Kurt woke from a fog of sleep to the sound of the shower running in Natalie’s small bathroom. He smiled and stretched lazily, like a cat. He could get used to this—to waking up every morning to the sounds of the woman he loved.

And oh, did he love her. He had suspected as much ever since their paths crossed again in this cold, windy city, but now he knew for certain. Last night had been the best night of his life, and it had cemented in his mind that Natalie and he were meant to be. Now, he just had to convince her of the same thing. Judging by how well she had responded to him last night, he had a feeling that convincing her would be easy. He knew she had some reservations about living in Torch Lake, but surely, if she just gave the town a chance, she’d see how great it was to live there and move with him.

Kurt stood, and padded out to the living room to look for his clothes. They’d both gone to bed naked last night, still not wanting anything between their skin. He wished now that he had sweatpants or something more comfortable with him. He felt lazy and happy, and even his relaxed fit jeans felt too formal. He had no other clothes here though, so with a sigh he quickly got dressed, telling himself that soon enough he and Natalie would have plenty of their things at each other’s places, or, better yet, be living together. Kurt didn’t want to push her too fast and make her feel uncomfortable, but he knew what he wanted. And what he wanted was to spend the rest of his life with Natalie.

He nosed around the kitchen until he found coffee and filters, and got a pot going. As soon as the coffeepot had started gurgling, he checked the fridge, which he found well-stocked. He smiled, not surprised at all. Back in Falcon Cross, Natalie had always kept a full fridge even though she lived alone. She had lectured him several times about the fact that being single was no excuse for not having good food. She thought that everyone, even singles, deserved to have good meals. She would stick her chin out stubbornly and say that she herself was special enough to deserve a nice dinner, even if she was eating it alone.

Kurt chuckled at the memory as he pulled eggs, bacon, and shredded cheese from the fridge. He loved how Natalie knew what she wanted and stood up for herself. He just hoped that what she wanted now was him.

He set to work whipping up a bacon and cheese omelet, popping some bread in the toaster as well while the eggs cooked. When everything was ready, he put the food out on the table. His timing was perfect: just as Natalie emerged from the bedroom, freshly showered, Kurt put the last plate down.

“Wow. What a spread.” Natalie grinned as she sat down next to one of the plates that was piled high with eggs and toast. She took a sip of coffee and moaned. “Delicious. Thank you.”

Kurt grinned. “You’re welcome. You like your coffee black, right? That’s how I left it.”

Natalie nodded, and flashed him another winning smile. “That’s right. I’m impressed that you remember that.”

“Well, we did drink quite a bit of coffee back in the day.”

That earned him another laugh. It was true. They’d spent a lot of time in coffee shops back in Falcon Cross. The city had good cafes, and going to grab a cup of coffee had always felt like a little piece of normalcy in the midst of a crazy war.

“What’s on your agenda for today?” Natalie asked as she dug into her omelet. Kurt took a seat and started eating his breakfast as well.

“I’m going to meet with Wyatt to make a plan to attack the Dark Warriors’ headquarters. We want to get a plan in place as soon as possible. The High Council in Torch Lake is having an emergency meeting today to decide whether they’re going to send wizards and shifters to help with the effort, but the meeting is more of a formality than anything else. I suspect there’ll be a group on its way to us before sundown tonight.”

Natalie nodded. “Keep me posted on how that’s going. I wish I could be at the meeting with Wyatt, but I shouldn’t miss work again. If I call in too much my boss will get suspicious, so I want to save my days off for when we actually attack the Dark Warriors.”

Kurt nodded. “We all understand. Most of the group isn’t going to make it to the meeting today, but we’ll keep everyone up-to-date on what’s being planned.”

Natalie took another long sip of coffee, and Kurt shoveled more food into his mouth. He hadn’t even realized how hungry he was until he started eating. Natalie must have felt the same, because over the next few minutes both of them ate hungrily. When they were done, she leaned back in her chair to finish her coffee, glancing at the clock as she did. Kurt glanced as well. It was eight-fifteen in the morning.

“What time do you have to leave for work?” he asked.

“I start at nine-thirty, so I absolutely have to be out the door by nine. I should leave by eight-forty-five to be on the safe side, but that doesn’t always happen.” Natalie laughed, the musical sound of it seeming to lighten the room in an instant. “Mornings are hard.”

Kurt smiled and winked at her. “Well, hopefully the breakfast service this morning made your morning a little easier.”

“It did. Loads easier. Thanks.”

Natalie took another sip of coffee, and Kurt took a deep breath. He knew that eight-fifteen in the morning, when Natalie had to leave for work soon, probably wasn’t the most ideal time to bring up the fact that he wanted Natalie to stay with him forever. But he couldn’t bear the thought of waiting hours and hours until he saw her again to tell her. He would go crazy thinking about this all day, and so he decided to just ask her now. In his head, he had prepared a nice little speech about how they were meant to be together and how wonderful life with her would be. But when the moment came to talk, he panicked slightly and simply blurted out the strongest thought in his head.

