Chapter 13
Once Cecilia had gotten the okay to leave, there was no way Hank could hold her back.
She barely gave him enough time to get a shirt on before she was at the door impatiently tapping her foot.
She did manage to hug Mother good-bye and promised to return soon with some tea that she thought the woman would like.
But beyond that, she was all too happy to leave.
He couldn’t really blame her. Even he felt overloaded by the events of the past twelve hours, and he hadn’t just discovered shifters.
Still, he was cautious as he escorted her to his car. He opened the front door for her and she eagerly hopped inside. He climbed into the driver’s seat quickly, his borrowed shirt pulling too tightly against his neck.
“Okay if we swing by my place first so I can get a change of clothes?”
She glanced at him, her expression wistful. “Personally, I enjoyed the Fabio look, but yeah. It’s fine.”
She already had her nose back in her phone.
Every free moment she had was spent scribbling notes on the nearest pad of paper or staring at a screen of numbers.
When she gasped, he immediately tensed, scanning the environment for threats.
Nothing appeared, but they were still in wolf territory.
The looting wouldn’t be a problem. It was over a mile away.
Unless things had changed, which they were prone to do.
“What is it?”
She looked up from her phone, her expression tight. “It’s nothing really.”
He turned to look at her. She was lying and frankly, she wasn’t even trying to hide it.
“Is it work? Are they worried about your abduction?” He forced himself to say that last word because it was exactly what he’d done. No sense in trying to run from it.
“What?” She frowned at him like she’d forgotten, but then she shook her head. “Actually, it’s rather depressing that no one noticed I was gone. Not a one.”
Ouch. “That’s not a problem with shifters. We’re pretty protective of our own. We like knowing where everyone is and that they’re safe.”
“I bet your teenagers love that.”
“Um, yeah,” he agreed catching her sarcastic tone. “That’s number two on the teenager hate list.”
She turned to him. “Number two? What’s number one?”
“Body hair. Especially with the girls. That’s a biggie.”
She snorted. “I’ll bet.”
He stayed quiet while he backed out of Mother’s driveway and headed toward the freeway. The road was eerily thin of traffic. Though some of the city tried to keep on with life as normal, most of it was either hunkered down and sick or outside and creating havoc. None of that required the freeway.
Meanwhile, she didn’t go back to her phone, so he knew there was something really bothering her.
“If it isn’t work—”
“It’s nothing. I forgot a phone call, is all.”
“You were being abducted, attacked, and learning things.”
She sighed. “Yeah, but I forgot long before you came into the picture.” Her head dropped back against the seat. “I often forget. I get deep into a problem and just lose track of time.”
“Sounds normal.”
“Yeah. He knows it, too. He forgets me all the time so we’re even on that score.”
His ears pricked up at the pronoun. Just what kind of “he” was he? It didn’t sound like a boss or father, and she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t dating someone or even married. And boy was he screwed if she was married.
He didn’t comment. Didn’t know how to ask his questions and his bear was much too ready to tear apart any rival. Best if he didn’t press the point right now. Besides, she’d start talking again eventually or go back to her phone.
Rather than have her mentally disappear on him, he reached out and touched her arm. He meant to comfort her with a touch. Instead, he was comforting himself, feeling the heat of her skin, the vibrancy of her body, and the thrum of their connection even if it was only in his head.
“Tell me about him,” he said.
She looked at him, obviously startled. He was, too. He was normally the one who just sat in silence and waited. Got most of his information that way. And yet in this, he was pushing for more connection, probably much faster than she could handle.
And then she started talking.
“He’s a chemist. Our labs were on the same floor in school, but it was our mothers who set us up.”
Definitely a romantic relationship. “How long ago was that?”
She shrugged. “Three years? Four?” She looked down at her hands, twisting her fingers together as if missing a key piece of jewelry. “Our mothers keep hoping for an announcement.”
He swallowed, using the motion to shove down a howl from his bear. Meanwhile she glanced at him as if he needed an explanation.
“A wedding announcement, you know. A proposal.”
“Yeah,” he said, his throat painfully tight. “I got it.”
