by Moxie North
When Zion and Eden got in, he asked. “Where are we going?”
“We’ve rented an extended-stay apartment near your home. We want to keep an eye out,” Zion explained.
The rest of the drive was quiet, each person worrying about something different.
Kellan was surprised when they turned down the street he lived on. The building was diagonal from his. After entering the garage, Eden got out and he followed. Zion drove off and Kellan figured he was supposed to just follow Eden’s lead.
The elevator took them up ten floors before stopping. Eden approached the door, pulled out her phone and entered the passcode for the locked door. She pushed the door open slowly, her hand under the back of her jacket.
“Wait,” she cautioned, a hand against his chest.
She paused, her head turning left and right. “Clear,” she announced before pushing the door wider and allowing him to enter.
“How can you be sure?” he asked as she shut the door and locked it.
Eden tapped her ears. He felt stupid for a half-second. Humans were so limited in their senses, and they could easily forget the ease with which Kindred could simply stop and listen for breathing or a heartbeat out of place.
The apartment was newer than his, and large windows framed the one wall facing the street. A kitchen off to the right of the front door had a high counter with stools that joined the living area. All the furniture was nice, but generic. Something easy for a rental, he supposed.
“There are two rooms. Zion is in there, we’ll be in here,” Eden said, pointing to a room on the opposite side of the room.
“We?”
Chapter 11
Eden had an opportunity she knew she couldn’t lose. She walked to the couch, sat down and motioned for Kellan to join her. She felt horribly nervous and rubbed her palms over her knees to try and chase the feeling in her stomach away. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this way. She planned, prepared, and executed her tasks in every aspect of her life. But telling a human they were your mate… that was something she couldn’t have prepped for.
“Kellan…”
“Eden…” he replied charmingly. Eden blinked and looked down at her hands. She wasn’t going to get sucked into just staring off into his eyes. She had to focus.
“I have to tell you something and I should have told you yesterday. I just didn’t know how to do it. Or how to do it the right way.” She was gripping her hands then rubbing them down her jeans. Never in her life had she been unable to get her feelings into words. Then again, her feelings had always been so much simpler.
“Something about the case? About Ritch?”
“No, no, about you. And about me,” she said, her mouth suddenly very dry. The bear inside her was insistent that she get the words out. Her animal wanted all of the perks that came with having a mate. All of them. Eden cleared her throat and tried to calm her raging bear.
“Eden, I already like you. I like being with you. You make me feel safe. I mean I’ve never felt unsafe until the last few days, but I feel better when you’re around.”
She could have kissed him for trying to make her feel at ease. He was worried about her feelings. Eden was surrounded by men that would take a bullet for her, but very few were ever concerned about her feelings. They treated her like one of the guys. Most of the time, she preferred it that way. But she wasn’t one of the guys. She was a woman. She liked so-called girly things, she just rarely advertised it. Now she had to talk about feelings, personal feelings, and it was like being thrown into the deep end for the first time.
“I couldn’t tell you before, it just wasn’t the right time, and with the coma and the drugs... I wasn’t sure you were really aware of anything yet. If I told you then, I’d have to tell you all over again, and that sounded painful.”
“Eden, you’re the one keeping me alive right now, I don’t think we should have any secrets between us, do you?”
Eden let out a weak laugh. In a nervous gesture she reached up and pulled her braid over her shoulder and started playing with the end, her fingers twisting through the strands of dark hair. Normally she’d pull out a knife when her hands needed to keep busy. That might send the wrong message.
Taking a deep breath, she looked Kellan in the eyes and felt that zing that she’d felt every time she’d looked at him since that moment in the hospital. “You’re my mate.” She let out a rush of air after blurting out the words and her animal thought it could have been done with more finesse. Not that it was going to be helpful in that regard.
“Mate?” Kellan frowned at her.
She reached for his hands and grabbed both of them. “My mate. My one. I heard the mating call the moment you opened your eyes. I wasn’t expecting it, and I couldn’t have guessed it would ever happen to me. I didn’t think it ever would. But I don’t have any doubt that it’s you.”
Eden wasn’t sure what she was expecting from Kellan. His reaction was confusion, which she could have guessed. What she couldn’t have guessed was him letting go of her hands and standing up and stepping back from her.
“I’m sorry, uh…” Kellan looked uncomfortable and something twisted in Eden’s stomach like a knife. Maybe in her innocence she’d expected him to be thrilled. She was supposed to be everything he ever wanted. That was the way it was supposed to work. Eden had been taught from when she was very young that the Great Mother had a plan for all of them. That she would guide her Kindred to the heart that best matched theirs. It had been a fairytale then, but one that she was convinced would come true someday. The Great Mother had promised it.
He was supposed to like her. He was supposed to love her. Eden was feeling the first pains of rejection. It hurt; she didn’t like the ache in her chest that was battling with the conflicting feeling of helping her mate through his shock. Wasn’t that a bitch?
“I was surprised too. But I heard it, I can’t explain it, but it’s undeniable. And I felt it. Here,” she said pulling the neck of her black t-shirt down to reveal the iridescent mark on her chest that every Kindred was born with.