“Move with me to Torch Lake!”

Natalie looked up at him in shock, almost dropping her coffee cup. Some of the dark liquid sloshed out of the mug and onto the table, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“Um, what?”

Kurt took another deep breath. “Move with me to Torch Lake. I know you aren’t keen on the idea of moving to a shifter-wizard town, but I promise that the High Council there is different. They truly care about their clan. They’re like the High Council in Falcon Cross was, except even better.”

Natalie stared at him as though he’d loss his mind. She seemed at a loss for words. Finally, she managed to get out, “But Kurt, my life is here.”

“I know it is. But you could build a new life in Torch Lake. You don’t have much here holding you back, do you? I mean, honestly. Your job doesn’t seem to be something that you’re particularly passionate about. And you told me yourself that you haven’t made a lot of friends because you’re always so worried about accidentally revealing yourself as a wizard. Think about it—in Torch Lake, you wouldn’t have to hide who you are.”

“Oh, come on, Kurt. We had a good night last night. It was fun, and I definitely feel a deep…draw to you. But you know I don’t want to leave. No matter how amazing Torch Lake is, it’s still a town led by a High Council. It’s still too close to the horrors of the last war. Why don’t you move to Chicago? You seem to have hit it off pretty well with Wyatt and the others. I’m sure they’d be thrilled to have a dragon shifter working with them.”

She’d kept her voice light and casual, but Kurt felt anything but light right now. He stood and came around the table to kneel next to Natalie, taking her hands. He had to make her understand. “I like Wyatt and the crew here well enough. They’re doing great things for the city of Chicago, there’s no denying that. But I can’t abandon Torch Lake. Not now, when they’ve done so much for me. I was lost before I ended up in Torch Lake, and I didn’t even know it. The High Council there convinced me to give the place a chance, and once I did I realized that it truly is an incredible city. You can live a full life there. You can have meaningful work that makes a big difference in the lives of shifters and wizards everywhere. You have a town that’s worth protecting, and fellow citizens who truly care about you. And best of all you never have to hide who you are. You can be Natalie the wizard. You don’t have to conceal the truth about the magic that lies within you.”

Natalie still looked doubtful.

“Look,” Kurt continued. “I know that it probably does sound a little bit crazy for me to ask you to move to a completely new place with me just like that. But the truth is, last night was much more than just a one-time fling for me. I don’t know how you feel, but I’ve been in love with you for a long time, Natalie. I finally gave in to those feelings last night, because from the moment I saw you again, I realized that I’d made a big mistake by ever parting ways with you in the first place.”

“I have feelings for you, too,” she said, sounding defensive. “But that doesn’t mean I’m just going to give up my whole life. Everything I have is here.”

You don’t have much, Kurt was tempted to say. But he resisted the urge. He didn’t want to belittle the life she had built here. He knew it wasn’t easy to blend in as a shifter or wizard in a human town. God, he knew that all too well. But he also knew that deep down, Natalie wasn’t happy. He could see the hollowness in her eyes when she talked about her job. She was working as a customer service agent at some big call center downtown. She’d mentioned how boring the job was, and how demeaning customers could be when they called in. And she had no friends other than Wyatt and the crew, whom she’d only just met. There was truly nothing holding her here except a stubborn refusal to acknowledge that life could be good in a shifter-wizard town.

He knew she wasn’t very open to hearing about life in a shifter-wizard town, though, so he decided instead to concentrate on telling her about how much he wanted a life with her. He felt a rush of nerves when he realized what he was about to tell her. What if she laughed in his face, and told him that only fools believed in fate and destiny? She’d always been so rational and practical about everything. Would she listen to what he had to say now? There was only one way to find out. He looked at her with as earnest of an expression as he could muster.

“Nat, have you ever heard shifters talk about lifemates?”

She looked confused for a moment, as though he had just abruptly changed the subject of their conversation. But he hadn’t. Not exactly, anyway. What he had to say related directly to her decision of whether to move with him.

“Um, I remember hearing some shifters back in Falcon Cross mention lifemates at one point. But I didn’t pay much attention because it sounded really cheesy. Like soulmates or something.”

Kurt almost laughed. That sounded exactly how someone as practical as Natalie would react. “I suppose it might sound a little farfetched and cheesy, but lifemates are a real thing. It’s not quite as simple as soulmates. It goes much deeper than that. We shifters believe that when you are born, destiny assigns you a lifemate. That lifemate is a person you’re destined to spend your life with, and throughout your life, fate works to bring you together.”

