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My mind races with exactly what he’ll say.

“You have the same eyes.” Blake’s fingers dance along my palm.

I gasp, realizing I haven’t taken a breath in all this time. My lungs contract as I suck in breath after breath, begging myself to not break. He didn’t call me a monster. He isn’t running from me in tears or aiming my rifle at my head.

“And the same beard,” Blake continues.

I can only watch in frozen silence.

“And the same lips.” His eyes dip to my mouth and I know he can see my teeth.

Blake’s mouth quirks, “Maybe a new set of teeth.”

My chest vibrates with an approving hum. There’s no way for me to stop my beast from making noises, even as Blake jolts slightly. But he doesn’t back away. His fingers still dance across my palm, feeling the leather of my skin and the calluses at my knuckles.

“You’re really Arden? This isn’t some trick?”

My stomach swoops as I nod at my mate. “It’s me, baby. I’m sorry I lied. I should have told you sooner.”

Blake’s cheeks flush and his bottom lip curls between his teeth. For a moment he falls into himself, his eyes glaze over and his shoulders hunch. He looks just like the man I found curled up in his sleeping bag with a broken tent in the middle of the snowstorm.

“I’ve lied too.” He sighs, his gaze drops to his feet.

I open my mouth to urge him he’s wrong when an icy breeze sweeps across the forest, rustling the trees and kicking up flurries of snow.

My mate shivers, raising an arm to block the wind. I turn my back to the darkness, shielding his body with mine. The cold doesn’t bite through my fur but I know it’s already been too long for Blake to be out in the cold without a jacket.

“Let’s talk inside?” I ask.

It’s not my usual tone. Naturally, I’d give Blake a command. A direction for him to follow. Hearing the question fall from my lips sounds wrong on every level. I’m supposed to be his Daddy.

“Okay…” Blake turns for the door, his shoulders drooping and his head hung low. “You’re… you’re still you, right?”

His eyes meet mine from over his shoulder. I smile around my canines, keeping my features gentle. “Of course, baby.”

Blake slips inside and I follow, rising from my knees I crane my neck to step through the threshold. Fortunately, the cabin’s roof is slopped and high above my head. It takes me a moment to realize now that I’m standing at full height, Blake’s frozen up again from his spot in the living room.

I raise my hands. “I know I’m tall. But I will never hurt you, baby.”

My eyes snag on the sofa. It’s best if I sit down, at least that will make me a little palatable for Blake.

“I’m going to sit down,” I say, my every move slow as I slink past my mate with his wide eyes, and take a seat on the sofa. My new size swallows every inch of sitting space. At another time it’s particularly funny watching a two-seater sofa get completely used by my big ass.

But Blake isn’t laughing.

The look on his face has my heart plummeting. His lips are pulled into a thin line, his brows drawn close, and he holds himself in the corner of the living room.

“Blake.” I hold my hand out again. His gaze watches my movements as he slowly prowls towards me like a timid kitten.

Resting his hand in mine, I can feel the shake of his body, the heat of his skin. A thought flickers in my mind and my beast clenches up at the idea. But I know I have to give my mate the choice.

“I can go if you’d like. There’s enough food to last you the rest of the week. I won’t come back until you’re gone.” It’s like vinegar is being poured down my throat.

Blake’s eyes snap to mine, widening as his mouth hangs open, “N-No! Don’t go! Please…”

My breath catches in the back of my throat. “You want me to stay?”

My mate nods eagerly, his hands clutching my open palm. He’s so tiny compared to me in this form. Both his hands barely manage to cover half my grasp.