“I didn’t. He didn’t ask. Probably because he wasn’t sure I would say yes.” She chuckled. “Yu likes knowing the answers to questions before he asks them. Out loud at least. Scientifically he’s all about tearing apart the biological mystery.”
“You?”
“Y-U. Actually, it’s Jian Yu, which means ‘building the universe.’ But Yu likes being the universe, so he shortened it.
He also likes the joke. You—as in someone else—seeming like the universe but it’s actually him because it’s Yu.
” She waved her hand. “Don’t worry if you don’t get it.
His brain can be pretty convoluted at times. ”
“Sounds like a dick.” The words came out with a growl, and Hank gripped the steering wheel tighter.
He was out of control here. That was not something he would ever say normally.
People’s choices in partners were their own, and everyone was a dick in some ways.
And yeah, she was smart enough to call him on it.
“He’s just smarter than most people and so has found ways to entertain himself in his own mind.”
Hank turned to her. “And do you come into that picture anywhere? Or is it all about him?” Which was a fat load of crap considering how Hank had made love to her last night.
It hadn’t been about her at all, and he was ashamed to remember how selfish he’d been in the way he’d touched her.
Ate her. And fuck, now he was hard just thinking about it.
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be able to read his thoughts. Her gaze had shifted back down to her phone. “I love talking science with him. His mind…” She shook her head. “He’s brilliant.”
“And so are you, so you understand each other.” Marriages had been built on less substantial things.
“Yes, we do. Which is why when we miss scheduled phone calls, neither one of us takes it personally.”
Except she obviously did. Something about it bothered her. He took a stab at the reason. “How long since you had something together that wasn’t about science?”
She snorted. “Well, I thought he was a good kisser.” Her gaze shot to his. “Until you kissed me. Hell, I didn’t even know it was possible to be that good at it.”
Hank didn’t know how to respond. He hated the idea that she’d been kissing this jerk, but then she’d turned the compliment to him and he flushed with pride even as he tried to figure out her meaning.
Yeah, okay, so he’d been good at it last night.
That was all about patience and attention to detail.
And actually wanting to lick every part of her just for the sake of tasting her.
But his driving force had been getting between her thighs.
About locking in the bond so that babies could be created.
It hadn’t been about her as a person. They barely knew each other, though damn it, it felt like they’d been fated since the beginning of time.
Fucking bonding magic. It screwed up the progression of a normal relationship. Made it impossible for him to take his time with her and learn the things he wanted to about her. To see if they fit for real instead of just biologically.
Then she spoke, clearly smart enough to follow his thoughts even though he hadn’t said a word out loud.
“You said you were bound to me. What exactly does that mean?”
“It’s about the magic,” he began. But then she rolled her eyes as she looked away and he had to grip her arm tighter to get her to listen.
“I know you think it’s stupid. I know you don’t believe, but you didn’t believe in shifters yesterday either.
What don’t you believe in today that you will tomorrow? ”
She wrinkled her nose at him. It was pretty adorable, but her words were serious enough when she spoke. “Fair point, but you’re fighting an entire lifetime of conditioning here. Science is real. Magic is superstition.”
“Yeah, I know. You don’t have to call it magic. Hell, it could be a really amped-up biological imperative to make special babies. We don’t know why, but it’s real.”
“The bonding.”
“It’s not uncommon for a shifter to lock on a person. Like really lock on. Base-of-the spine, gut-instinct, completely-without-rational-thought lock on.”
“How long does it last?”
Hank squirmed with that. He didn’t want to answer, so he took the distraction of his exit to maneuver the car down to his neighborhood.
Everything looked quiet from where they were cruising through, but there was evidence of problems. A few broken windows, police tape, and at least a half dozen people peering nervously out windows.
“Hank? How long does it last?”
“It’s lifelong.”
“A permanent mating. Like with apes and wolves.”
He nodded. “Also swans, eagles, and beavers.”
“And others,” she said, her voice softening. “Lots of other species…” She looked at him, her eyes wide and a little frightened. “So that’s why we…that was last night…why I…”
“It’s one sided, Cecilia. Just on the shifter side.” He looked her straight in the eye. “On my side. But it was powerful and that’s how I knew if we did it, you’d get pregnant. Magic does shit like that. Condom breaks, birth control fails. Hell, if it’s really strong, you get twins or triplets.”
