“Hi.”

“Hi.” He smiled at her, and Jesus, that smile did things to her that had to be illegal in some states.

Was it utterly stupid to feel shy? She wasn’t sure, but she did. When she’d suggested going for a nap, she hadn’t realized just how intimate waking up with someone else was.

Sure, she’d had a few sleepovers in the past. But waking up with a girlfriend was completely different to waking up with a guy, and not just any guy at that. Her mate. Jesus. She had a mate. Not just a phantom one who caused her more misery than happiness. He’d accepted her, was willing to Claim her. Even better, he was willing to give her time to get used to the sudden about-face.

Six hours was an incredibly short time to come to terms with this new state of her world. Even if it was everything she’d been praying for during the last few years, her head was finding it harder to come to terms with. Jeez, women really were from Venus.

Why she hadn’t leapt on him and Claimed him was beyond her. She just wasn’t ready for it, and that was that.

She stared into his sleepy eyes and smiled. His lips curled into a grin and he reached for her, pulling her closer so that her head rested on the pillow behind his head but she could hug him. Tentatively, she lifted her leg and cocked it over his thighs. When he reached down and pulled her knee higher up, she snuggled into him, finding a comfortable spot within seconds.

“This is nice,” he murmured softly, his hand starting to stroke her denim covered thigh. “I’ve thought about this for a hell of a long time.”

There was a dreamy quality to his voice that came as a distinct surprise to her. Well, that, and a welcome relief.

He wanted her as much as she wanted him.

Years of rejection had a funny way of fucking with the mind.

“I just never imagined we’d be in a penthouse suite when it was happening,” he continued, chuckling when he finished.

She hid her smile at that by turning her face into his throat. “You could afford this suite.”

“Maybe,” he reasoned. “On credit though. Somehow, I don’t think you’re working on credit.”

“Debit,” she confirmed.

“How?” he asked, astonished. “I don’t get it.”

She shrugged. “Numbers are my thing. I played the stock exchange for a long time.”

“Why don’t you do it for the Clan?”

A snort escaped her. “You really think Dad would trust me?”

“Why not? He trusts you with the books.”

“Yeah, only because it’s administrative. No money crosses my palm and I don’t have to worry about strategy. God forbid I be anything other than a human calculator.” She rolled her eyes even though she knew he couldn’t see.

“That logic is insane. The man has given you the workload of a team of CPAs, but you don’t think he’d have enough faith in you to make investments on the MC’s behalf.”

She shrugged. “Also, the MC doesn’t particularly need the money. It needs to employ riders and their families. There’s a difference.”

He conceded that with a nod. “That does make sense, I guess. But still, extra money for the pot means we can do more. If you’ve done so much with your own personal income, then it would be stupid not to try with MC funds. Hell, imagine what you could do with a large lump sum.”

Bemusement filled her, and it was swiftly followed by warmth.

This was what it felt like to be trusted. For someone to have faith in her. Implicitly.

Butterflies swarmed in her stomach for a second, until she could do nothing less than whisper, “Thank you, Chris.”

“What for?” he asked, his hand stilling from its earlier caress along the length of her thigh.

“For believing in me. So easily.”

He snorted at that. “Don’t be silly. The whole MC does. It’s why most of us don’t get why your mom and dad are so insane where you’re concerned. You’re...” He broke off, shaking his head a second as he seemed to take a minute to process what he wanted to say. “Everyone knows how special you are. What you can do. It’s unique. You’re quiet, but everyone knows you.”

“Because I’m the Prez‘s daughter.”

“If that were the case, you’d just be the Prez’s weirdo reclusive daughter. Instead, you’re Ava.”

“Because they pity me.”

“Wow,” he remarked, “Someone’s having a pity party. Again.”

She pulled back so she could look down at him. As she did, her hair swung down, trailing over his chest. He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath. “Goddess, your scent is to die for.”

She clapped her hand on his stomach. “Back on topic, buster. I’m not stuck in self-pity.”

He quirked a brow. “Aren’t you? If it’s not that, then it’s apathy. Not sure which yet. You seem to swing from one to another.”