“Okay,” Natalie said. She still sounded skeptical. She had always stayed several feet away from any sort of “fate” or “destiny” conversations. She believed in magic, of course, because it was observable and measureable. But fate? No one could observe fate at work. No one could truly know that destiny was responsible for the happy coincidences in his or her life. Kurt knew that Natalie thought these ideas were far-fetched, but he had to do his best to convince her. Their future depended on it.

“Think about it,” he pleaded. “What were the odds of us meeting up again, ever? Let alone in a city as big as Chicago. A city where I never would have been if things hadn’t worked out perfectly for the Torch Lake High Council to send me here.”

“The world can be a small place,” she said. But he heard the uncertainty in her voice and latched onto it.

“Yes, it can be a small place. But there are billions of people in it. What are the odds any two people’s paths will cross not once, but twice? Don’t you see? Fate is giving us a second chance.”

Natalie crossed her arms. “How can you know that we are lifemates? And what does that even mean? That we’re supposed to love each other our whole lives? That’s all well and good, but it seems a bit impractical given our circumstances, don’t you think?”

“I know you’re my lifemate because I formed the lifemate bond with you last night.”

Natalie raised an eyebrow. The deep skepticism was returning. “The lifemate bond?”

“Yes. It’s an unbreakable bond that forms the first time you make love to your fated lifemate. It feels like an intense warmth in your core. I felt that last night. I knew when we slept together that you and I were meant to be together forever.”

Kurt saw a faint glimmer of recognition in Natalie’s eyes. Had she felt the warmth of the lifemate bond as well? His heart leapt at the thought. Maybe now she would trust him on this. But the hint of recognition was gone almost as soon as it had appeared. She shook her head sadly.

“Look, I care about you a lot. And I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t enjoyed last night immensely. The thought has crossed my mind that it’d be nice if we weren’t living separate lives. But the fact is that we are. And the lifemate bond? Those sorts of things are just stories, Kurt.”

Kurt felt despair rising in his throat. “They’re not stories. They’re real, and I felt the lifemate bond with you. You may think there’s nothing to it, but I’m forever changed. No matter what you decide—even if you tell me that you never want to see me again—there will never be any other woman for me. For the rest of my life, I will do my best to protect you and take care of you. I love you, Natalie. I know you must think I’m insane for saying that right now, but I love you. I do.”

He looked at her with eyes that begged her to see the truth of what he said. He willed her to jump into his arms, saying that she loved him back and couldn’t imagine a life without him. But his heart dropped as he saw a coolness coming over her face.

“If you loved me that much, then you would move to Chicago for me. I have to go to work.”

She stood and went to grab her keys.

“Natalie,” he begged. He didn’t know what else to say. She only shook her head sadly at him as she reached for her purse.

“Feel free to stay as long as you want. The door will lock itself behind you when you leave.”

And just like that, she was gone. Kurt felt like he had just watched his life walk out on him. How could she be so stubborn? Hadn’t she felt the lifemate bond, too? And didn’t she realize that he couldn’t just up and leave Torch Lake?

Kurt stood and went to sit on the couch, letting his head fall into his hands. It was ironic, actually, how much he himself had fought against staying in Torch Lake. Now, he didn’t want to leave. But he knew in his heart that if Natalie refused to move, he would have to come to Chicago. The thought of leaving behind his new clan made him sick, but what choice did he have? He did love Natalie, with every fiber of his being. Last night, when he’d realized she was his lifemate, he’d been overjoyed. He figured that if they were destined to be together, she would certainly have an open mind toward moving to Torch Lake. But she had just made it abundantly clear that this was not the case.

“Looks like I’m the one who’s going to have to have an open mind,” he said aloud to the empty apartment. With a heavy heart, he stood again and went to look out of the large back windows of Natalie’s condo. The sun was shining brightly, but the city was covered in snow from yesterday’s storm, so the view still looked frigid. He knew he would find plenty of good opportunities for work here. But would he find something that made him come alive, like he did in Torch Lake?

In the end, it didn’t matter. Natalie was what made his heart truly come alive, so if he had to live here to be near her, that’s what he would do. Everyone had to make sacrifices for love now and then. Why should he be any exception? There was no point in whining about it.

Besides, he didn’t have time to feel sorry for himself right now. He had to get to his meeting with Wyatt. With any luck, the crew would be attacking the Dark Warriors’ headquarters within the next day or two. Kurt could hardly wait. He was in the mood to burn up some dark wizards right about now.

He cleaned up the breakfast dishes and then gathered his things, pausing in the doorway to look around at the apartment one last time. Would this be his new home soon? The place was small, but nice. And perhaps once he was settled in the city, he and Natalie could find a larger place together.

But the thought gave him no joy. He knew Natalie was his lifemate. With every fiber of his being, he knew that. So why did this all feel so wrong? Kurt pushed away the confusion and let the door slam shut behind him. He walked down the long hallway toward the elevator without looking back. He would worry about all of this later. Right now, the Dark Warriors were closing in on this city, and he had a job to do.