Old wounds ripped open and pain poured out of her soul. She glanced up and met Sage’s gaze. “I thought about it when I offered him something to eat and he shoved it away not caring where the food landed. I thought about it when I told him that once it was over, we could try to have a baby and he flat out told me he never wanted kids and I needed to let that go.

“Even though he knew damn well I’d been waiting for him to be ready to try for a baby. Yes, I thought about it and I felt selfish for it.” She sniffed. “I felt like scum for wanting to divorce a man going through cancer, but I didn’t do it.

“Instead, I fought with him. I helped in every way I could to beat a disease that was killing not just him, but us as a couple. And you know what I got for it? Not a damn thing.”

She wiped angry tears away with the back of her hand and guzzled her wine.

“I’m sorry, Zuri,” Sage said softly. “You’ve never told us anything and we didn’t know what to think.”

She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. It’s been a year. We’re divorced. He’s happy. Last I heard, they were having a baby and I got a great settlement.”

“But you can’t get those ten years back.” Sage hit the nail on the head. That’s what hurt most. She’d spent ten years with a man who never truly loved her. He’d been so honest, he even had to tell her that. That he’d loved her as a friend and they’d had a good marriage, but he’d never been in love like he was with Monica.

“No. I can’t get those years back.” She refilled her wine and glanced at Sage. “What now?”

Sage grinned and raised her glass. “Now, you go out on a date with a shifter that thinks you’re his whole world and wants to give you all the babies your body can handle.”

“You don’t know that,” she laughed.

“Um, has he used protection at all?”

Her cheeks heated and she shook her head. “No.”

“Once they find their mate, they want a family, Zuri. It’s instant.”

“How do you know so much about them?” she asked, eyeing her sister carefully.

Sage shifted in her seat and glanced down at her glass. “I am curious.”

“Yeah. I have been, too. I don’t know, Sage. It seems too good to be true. I mean, the things he says. The way he touches me. Heck, even his looks do things to my body that are unnatural. I turn to a puddle with one word. It’s pathetic. I don’t want to lose myself again.”

“You won’t. That’s the beauty of this. I’m not going to tell you more. Just know that if he’s like the rest of them, all he wants is to do whatever he can to keep you happy. That means, you’re his only focus.” Sage grinned. “It should be fun to be a man’s center of attention for once and not have a needy man in a relationship.”

“You’re right. What the hell am I worried about? If it doesn’t go anywhere, at least I got great sex out of it.”

Sage raised her brows. “That’s one way to look at it. A more realistic way would be to see where this goes with an open mind. He’s a different species. For all you know, you’re already married to him.”

She frowned. “That’s impossible. I’d remember marrying somebody.”

Sage giggled and refilled her glass. Sage never drank this much. She looked a lot more relaxed than usual. It warmed Zuri’s heart to know whatever was making her shy sister so quiet lately was probably resolved. “Did he scratch, bite, or mark your body in some way shape or form?”

She almost choked on her sip of wine. “What?”

“Uh-oh. Which was it?”

“Um…”

Sage picked up another slice of pizza and smiled evilly. “Out with it, sis. If he’s that hot in bed, he had to have done something.”

“It doesn’t matter. He’s a bear. It could just be part of their species. Like dogs pee on trees.”

Sage chewed slowly. “So you’re comparing yourself to a tree?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know. But I know I didn’t marry him!” She downed another glass of wine and ran to the kitchen for another bottle. Shit just got real.

“Okay, from what I know of bear shifters, they can mate a female by clawing and by biting at the time of orgasm.”

She gulped the wine in her mouth and blinked in shock. “The what at the what?”

Sage continued to smile. “And they make it a dual marking. He’ll come inside you at the same time he bites or scratches. That’s it. You’re mated for life. You’re his, girlfriend. Ain’t nobody else touching your booty but him.”

“I think I feel sick.” She sat back and placed a hand over her face.

“Relax, sis. He’s a good man. I’ve been asking around. He’s a bit on the wild side,” Sage laughed, “but I think you already knew that, but he is a great clan leader to his people.”

She sat up and stared at Sage. “What if he becomes a stalker?”

“You are his mate. To him you are his wife. There is no stalking. Did he ask you to be his?”

She frowned. “What the hell does that matter? Of course, he did, while he was doing some dirty shit to me. When he had his face between my legs and I was seeing the gates of heaven, I was going to tell him whatever he wanted to hear to keep him going.”

Sage nodded. “There you have it. You’re a mated human. This is amazing. I’ve only met one other.”

Zuri raised her brows. “Oh? Who?”

Sage shook her head. “Never mind. Tell me what you plan on doing now that you know you’re his.”

“Stop saying that. I’m not really his. It’s not like I’m a sofa and he bought me.”

“You’re right. You’re definitely not furniture. You’re his wife. And pretty soon, the mother of his children, so you better figure out this fear of yours and get to work on creating that happily ever after others only dream of.”

“You know what, Sage?”

“What?” she asked as she picked up her pizza.

“I really hate when you talk all that common sense shit.”

Sage winked. “Oh, stop. It’s what makes me the sister you talk to when you have problems.”

“I could have asked Isaline to come.”

Sage nodded. “And spent the entire time talking about everything but the problem at hand. She’s more than happy to let you feed her until she can do nothing but crawl out of your house. I’ll let you feed me, but I’m focused. I know when you need a dose of reality.”

“Bitch.”

“I love you, too.”