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“Besides the obvious questions, what have you wondered about?”
There were too many to list, but I decided to tell him about my dreams. “Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve had this same recurring dream. Well, it’s more like a nightmare.”
Ty’s eyebrows rose. “What happens in the dream?”
I sighed. “In the dream, I’m a little girl. I’m running from something or someone. A woman with hair like mine tells me to hide. I’m terrified because I don’t want to leave the woman, but I hide, anyway. I watch from a distance as someone takes her, and still, I hide in the bushes.”
“That sounds horrible.”
“It is. Every time it happens, I wake up drenched in sweat with my heart threatening to tear out of my chest.” I hesitated. Some of this was too hard to talk about, but I’d chosen to confide in him, so I wouldn’t stop now. “Part of me doesn’t think they’re just dreams.”
Ty crossed his arms. “Maybe you’re right.”
I studied his face. The muscles in his jaw were clenched. This subject was making him uncomfortable, too.
I shrugged. “My parents have always told me that I was only given to them temporarily. They were supposed to just foster me until I could be adopted.”
“Did they ever mention your biological parents?”
I closed my eyes and tried to remember. “They said my biological parents had dumped me at the hospital, but they ended up falling in love with me and decided to keep me.”
Ty stared directly ahead with his jaw clenched so tightly, I worried he’d hurt his teeth.
“Are you okay?”
His face was drawn when he looked at me. He was struggling with something other than what had transpired at the coffee shop.
He took my hand. “Will you take a walk with me?”
“Sure.” Some fresh air and exercise would help, I was sure of it.
Ty moved to my door and opened it like a perfect gentleman. He held out his hand, and I twined my fingers with his.
We walked down the nearest path without talking.
The park was peaceful and serene with lush green grass sprawling across the landscape. The trees towering above us provided a canopy of shade, and wildflowers blossomed along the edges of the winding path. A gentle breeze brushed against our faces, carrying the scent of freshly mown grass, which I assumed Ty appreciated.
Maybe that’s why he wanted to take a walk, so he could get out of the car. He probably felt trapped with my pheromones, and based on how he’d reacted last night, didn’t want to have a repeat moment where he lost all control.
Ty squeezed my hand gently. “That was really tough for me back there at the coffee shop.”
I grimaced. “I’m so sorry.”
“No.” Ty stopped walking. “Please, I don’t want you to apologize. I just want to explain how difficult it was for me to see those other men wanting you. I could smell their lust. Knowing that it was directed at my mate was torture.” He shook his head.
We started walking again, and I stayed quiet. Ty was opening up, and I wanted to hear every word he was willing to share.
“As an alpha, it took everything in me not to bite into their necks and demand submission.”
Hearing that my fated mate wanted to murder other shifters shouldn’t have filled me with warmth, but that was exactly what it did. Ty was protective of me, and that provided a sense of security I’d longed for from an early age.
My phone dinged in my purse, interrupting our walk. We stopped, and I scanned the email. “It’s from my doctor. He’s out of town and won’t be back until the end of the week. He’ll see me on Friday, but in the meantime, he’ll call in a stronger prescription, doubling my dosage. He says there’s no need to see another doctor until he can see me on Friday.”
“Are you satisfied with his response?”
I liked that he’d asked that particular question, and hadn’t insisted I see a different doctor. “Yeah.” I dropped my phone back into my purse. “I assumed that’s what he’d say. Maybe my body is becoming somewhat resistant to the medication so it needs to be upped.”
Ty shrugged. “I have no clue how any of that works, but it makes sense.”