“Since when were you a shrink?”

“Never. But I intend on becoming the world’s number one expert on a certain Ava Founder.”

Her eyes widened at that. “Founder,” she whispered, then bit her lip as a delicious sensation flushed through her—happiness.

“Do you mind taking my name?” he asked, seeming surprised by her reaction.

“No. Not at all.” She Bears rarely took their mates’ names, and she knew her father wouldn’t be happy about the change. She had one thing to say to that—tough shit. “Although it might have been a bit presumptuous of you...” She teased, reaching up to grab the fall of hair that still draped across his chest.

“Presumptuous is the only way I’ll get anything past you, I think,” he retorted, reaching up to grab a hold of her hand and to bat it away. “Leave it. It makes my Bear happy.”

Touched, she smiled at him, dipping her head and pressed her chin to his pec, leaving her hair where he’d asked.

For a second, they let silence fall between them, but she broke it by asking, “Are you hungry?”

“Starving,” he said lazily, but there was definitely no rush to his comment.

“Room service?”

He shrugged. “Do you want to go out?”

“Not particularly,” she confessed. “But then, I never do. Dragging me out is fine by me. I spend too much time inside anyway.”

He snorted. “We’ll go out more together. Don’t worry about that.”

“I have a lot of responsibilities with the accounts,” she admitted. “I’m not sure how much free time I actually have because I’ve always just worked.”

“I know, but that will change soon.”

“It will? Are you going to take on my parents because I don’t think I can. They’ve never listened to me before, why should they now?”

Chris sighed and started twiddling with locks of her hair. “Look at it from their point of view, Ava. You were safe at the clubhouse, under their care and watchful eyes. But at the same time, you were also around a bunch of horny riders so it was in their best interest for you to be cooped up.

“Things will change now you’re mated. They’ll realize that. And these few days away will do everyone the world of good because they can adapt to you not being there and adjust to the new status quo.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “We’ll go on vacations together, babe, and explore the world... We have some great times ahead of us.”

Excitement washed through her. “We will? Where will we go?” She’d traveled around Texas, and that was the extent of the exploration she’d done. Mostly because her father had always had to stay close to the MC. It didn’t matter that they could afford a private jet to take him anywhere he wanted, Mars always traveled by bike.

He didn’t trust other transport; even if that meant they’d never even crossed the border into Louisiana, for Christ’s sake.

Considering her mom had traveled the world reporting the most gruesome shit humans did to one another, she wasn’t sure how Annette had coped being stuck state-side, literally, all these years. But cope she had.

The mate bond was a miracle worker it seemed.

“Where do you want to go?” he countered, breaking into her thoughts—she really needed to stop thinking about her parents. Trouble was, they were all she’d really had to focus on for so long that she didn’t have much else to think about.

By the sounds of it, that was about to change.

Jesus, she couldn’t wait.

“Where don’t I want to go?” she replied. “I want to go everywhere.”

He chuckled. “Well, let’s order room service first, eh?”

She grinned. “Yeah. We’d best do that quickly.”

Ava got up to go seek out the shower as Chris’ phone began to rang from the other room.

“Why the fuck didn’t you come back to the clubhouse?” Mars’ voice booming down the line was proof positive that he’d commandeered Kiko’s phone.

Hoping that he hadn’t caused the VP too much shit with his request, he sighed. “Because I wanted time to get to know my mate.”

“At the risk of putting her in danger? What kind of idiot are you?”

“We’re on the top floor of a swanky hotel, Mars. Who the fuck do you think is going to get to us? There’s more security here than there is at the clubhouse.”

“I doubt that,” Mars growled. “Plus, this is Shifter land. We can kill any who trespass. That doesn’t extend to downtown Houston, swanky hotel or not.”

Though he had a point, Chris just grunted. “Ava didn’t want to go back,” he told Mars.

“She never wants to come back,” the Prez snarled. “You make her come back, dammit. Or is that how your mate bond’s going to work? You doing everything she damn wants whether it’s for her own good or not?”

