“No! You guys are nuts!”
“But Lucy,” Mason said quietly, “you saw me shift last night.”
She shook her head wildly, like a little kid throwing a tantrum. “I don’t care! It was a dream!”
With a glance from Mason, the others left them alone, closing the door behind them. Dropping to his knees next to the bed, Mason reached out and cupped her burning hot cheek and hoped he could show her everything he needed to say in a single touch.
Chapter Thirteen
Lucy quivered at Mason’s touch.
Quivered.
Even as she pressed her hot cheek into the cool roughness of his palm, she cursed herself as twelve kinds of a fool. The guy was clearly off his rocker, not to mention the fact he was practically a stranger, and yet…
His effect on her was undeniable.
She’d never felt anything like it before. All her past boyfriends paled in comparison—almost faded from memory entirely. If asked, she would have been hard pressed to even remember their names, much less how they’d made her feel.
But werewolves? her logical brain insisted. It wanted her to remember that he believed he was a werewolf.
Everything that had happened since Charlie bit her was colored by the sickly glaze of infection, but Lucy knew deep down she had witnessed Mason shifting from human into a wolf. As much as she wanted to pretend she’d been dreaming—hallucinating—she knew the truth. Werewolves existed.
“Lucy?” His gravelly voice was a tonic to her frayed nerves. She sighed in response, every cell in her body yearning to trust him, despite what her silly brain told her. “There are things we need to talk about, but I don’t want to scare you.”
Her eyes fluttered opened and she tried to smile, even though her body felt as if it was weighted down by a metric ton of rocks. “I think we crossed that line when you turned into a ginormous wolf.”
He let out a relieved breath and rubbed his thumb against her cheekbone. “Okay, here goes. I’ve been waiting for you my entire life, Lucy Morgan. I didn’t know it, not until yesterday, but that’s the truth. You’re the reason I’m still breathing. You’re why I’m still alive and sane.”
Her arched eyebrow made him chuckle, which sent a shiver of joy through her aching body.
“Okay, as sane as someone like me could ever be,” he corrected, before continuing. “Until you came along, I fully expected to be put down by year’s end. Now I have the chance at a future I’d never dreamed possible. You’re my miracle, Lucy, and no matter the outcome, I intend on having my mate by my side.”
It took a few seconds for Lucy’s brain to process his words. When his words finally untangled themselves, she frowned. “What do you mean, ‘put down’?”
A muscle in Mason’s jaw flexed. “As far as unmated werewolves go, I’m getting long in the tooth, so to speak.”
She smiled, only because she didn’t have the strength to laugh. “So?”
“So… werewolves must find their mates at some point or another, or they’ll turn feral.”
“Why?”
Mason smiled softly at her, sending ripples of desire through her. “A mate soothes you, calms your wolf. Without that calming influence, the wolf starts to take over.”
“And that would be bad?”
“Very. I was already losing control when we met. My wolf had been steadily taking control of our shared body more and more over the last few months. Everyone in the Blackwood pack knew it, but they were also patient, hoping I’d find my mate before…”
Lucy didn’t like that he’d trailed off like that. “Before what?”
Mason sighed. “Before I lost control completely and the rest of the Blackwood ruling circle were forced to eliminate the problem.”
The severity of what Mason had been facing hit her like a Mack truck. “Damn, I thought being single in the human world sucked.”
Mason smirked and stroked her cheek again. Lucy wouldn’t have minded dying right then, if he’d just keep stroking her so sweetly.
“You are, quite literally, the other half of my soul, Lucy. I can’t live without you. And now that I know you a little, I don’t think I’d want to. I need you to believe that.”
She met his very serious and very intense gaze. She should have scoffed at his words. She should have grabbed her cell and dialed 9-1-1 and “ordered pizza,” as all the Facebook memes suggested. She should have run screaming through the woods until someone came along to round up all the loonies in that particular bin.
But something in his expression eased her doubts, and a scent she’d never smelled before soothed her, made her trust him. It was crisp and clear, like a sunny morning at the beach. It smelled pure and ancient and right, and it told her every word coming out of his beautiful mouth was the truth.
Since when did she smell feelings? Maybe it was her infection, or maybe her sanity. Whatever the reason, she trusted Mason as she’d never trusted anyone before. And more than that, the funny, fizzy feeling inside her belly every time she looked at him felt distinctly like love. Not like an anemic, soda pop “love” she might have thought she felt before, but like a rocket launching into space.
“I do believe you,” she whispered, reaching up to lay her hand on top of his. “At least, I’m trying to. It’s all just a bit much. I need a little time to come to grips with all of this. Maybe when I’m feeling better…”
Mason closed his eyes and kept them closed for a long moment. She didn’t need any special ESP to know he was trying to figure out how to break some bad news to her.
“You have no idea how much I’d like to give you all the time in the world,” he finally said.
“So why don’t you?”
“Whether you can believe it right now or not, you were destined to become an alpha mate, Lucy. As a human, my mating bite would have transformed you painlessly. Since Charlie bit you, we have no idea how your change will go.”
Adrenaline surged into her system as panic took hold. “Transform? Change?”
Mason winced, as if he’d forgotten to tell her a key part of the story. “When a wolf bites a human, one of two things happen. Either they die, or they turn into a werewolf themselves.”
Lucy’s mouth went dry, and no matter how much she tried to form words, nothing came out.
“We were all hoping it wouldn’t happen, but it’s pretty obvious Charlie’s bite transmitted enough saliva to… infect you, for lack of a better term. Since you were fated to be my mate, it’s still possible you could change on your own, but Drew thinks it would be safer—and more pleasant—if I claimed you right away.”
As much as she enjoyed the feel of his hand under hers, Lucy pulled away and pinched the bridge of her nose, desperately trying to remain calm enough to make sense of all the craziness Mason had just lain in front of her. She took five deep, cleansing breaths, just as she’d learned in yoga class.
Didn’t work.
“And what’s involved with this claiming process?”
Mason leaned back and took his comforting hand with him. Lucy suddenly felt as if a part of her body had been removed. He stared at her for a moment before explaining. “When fated mates find each other, they bite each other on the neck… while they’re making love.”
Lucy let her eyelids fall shut. Her body burned so hot she shuddered with chills. Every muscle, every joint, every inch of her skin hurt. She’d never been so miserable in her life. The thought of making it all go away quickly was mighty appealing, but the very idea of exerting enough energy to have sex—even though every cell in her body screamed for Mason—quite literally exhausted her. Besides, she was still not sure about all this “fated mate” mumbo-jumbo.
Turning to face him, she gave him her most pleading look. “Couldn’t you just give me a little nibble now, and I’ll take a rain check for the rest?”
Chapter Fourteen