Hers was a complicated pattern of a continuous line that formed into a shape similar to a flower. It was something that she often kept hidden due to its delicate nature. She often felt that it didn’t fit who she was. Now, it felt like that shape was a flower waiting to bloom open. It was a sign of who she was meant to become, not who she had been.
“Shit, the mate mark. I…” Kellan swallowed hard. “Are you sure? I mean, we just met.”
Eden felt a pit open in her stomach. How was she supposed to handle her mate’s rejection? Of course, it wouldn’t stop her from pursuing him. Even if he didn’t want to be with her, she’d be his constant shadow. Not that she’d ever heard of mates having to go to that extreme. Van and Anson seemed to go from single to mated in less than a day. Then again, she didn’t ask for the details. But they had been changed, altered forever by their mating. It had scared her when she saw it, but now, nothing about it was scary. Except for the possibility that her mate might not accept her.
“I realize what you’re in the middle of right now and I know you’re innocent. We’ll prove that, it’s just a matter of time. But I need you to know that regardless of whether I’m being paid to be here or not, I’m not leaving your side.”
Kellan put his hands into his pockets and started pacing. “Eden, I’m single for a reason. I live to work. I don’t even know what being a mate means. I’m just supposed to say yes? Throw my life away because something told you we’re supposed to be together for the rest of our lives?”
Eden took some solace in the fact he wasn’t mocking her, he was truly asking. “I know it’s a lot,” she said carefully. “We can go through this together. Just because you’re my mate doesn’t mean we’ve bonded. That can come… later.” Eden almost choked on that word. It wasn’t what she wanted. The driving need inside her was to seal him to her as her mate, transfer her mark to him and let the world know he was hers. She’d never felt at
tached to anything besides her family. No man had ever held her interest. Eden knew that Kellan was never going to fail to surprise her, make her happy, laugh with her. It was as if she could see their future stretching out in front of her.
It was something she’d never thought about or could imagine she’d want. Now it was all she wanted. She wanted Kellan in her bed, in her heart. She wanted babies! Well, maybe a baby. But the drive had magically appeared and she wondered if it was a bit of a cosmic joke to make the Kindred with the least amount of maternal instinct crave a tiny squalling infant.
Now that image of a tiny infant screaming and pooping made her insides go mushy. Damn it.
“I’m a wanted man! I’m boring! I…” Kellan’s pacing hadn’t stopped and now he was throwing his hands in the air.
“Kellan, I know this is a lot,” she said, reaching for him. Her hand hung in mid-air as her fingers strained toward him.
“Do you? Someone tried to kill me, frame me for a theft I would never commit, and I still might go to jail. Now you want me to become a mate? I clearly can’t even take care of myself right now and that isn’t sitting well with me. I’m not the kind of person that needs help. I take care of myself. I’m strong, I’m capable. Now you’re telling me, on top of everything else, that I have to be a full-time partner? I like you, Eden, really, I do, I can’t deny it. I thought maybe you’d be interested in dating. We could hang out before you went back to Seattle. Fuck, you live in Seattle! What does that mean for me? Am I supposed to move?”
Eden got up off the couch slowly and stepped towards him carefully. She used her ‘talk a guy off a ledge’ voice as she spoke. “We can figure all of that out. I’m rarely in Seattle for long right now. I’m usually on tour with Bliss Hartley,” she explained.
Kellan dropped back down to the sofa and let his head fall back. “Great, now I’m a groupie.” He covered his face with his hands and Eden took a chance and sat next to him.
“Kellan, look at me,” she implored.
His eyes opened to hers and she felt that tingle. “Do you feel that?” she asked softly.
Kellan sighed and his brown eyes turned soft. “That connection? That feeling like I could be happy looking into your eyes forever? Yeah, I feel that.”
“That’s us. Our connection. It’s only going to get stronger. I guess getting the news you can only sleep with one woman the rest of your life might not sound great to you,” she said, glancing away from him.
His hand came up to her chin and lifted her eyes back to his. “I’m not saying that. I’m saying everything else that goes along with it… that’s a lot. You’re sexy, believe me when I say you are the sexiest woman I’ve ever had the privilege of being near. I’d be the luckiest guy in the world to have you in my bed. What I’m saying is, how can I be a mate to you? I’ve always been the one that handles things in a relationship. I like taking care of the woman in my life. It makes me feel good, makes me feel like I’m fulfilling my side of things. You don’t need me. You can take care of yourself. You’re stronger, faster, better connected. What could I really have to offer you? We’ll be… unbalanced.”
“Kellan, don’t you see? The universe is telling me that’s what I need. If you’d asked me a few days ago if I needed a man, I could emphatically say I didn’t. Today, I can’t imagine living without you. Not just anyone, you. Whoever you are, whatever you do, I need that in my life. It will be just as much of a learning curve for me as it would for you. I’ve made myself strong because I had to. I’ve had to be the person I am now. I love my job and I wouldn’t ever want to do anything else. It doesn’t mean that’s all I am.”
Kellan ran his hand up her face and cupped it. Eden couldn’t help but drop her cheek to rest in his palm.
“Who are you, Eden?”