Chris blinked at the injustice in that statement and managed, barely, to withhold a snarl. “You can say that when Annette does whatever the fuck she wants?”

“Annette’s different,” the Prez immediately discarded. “She was a goddamn war reporter. She’s seen more death than I have, and has had to deal with more shit than I can even dream of. Ava’s sheltered. Protected. She isn’t used to violence, and she sure isn’t used to shifting. Kiko said three men were killed by her.”

The gruffness in his voice was the only thing that stopped Chris from losing it. The sorrow for his daughter was evident in Mars’ tone, but still, it was no excuse to let him get away with the bullshit he was spouting.

“Ava’s my problem now,” Chris retorted. “Not yours. You know that’s how the bond works. I have no problem in leaving the Clan and going back home with Ava if you can’t accept that.”

“You wouldn’t fucking dare.”

“Wouldn’t I?” Chris threatened. “You just watch me. For years we’ve all watched as you suffocated her, both you and Annette. Loading her down with so much work it was a wonder she didn’t have a goddamn nervous breakdown, and all under the fucking guise of keeping her close to home. Well, the slavery ends. She’s going to have a life whether you want it or not. She’s going to have a say, whether you like it or not. And she’s going to do what she wants, whether you agree or not. Because, Mars, your opinion no longer matters. We have to listen to your guidance as our Prez, obey fair rules, but that’s it. Anything personal is down to us. Whether we make mistakes or success, that’s on us.”

“You take her back to Michigan, and I’ll...”

Chris snapped, “What? You’ll do what? Why aren’t you fucking listening? I don’t want to take her back to Michigan. I hate my home Clan, for fuck’s sake. That’s why I’ve been down here even though it’s hotter than the bowels of hell for the past thirty years.

“I’m just telling you to butt out. Because even though I do hate it up there, I’ll endure it to make Ava happy because she sure as shit hasn’t had much of that in her life so far.”

“We’ve given her everything,” Mars retorted, obviously offended by Chris’s comment.

“And you’ve sucked the life out of her. You’re blind where she’s concerned, Mars. You always have been.”

“She’s my baby girl,” was the immediate response.

“Lots of men have lots of daughters and they don’t keep them tied to the apron strings the way you have.” His sigh was tired. “Look, I don’t want to argue. I checked in and now I’m off of duty, and now that’s done I want to go be with my mate.”

“How is she?”

Chris heard the hissed question in the background on the line. “Tell Annette she’s fine now. She was exhausted and hungry, but we’ve fixed both and she’s brighter. Naturally, the shift and the aftermath took it out of her but she’s okay because she’s focusing on us.”

Mars relayed that to his concerned mate, then demanded, “What the fuck did that MC want? They’ve never had a problem with us before.”

“They wanted to talk to you,” he explained.

“And they thought kidnapping Ava was the best way to go about that?”

The astonishment in Mars’ voice was enough to make Chris’s lips twitch; that is if the situation had been in anyway funny.

Where his mate’s safety was concerned, nothing was amusing.

“Yeah. Apparently so.”

“What the fuck were they thinking?” Mars asked, but the question was more aimed at himself than back at Chris.

He answered regardless. “I don’t have a clue but I think someone should set up a meet with them.”

“Meet them?” Mars bellowed. “Are you fucking mad?”

“No, I’m being practical, dammit. Do you want Ava to still be in danger? Arranging a meet is a sure-fire way to get them off her back. They want to talk to you, and they’re willing to go through her to achieve that. Take her out of the picture and meet with them, then the problem’s solved.”

“See,” he heard Annette retort. “I’m not the only one who thought of that.”

“Why should we bend to their demands?”

“You’re not bending to them. You’re just taking away the threat to Ava. That’s all that matters, surely?”

“If we cave in once, then any other MC might think that’s a way to get to us. We all know she’s my Achilles’ heel, but we don’t want the rest of the world to know that.”

“She’s your daughter, of course the world thinks she’s your weakness.” Chris huffed. “Look, talk about this with the Council, I want to get back to Ava. She needs me.”

