CHAPTER 20
Krusk
Iglanced at where my female had her arms crossed, struggling to ignore the way her luscious breasts were pushed up at the gesture.
Do not stare at her like a common pervert. Focus on her safety.
That was the thought that snapped my gaze back to where I was going. I hadn’t been joking with her. I’d gotten this SUV recently. I’d been learning with a smaller one. A much more uncomfortable one for me to fit in.
When I’d met her, I’d gone on the hunt immediately. It wasn’t just about me any longer. It was about us. And our possible future younglings. There was no way we’d all fit into that tiny one.
Gabbi had insisted that she was an expert on picking what younglings enjoyed and I really couldn’t argue with her there. We’d sat together to choose customizations and she’d ensured that the color was acceptable, along with several additions for the backseat entertainment accessories.
I was fairly certain these were more for her benefit than her future cousins, but I wasn’t going to complain. I’d take all the help I got.
“Do you want to put the address into the console?” I asked her, trying not to look at her or else I’d stare again. I couldn’t get over her beauty and I had no intention of indulging myself when her safety was involved.
She reached forward, the lovely arch of her back almost overwhelming my peripheral vision until I had to stare straight ahead. We weren’t moving yet—we were still in the parking garage—but she’d steal my attention and I knew it.
“Thanks for doing this,” she said, sitting back as the automatic voice robotically told me which direction I should be going. “I think I missed my train anyway.”
“No problem,” I told her, licking my lips and wondering how far I’d be able to take this selfish good will that I was offering her.
“I… I don’t work on Sundays,” I told her, glancing over before looking straight ahead again, taking my time to move around the other vehicles.
“I can take you there after you walk Ribbon.”
She adjusted herself in her seat and it was a grueling effort to not look at where her legs shifted next to me. Those legs that I would give fucking anything to be between.
“I’m still going to walk Ribbon?” she asked, amusement lacing her voice.
“Well,” I blustered, my brow furrowing as I scrambled for an excuse. “It would really help out my brother,” I lied, knowing that he would love to go to that dog park. “He’s not very social.”
Not a lie this time.
“Oh,” she hummed, tilting her head and it was a fucking travesty that I wasn’t close enough to bury my face in her hair. “So it has nothing with you wanting to see me again?”
I clenched my jaw, tapping my fingers against the steering wheel, pondering how I was going to work my way around a direct question from my mate. After a few seconds, I knew what I had to do.
“I always want to see you,” I admitted in a low voice, taking my eyes off the road for only a second to look at her directly. “I think you know that.”
She kept looking at my profile before saying, “I don’t know what to do with that. We can be friends, Krusk, but I wasn’t messing with you or trying to lead you on. That’s all I have to offer,” she admitted in a sweet, low voice that was filled with regret.
“I’ll take whatever you give me, Zemar,” I responded in an earnest tone, reaching out to take her hand in mine, lifting it to my lips to press a kiss to her soft skin. “Anything you give me. And there’s no strings attached.”
“What…” she started, but trailed off before looking forward and I ran my thumb over the supple skin of the back of her hand.
Gods, I’d give anything for her to just let me take care of her. To be there for her. To hold her hand when she needs me. Please, please let her accept this. Accept me.
“Why me?” she asked, instead, and I frowned, confused.
“What do you mean?” I asked, checking my blind spot twice before switching lanes. I was carrying precious cargo in this vehicle, and I wasn’t going to endanger her.
“Why me, Krusk?” she demanded, taking her hand from mine and it sent a pang of loss through my chest. “Why are you saying you want to take what I have to offer?”
“How about,” I sounded out, and I could feel her temper flaring next to me, “we get to know each other? And then we can decide what we are?”
“We’re already friends, aren’t we?” she asked, folding her arms over those glorious breasts again. “So then you can tell me. Friends tell each other things. Who am I to you?”
The demand was intense, and a fizzle of fear gnawed inside of me, like an aching, empty hole. “We’re friends.” I told her, gripping the steering wheel with more strength than I should before releasing it when it creaked.
“Krusk,” she said, and my name on her lips was everything I’d ever wanted. “Come on.”
“What do you want me to say?” I asked her, weariness filling my soul.
I couldn’t lose her. Not right after I’d found her. If I admitted everything to her now, she was going to pull away from me. I could see it in her defensive stance. I could feel it in the tone of her voice.
I’d give her the truth slowly. When she saw more of what I had to offer to her. What I could be for her and provide for her.
With an irritated sigh, she turned back to face forward as I drove, silence filling the cabin, stifling me with her anger. I couldn’t stand it. Not from her.
I reached out my hand, palm up, and she stared at it for a long moment before heaving another sigh and placing her hand in mine. Relief replaced the fear that had been eating away at me, and I settled our hands on my thigh, not willing to let her go.
“You’re going to have to tell me sooner or later,” she huffed, and I gave her a nod, because that was the truth.
“I will,” I admitted, lifting her hand for another kiss, inhaling deeply so I could take her scent into my lungs, filling myself with her in case she decided to pull away. I was going to exist on this for a while.
Until she understood what she was to me—what I would do for her and give to be with her, I didn’t want her to think I wasn’t happy with just being with her. From the first moment I’d seen her, the loneliness in her eyes had called to me.
Even surrounded by my brothers and our new clan, I couldn’t help the emptiness that spread inside. I’d been told since I was young that there was only one thing—one being—that could fill it.
My mate.
Now that I’d found her, I was never going to let her go. But she wasn’t one of my kind. She was a human. They didn’t have fated mates. I’d done enough research on them, after discovering who she was to me, that I could understand that.
Humans could feel the pull and the chemistry, but they didn’t have the instinct that rang inside of us, recognizing them as our biological and emotional match. Humans believed in love, but matings went even further than that. It was deeper.
Somehow, in some way, I was going to prove that to her. And when I did, she’d be glad that I was her mate. She’d see that I was more than just a pair of tusks, fangs and claws. I was going to become a male of worth for her.