Eden blinked against the tears that welled in her eyes and that would have horrified her before. In front of Kellan it didn’t make her feel less, it made her feel like she was more. “I’m yours, Kellan.”
Chapter 12
She held her breath, he was looking at her so deeply, and she swore he could see into her soul. Or maybe it was the first time she’d let anyone really see her. There was a veil she kept up in her daily life, the one that she used to keep people at a distance. It was a shield that she didn’t even know if she could remove herself, but Kellan had broken right through it. This human in front of her was taking up all her senses. Second by second he was becoming everything to her.
Leaning towards her, she held still as his mouth touched hers. She gasped and her lips opened against his. She kissed him softly. He pressed gently and the kiss deepened. Each press of their lips to the other’s was like an invitation. A chance to meet and learn a little more.
In her mind, Eden’s animal was chuffing contentedly, and she didn’t want to be distracted. She also didn’t want to rush him. The desire to tear his clothes off was fighting for space in her mind with her enjoyment of just the kiss.
Kellan released her lips and she felt the loss of the heat and pressure of having him so close. “How can I be the man I need to be for you if I have to be protected by you?”
Eden knew it wasn’t easy for some human men to have Kindred mates. It was different for them. They often were used to being the stronger partner in relationships. Physically, at least. That wasn’t the case with a Kindred mate. Eden was always going to be stronger and faster than him. She could turn into a bear that could rip a man’s head off with her sharp claws. It would never be a fair physical fight.
Then again, mates shouldn’t be fighting. At least not physically, so it was all a psychological issue.
“Wouldn’t you protect me if I was in danger?” she asked, imploring him to understand.
Kellan jerked back in surprise “Of course.”
“Then why can’t I do the same for you? The Great Mother put us together because we can be strong for each other. We can lean on each other without being a burden. I think that’s why you’re mine. I’ve been taking care of myself for so long, I’ve forgotten how to let go. Maybe I needed someone to ease the burden.”
“And what about me?”
Eden smiled softly. “Maybe you needed more of a challenge?”
Kellan let out a laugh and she couldn’t help but smile as his worried face broke into a brief moment of happiness. She liked that look on him, it was like he had forgotten how much worry he had.
“You promise?” he asked finally.
Confused, Eden frowned. “Promise?”
“To challenge me? Not treat me like a weak human that needs you to be the main protector? Yes, it’s a human male thing, we can’t seem to help it.”
“It’s in your DNA for your species to be the hunter. There’s no shame in that. I can promise to challenge you. But I can also not be who I am. We can trade off, watching over one another.”
“Split the days? Today is your day, tomorrow is mine?” he asked wryly.
“No, I think fighting for it each day would be much more entertaining,” she said, her voice dropped to a growl she hadn’t intended. Being so close to him made her body respond. She wanted to feel his skin against hers. It wasn’t the time or place, not that she could see a good reason to not have what she wanted. The worry was she wouldn’t be able to hold back her bear. Kellan needed to choose to be her mate. He needed to fully choose her with his whole heart.
“Challenge, huh?”
“Exactly.”
There was a knock at the door and she ignored it. “It’s just Zion warning us he’s back. I need to go run an errand. If I don’t, well, I can’t promise that I’ll be able to keep my hands off you.”
Kellan wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her close. “That’s a problem?”
“Yes, you just checked out of a hospital. I dropped a bomb on you, oh, and you’ve got people after you. Let’s control what we can right now. You rest, Zion will have you covered. I’ll be back and then we can have dinner together?”
Kellan took a deep breath
, his eyes narrowed like he didn’t like the idea of her leaving at all. Or maybe he didn’t want her leaving alone. Either way, he was worried for her and she couldn’t help but love that just a little.
“You’ll be careful?” he asked, his hand coming up to her face to run a thumb over her cheek.
“Careful enough to make sure I come back to you,” she swore. Eden figured that would still allow her to take some risks without breaking her promise. After all, she was who she was.
“Fine, but don’t be gone long. I don’t like it when you’re gone.”
That warmed her heart even more. Without even being bonded, the connection between them was there and growing stronger with each passing minute.
“If you sleep, it will seem even faster.”
Kellan let out a grunt. He placed a kiss on her mouth and Eden held herself back from opening her lips against his. It would be easy to get lost in his kisses. They already took up all the space in her mind. Nothing could even exist except them and she wouldn’t care.
“You sleep, I’ll check on you when I get back.”
Eden pulled away from her mate and it took some effort to put distance between them. Turning on her heel, she walked to the door and pulled it open.
Zion was waiting in the hallway. He leaned against the wall across from the door. His dark gray long-sleeve shirt stretched over his muscles like a second skin.
“Aren’t you cold?”
Zion grunted.
Eden pulled the door closed behind her and let the lock click closed, but still kept her voice low when she spoke. “I’m going to check out the coffee shop. Kellan needs to rest, I told him to sleep until I get back.”
Zion looked skeptical. “You think he’s going to do what he’s been told?” he asked, his head tilting to the side mockingly.
“Why wouldn’t he?”
“Have you told him?”
Eden let out a sigh. “Yes. It didn’t go as well as I thought it would.”
