Page 14 of Bone Collector’s Mate

Chapter Eleven

Noir

We lay naked next to each other on the ground. The sun beating down on us. The wind cooling us and drying off the sweat we were covered in after mating. My T-shirt had hopefully done its job, keeping Rook’s bottom from being covered with sticky leaves.

My whole life and world had tipped on its head.

“Bone collectors don’t have mates,” I said, repeating my thoughts out loud.

Rook chuckled from his place on my chest where he had gone hard again as had I.

It was eleven in the morning for crying out loud, and here I was, naked with my mate on a strip of land anyone could drive by.

Did I care? Not one bit.

“What are you laughing at?” I asked.

He growled low and deep. A claiming growl that made me shudder with its force. “I’m not laughing at you. You’re clearly wrong, Noir. I’m your mate, and I think we just proved that. The marks on my neck and yours say otherwise as well.”

“Yes, but…”

“But nothing. All supernaturals and paranormals have these rules for themselves. Rules passed down through history. Muddled with fragmented memory. A big game of telephone where what was supposed to be, has nothing to do with the now. Human rules on our kind from books and movies and art. Our whole existence proves that life has no rules. The Goddess makes us and how our lives turn out, well, that’s up to her. And Fate, if we are very fortunate, gives us mates.”

He was smart. Wise. Thank goodness. Lust and passion were one thing, but my mate would be my equal. My friend. My everything.

“I’m glad you think so.”

He rose up to rest on his elbow. “I know so. We all have mates, I think. Most just haven’t found them or missed them somehow.” He cocked his head to the side. “I have to go.”

“Right now?” I lifted my torso to sit up.

“Yes. I have a son to pick up. We don’t want him wandering and running into a goat and a man who thinks I’m a bad father.”

“I do not think that. I’m sorry. I might have thought that for a minute but I don’t know living children.”

“Living children. Huh. We’ll have to talk more about that later. I found out that my partner was cheating on me. It had gone on for years right under my nose. With my best friend. So I lost both at the same time, but it’s no loss. We’re here to start a new life, and Benji and I deserve better people in it.”

I’d never killed before and didn’t want to, but suddenly I had the urge to hurt that man, both men, very badly. “Where can I find him?”

Rook laughed. “You don’t. They can do whatever they want for all the good it will do them.”

That protective instinct kicked in.

“Will you tell Benji about me? About us?”

I rose to my feet and pulled on my pants even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. I’d read books with shifter mating in them. They usually had a honeymoon period. A time of desire and well, fucking like rabbits. My mate had a son and a life, and our mating would look a lot different than others.

Then there was the question of me. Would he be ashamed to have a monster for a mate? Would we be a secret we both kept?

I wouldn’t blame him.

“Yes. I was just thinking about that. Tonight, I’ll tell him. He’s pretty open and honest, so he’ll let me know if he needs space or time. I never lied to him about his father or his uncle Jess. I told him in a way he would understand without badmouthing him but he knows the truth.” Rook came over and kissed me on the chest. “And he will know my mate.”

“I thought you might be ashamed of me. Of…” I gestured to my head, which was still human and would be until I was out of his sight.

“Never. I would never be ashamed of the mate Fate gave me. No matter what.”

I nodded, and my chest warmed. He told the truth. I could feel it through the tether we now shared. “On your time. Whenever he is ready. I won’t rush you.”

“I know you won’t, Noir. I trust you. I have to go now.”

He had already taken a few steps and I felt his absence. My body missed his warmth. His touch across my skin. The wind threatened to sweep his scent from me.

I covered my mouth to quell the sob, and he turned, sprinted back over, and kissed my lips. Hard. “It’s temporary. And it hurts me too. I’ll tell him. We’ll be together.”

I tucked those words under my ribs and walked home after he was out of sight.

Leaving that man, my man, had been the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.