She shuddered at the thought and it was like she’d put a knife in his gut. The idea of having his children was physically repulsive to her and that cut. It cut deep.
“But it was strong for me, too.”
“As far as we can tell, it’s always on the shifter side.” He tried to smile, but he doubted he did a good job of it. “We’re the magical creatures. Normals are…well, normal.”
“But I wanted to with you. I mean I really wanted—”
“That’s sometimes happens in really stressful situations. Soldiers will react that way and—”
She held up her hand, and he cut off his words with a click of his jaws. He stayed silent while she stared out at his neighborhood. He’d barely gone a block before she started again.
“So I chose last night, but you…you were forced?”
“No! I wanted—”
“You said magic forced you. Magic wants the babies and all.”
He grimaced. “Um, yeah.”
“So how do you know that what you felt last night was real? I mean, it could be biology, right? Magical biology, but still biology. No choice at all.”
He was silent as he pulled into his spot under an aging carport. And while he put his car into park, he thought about last night. Had he chosen her with his mind? Had he wanted her because he liked her? Or because her scent, her taste, her body made him lust like never before?
And in the silence, he felt her touch his arm. It was a light caress, but his entire forearm reacted to it. His muscles twitched, his skin heated, and his nostrils flared as he inhaled her scent. He wasn’t reacting to her personality. This was biology, just as she said.
“Hank, I’m so sorry.”
That was not what he wanted to hear from her.
Not an apology. Not an admission that he’d locked on to her purely out of animal need.
He was a thinking man who had learned the value of control.
He did not want to believe he had no choice in a mate.
He liked her as a person. She was smart and she wore blindingly bright clothes.
And she hadn’t cowered in the fight. Wasn’t that enough to say that he’d chosen her?
No.
This was magic, pure and simple. And it was because she and he would make strong magical babies. That was always the result of a true bonding.
He turned to look at her. “You still have free will, Cecilia. You don’t have to choose me.”
She arched a brow. “I think I did last night.”
“But that was stress and yeah, maybe there was biological imperative involved. But it’s not a life sentence for you.”
“But it is for you?”
He shrugged. “Simon says not.”
“But you say yes.”
He didn’t know how to answer that. In the end, he took the coward’s way out. “I say that I need to change my clothes and get some things from my apartment. I need you to come with me. I can’t leave you out here.”
She looked around the parking lot. It all seemed safe and quiet. But he knew that bad things could strike anytime, even in broad daylight.
“Please don’t fight me on this. I really need to keep you nearby.”
“This the magic thing again?”
He shrugged. “It’s my job to keep you safe. You’re the only shifter-aware doctor in Detroit right now. We need you.”
She frowned. “That can’t be true.”
“It’s not,” he admitted. “But the others are pediatricians, a dentist, and a podiatrist. Not much help.”
“You’d be surprised.” Then before he could say more, she held up her hand. “I’ll go up with you, Hank, if you promise to get me their names and numbers.”
He frowned at her. “You know you could get those from us just by asking, right?”
She sighed. “I was teasing you. Trying to lighten the mood. Don’t shifters make jokes?”
“Of course, we make jokes. We’re just like everybody else. Except for—”
“Going furry. And magical bonding. And gang territories in Detroit.”
“Humans have that last one. And some normals are pretty hairy, too.”
“Fair point. So is there a reason we’re still sitting in your car debating this? Why aren’t we already up in your apartment?”
He sighed. God, she was smart, but she needed to know it all. “Because the minute I get you up there, in my place…my den, so to speak, I’m going to be on you like white on rice.”
She blinked. “What?”
“If this is all magic or biology, then I won’t be able to stop myself. I’m going to want to make babies with you like it’s my primary reason for living. Which it will be. To propagate the species and all.”
Her eyes widened. “Um, so why am I going up there?”
He shrugged. “We have to know, don’t we?” Then he amended his statement. “I’d really like to know if I’m bonded that deeply to you already.”
“We just met twelve hours ago.”
He didn’t answer. Just held her gaze until she sighed.
“So, tell me what you want me to do.”
“Ever shot a Taser before?”