm around his stomach.
“You still want to wait until after the ceremony to…you know?”
That got me the first laugh of the evening. “Your mom’s right about one thing. If you can’t say it, you shouldn’t be doing it.”
“Have sex.” My cheeks burned.
“Make love.”
“Same thing.”
“No. It’s not.”
We’d talked before about his ‘active’ life before me, although I’d made him shut up halfway through the conversation. I didn’t want to hear about him with other girls. It made me feel inexperienced and childish.
It also made me jealous. Extremely jealous. Just remembering a bit of the conversation had me grinding my teeth.
He kissed my forehead. “No reason to feel jealous. No one could ever compare to you.”
“You don’t know that,” I said. Because it was true. He didn’t know that.
“You’re my mate. That makes all the difference.” He opened the bond and all his emotions for me flooded my senses. It was like being wrapped in a blanket of love.
I put my leg over his, and scooted as close to him as I could. “I’m going to miss this.”
“You better.”
I bit his chest softly. “I’m sorry I have to go.”
“It’s my fault. If I’d done something differently, well…maybe we could’ve avoided this.”
I thought about it for a minute, but all roads led to Luciana being a total asshole. It didn’t matter how I became a Were. “I wonder if she ever would’ve let me go without a fight. I mean, I didn’t even know anything about the coven when I moved here. When I met you, I didn’t know that I was supposed to be leading them. So, how would I know to ask permission? Or even know that I needed permission? And even if I did know about the coven and my place in it and asked permission, she never would’ve said yes. Not in a million years.” The more I thought about it, the more inevitable it seemed. “It is what it is, but I know we can really get through it. It’s not forever, and we are.”