Page 37 of Bear’s True Mate

“Yeah, it is.”

“What about Evan, though?” she asked. “He saw you. He saw... that. What if he tells someone?”

I shrugged. “Let him. Nobody’s going to believe a guy who pissed himself and got arrested for assault and stalking. He can say whatever he wants.”

“But what if —”

I held her gaze. “Even if someone believed him, I don’t care. Protecting you was the only thing that mattered. It still is.”

She stared at me, and I wondered if this was the right time to go into what she was to me and my bear.

Would there be a better one?

“Which is why I should tell you something else,” I said, deciding it was probably best to get it all out at once.

Dread filled me.

Not because I didn’t want to tell her—I did—but because the mate bond wasn’t easy to explain without sounding crazy, and also, the last thing she needed right now was another man telling her she belonged to him.

“My bear has instincts that run deeper than mine. He recognizes things I don’t always see right away.” I rubbed the back of my neck, hoping what I was saying was making any sense. “The day you showed up, I’m pretty sure my bear recognized you.”

“Recognized me, how?” She shook her head, confusion clouding her eyes.

“As his mate.”

The words hung in the air between us. When she didn’t say anything to that, I continued on.

“He’ll never choose anyone else. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing for shifters, like an imprint. It’s permanent for him.”

Her brows pinched together like she was struggling to understand. “So you don’t have a say? You didn’t choose this—choose me?”

“No, but I would have.” It surprised me how easily the words came, but it shouldn’t have. She was the one—for me and my bear. “Even without the bond. Even if none of this shifter stuff existed. I would have chosen you anyway.”

Her eyes were bright, and I could see her working through everything I’d said.

“You have a choice, though,” I said, and I meant it. “The mate bond is mine, but it doesn’t obligate you to anything. If you don’t want this—if it’s too much, if it’s too soon—I’ll understand. You don’t have to accept me or my bear.”

She didn’t say anything, and I felt her silence squeezing the air out of me. Suffocating me.

“When did you know?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“When did I know what?”

“That I was—that your bear chose me. When did he know?” she asked again. “I mean, I know you said he knew from the first time you saw me, but that can’t be right.” She rolled her eyes.

“Actually.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’m pretty sure he did know then. The second you showed up on my steps and told me to turn my music down.”

Her eyes widened. “Seriously? That first day?”

“Yeah.”

“You hated me that first day, though.”

“No, I was annoyed. There’s a big difference. My bear didn’t feel the same as I did, though. He wasn’t annoyed by your presence. He was settled in a way I’d never known him to be.” I laughed and shook my head. “It drove me crazy, honestly. Here I am arguing with this woman about noise, and he’s in my chest acting like he just found the thing he’d been looking for his whole damn life.”

She stared at me. “Is that why you were so⁠—”

“Obnoxious?”