Mars gruffly retorted, “Look after her.”

“Of course.”

“And tell her we love her, even if she thinks we’re hard asses.”

Chris barely refrained from snorting. Managing an, “Okay, Prez. I’ll talk to you later;” he cut the line before he could get himself into deeper shit.

Sitting down on the sofa that overlooked a pretty impressive vista of Houston’s skyline, he ran his hands through his hair after he tossed his cell on the cushion beside him.

“They managed to turn you gray yet?”

The voice came from the doorway, and as he turned his head to look at his mate, he felt his tongue cleave to the roof of his mouth.

She wore one of the complimentary robes. Though it swamped her, the thick white toweling was a gorgeous contrast to her golden coloring. It bared her slender calves and pretty feet, while cutting low on her chest and still keeping everything hidden and demure.

Her hair was wet and lay in long ropes about her shoulders. Her face was free from artifice, and she looked even younger than she had earlier.

He sighed at the thought.

Jesus, he wished they were closer in age. How must she feel being mated to someone as old as him?

Then, as that thought hit him, he realized her mother had been a few years older than Ava when she’d met Mars, and he’d been in his early two hundreds back then.

Compared to that age difference, Jesus Christ, theirs was nothing.

He cleared his throat as a frog had settled there in reaction to the sight of her. “Not gray yet.”

“They wanted you to bring me back to the clubhouse, didn’t they?” When he nodded, she peered at him. “Why didn’t you? He’s your Prez.”

Chris cocked a brow. “So? He’s not the Goddess. I don’t have to do everything he says.” He grimaced and amended that to, “Just almost everything. But where you’re concerned I don’t have to. You’re his daughter, sure, but you’re my mate first. You know that’s how it works with our bonds.”

“You won’t hear me complaining. I didn’t earlier, did I? Especially as that works both ways.”

The way she eyed him made him chuckle. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to threaten me into that. I’ve been waiting to Claim you for long enough. I’m not going to throw out any part of that Claim.”

She snorted. “That’s good to hear.”

He eyed her. “How much of the conversation did you hear?”

“Enough. My favorite part was, “Ava’s my problem now.””

He groaned. “Just my luck you’d hear that bit.”

She surprised him by laughing and climbing onto the sofa beside him. The split in the robe parted to reveal sleek thighs that would have been more visible in a pair of shorts, but somehow, that peekaboo felt a thousand times more elicit.

Withholding a groan, he sank back into the cushions and let her lean against him.

“Did you mean it when you said you’d take me to Michigan?”

“If they try to pull rank on us, absolutely. I’m not having it, Ava. I’ve never approved of the way they’ve treated you, but I kept quiet because I didn’t want Mars to suspect I was your mate.”

“I never understood that,” she whispered softly, ducking her head as she started pleating the hem of the toweling robe.

He reached for her chin and nudged her into looking at him square in the face. “If he’d known, he’d have kicked me out of the Clan. I wasn’t going to do anything that put my place in the MC at jeopardy. I couldn’t have you as my own but I could watch over you. Even if it was so damned torturous, I wasn’t sure if it was easier to go live in another Clan until you were old enough to Claim.” He shook his head at the years of misery they’d both endured. All of it wasted. None of it recoverable. He said as much, “What a damn waste.”

“Do you really think he’d have thrown you out of the Clan if he’d known?”

Her timid question had him eyeing her. “Don’t you? The man is trying to control us now and he agreed to us going and my Claiming you. When you were fifteen, there was no way him knowing was going to do any good. He would never have trusted me to wait the way I have.”

“I guess you’re right.” She sighed. “Shifters spend lifetimes searching for their mates, and we’ve had to waste ten years because we found each other when I was too young.”

“The Fates can be wicked,” he agreed. “But we’re both young in Shifter years. That means we’re blessed too. We have a long and happy life ahead of us, Ava. I promise you that. We can put the past behind us and move on.”

She smiled at him, ducking her head again so she could anoint the palm that cupped her cheek with a gentle kiss.

“I like the sound of that.”

That night they dined on room service and enjoyed a peaceful night together.