Chapter 6
SIX
Tucker
“I figured that I’d find you over here,” Crew says as he heads my way.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I knew that you wouldn’t be able to go far.”
He’s right. I can’t leave my mate. Not for more than a few minutes, anyway.
We’re both silent for a few minutes, and my mind drifts back to my mate. I wonder what she’s doing right now. She’s probably still pissed at me. Is she pacing the cell? Or maybe she’s already fallen asleep. It is starting to get kind of late.
“Dude,” Crew says as he drops down on the bench next to me, and I groan, tilting my head back and looking up at the darkening sky.
“I know,” I croak, and he sighs as he sits down next to me on the bench.
“You have to let her go. You can’t hold her indefinitely. You’re only going to push her away.”
“I know,” I say glumly. “I just can’t. Not yet.”
“It’s not going to get any easier,” he warns me, and I nod.
“I know.”
We’re silent for a few minutes. My wolf is pacing inside of me. He’s even more anxious and on edge after our mate tried to run from us. He keeps trying to talk me into just biting her, but I can’t do that. I want our mate to choose us too. Things would only be harder if I bit her and we were bonded, and she still chose to leave.
Would it? My wolf snarks, and I ignore him.
“What would you do?” I ask Crew. “If you were in my position. What would you do?”
“I don’t know. I’d like to say not lock my mate in a cell, but truthfully, I’m not so sure. I know how long we’ve both been looking for our mates. I wouldn’t want to just let her go without a fight either.”
I nod, and we stare off at the sinking sun.
“You have to go back and talk to her.”
“I tried,” I tell him, and he shakes his head.
“You need to shift. You need to make her see it. Right now, she just thinks that you’re crazy.”
“I was so excited when she said she had heard of shifters,” I admit. “I thought the whole conversation would go smoothly. And then she bolted.”
“Well, to humans, you sound insane. You need to prove it to her and then explain everything. She’ll believe you then.”
I nod, liking that I have a plan in place. It’s just…
“I’m not sure that I can let my wolf be around her. He wants to bite her and claim her so badly. I don’t know that I’ll be able to hold him back,” I admit.
“Get on the same page with him and then go do it. And do it fast. The full moon is coming up fast, and you know how bad that will be if she’s not yours by then.”
His face is grim, and I shudder as I imagine it and how painful it would be.
“I’ll talk to her tonight,” I promise him.
He nods once, stands, and claps me on the shoulder before he heads towards the precinct parking lot. I watch him go until he climbs into his police cruiser and heads home. Then I push to my feet and head back inside the police station.
My eyes lock with Nori’s as soon as I step inside, and I pause, taking a deep breath.
“I have to show you something,” I announce, and she eyes me warily.
“If it’s your dick, I’m going to lose it,” she warns me, and I bark out a laugh.
“It’s not that, but I’m curious about why your brain went there.”
Her face flushes with a scarlet red blush, and she glares at me, but it doesn’t quite hide her embarrassment.
She wants us too! Bite her! My wolf orders, and I push him down.
“What do you need to show me?” She asks as I walk closer to her cell.
“I know that you don’t believe me about us being fated mates and me being a shifter, so I want to prove it to you.”
“How?” She asks me warily, and I smile, trying to put her at ease.
“I’m going to shift for you. Then you’ll have to believe me.”
She looks doubtful, and I know that she doesn’t believe me still. She nods, and I know that she thinks that nothing is going to happen. My wolf smiles inside of me, excited to be let out and to prove ourselves to our mate.
“Ready?” I ask her, and she nods.
“Yeah, let’s get this over with.”
That’s the spirit.
I take another deep breath and then reach for my shirt and start to unbutton it. I move quickly and then reach for my belt.
“Whoa!” Nori exclaims. “You said you weren’t showing me your dick.”
“I have to strip, or I’ll rip my clothes,” I explain, and she gives me a dry look, clearly not believing me.
“Just trust me,” I implore her, and she sighs.
“You’re making it kind of hard,” she says, wrapping her hands around the bars of the cell.
“I’m sorry.”
We share a look, and she lets out a deep breath.
“Alright. Show me.”
I push down my pants and kick off my boots. I’m standing before my mate in just my boxers, and my heart is racing out of control. If this doesn’t work, then I’m going to lose her. My wolf growls and I grit my teeth and push my boxers down.
“Watch,” I say and then I shift.
Fur starts to cover me, replacing my skin. My teeth and nails elongate, and in seconds, I’m landing on all fours in front of her.
When I look at Nori, she’s staring at me in shock, her blue eyes wide, her mouth open. I pad towards her, and my wolf sticks his nose through the bars and into her cell.
“Holy shit,” she gasps, jumping back.
I can smell her fear, can hear how fast her heart is racing, so I sit down, giving her a minute to adjust and get used to seeing my wolf. It takes a few minutes, but then her breathing evens out, and she takes a tentative step towards me.
She reaches a hand out, and I smile as her fingers sink into my fur.
“It’s so soft,” she whispers, and I tilt my head, offering her better access.
She pets me for a few moments and then steps back and I move back to my clothes and shift back to my human form.
“So?” I ask as I pull my clothes on. “Do you believe me now?”
“Yeah.”
I finish getting dressed and turn to face her.
“What happens now?” She asks me.
She still looks kind of shell-shocked and I take a deep, steadying breath as I think of how to answer her. I don’t want to throw too much at her. She needs to get used to the fact that I’m a shifter and that we’re fated mates. We don’t have much time, though.
“That’s kind of up to you. You already know what I want. We’re fated mates and I know that we’re meant to be, but it’s different for you, being human. I’ll follow your lead from here on out.”
She nods, looking deep in thought.
“But I should warn you, the full moon is coming up, and you’ll need to make a decision before then.”
“Why?”
“Because we’ll both…react on the full moon.”
“React how?” She asks.
“We’ll both want each other. Desperately.”
“Like…” she starts, trailing off.
“Like badly, Nori. I already want you, and maybe you’re attracted to me too, but it will be nothing compared to the night of the full moon. We won’t be able to resist each other.”
“So, what happens if I say no?”
“Then I let you go and try to stay away from you. It will kill me, but I would do anything for you.”
“Except let me go,” she says, and I wince.
“I’m sorry for locking you up. I just, I don’t think that you understand how mates work. You are the only one for me. Shifters only love one person, and it’s not a normal kind of love. It’s intense and all consuming. You became the center of my world the second that I scented you. You’ll remain the most important thing to me for the rest of our lives.”
“That…actually sounds kind of nice,” she says, catching me off guard.
I nod, my hopes rising.
“If you want to be with me, then I’ll mark you on the night of the full moon and make you mine. Officially.”
She seems to be mulling over my words, and I leave her to digest what we’ve discussed as I head back to my desk and finish up some work.
Are we really going to let her go if she doesn’t choose us ? My wolf asks, and I hesitate.
I don’t know. We can’t keep her against her will.
Sure, we can, he argues, and I shake my head.
No, we can’t, and deep down, you know that too.
He ignores me then, turning his back on me and curling up inside of me.
I try not to get too anxious as I finish up work and wonder about what’s to come next.