Mate Bond

Gil sat down again, facing her, his beer untouched on the coffee table. He cleared his throat. “I wanted to ask you about the mate bond.”

Kenzie started. “The mate bond? Why?”

“Is it true that a human can form one with a Shifter?”

“Yes.” Kenzie’s heart beat faster. “I know several human and Shifter couples who have it. The humans, after the mating ceremonies, get a dose of Fae magic to extend their lives to match Shifter lifespan. That’s from a treaty from the Shifter-Fae war. Fae are shits, but they honor treaties. A pride thing. Why?” She heard herself babbling, but Gil watching her closely with his warm eyes was making her nervous.

“What does it feel like?”

Kenzie swallowed, and her eyes stung. “I don’t know. Unfortunately.”

“I heard you don’t have one with Bowman.” Gil leaned forward and touched her knee, a gesture not of sexual need, but of sympathy. Friendship. “I know it hurts you, and I understand why. I’m asking you this for an important reason.”

Kenzie’s fingers moved restlessly, her throat hurting. “I hear that it’s a warmth in the chest, in the heart. There’s an answering warmth in the mate. That’s how it starts, but then you know. You know with your whole being.”

“A warmth, here?” Gil pressed his closed fist to his heart. “You sure?”

“As sure as I can be without feeling it myself.” Kenzie’s gaze went to Gil’s hand, her attention sharpening. “Why?”

“Because I think I’m feeling it.” Gil dug his fist into his sweatshirt. “It’s there, and it won’t go away.”

Kenzie rose abruptly. What was it about Gil that had her jumping up and down like a jack-in-the-box? “Maybe you have heartburn. You should go see a doctor.”

Gil was up beside her. “I don’t, and you know it. Are you sure, Kenz, that you aren’t feeling it too?”

He curled his other fist and pressed it to her chest, right between her breasts. Again, the touch wasn’t erotic or suggestive, but a gentle press, a friend helping a friend.

The tingling in Kenzie’s heart she’d been trying to ignore blossomed into heat. Not sharp heat, but an agreeable warmth that tried to loosen and relax her.

“No.” She jerked back in panic, breaking the contact. The tingling receded but didn’t go away. “You’re a shaman, you said. You’re tricking me.”

Gil stepped close to her, and Kenzie found herself looking into the eyes of a very strong man, an alpha in his own right. He hid his power behind smiles and a self-deprecating manner, but it was there.

“It’s not a trick,” Gil said. “It’s real. Look inside yourself, Kenzie. You’ll see it’s true.”

“No!” Kenzie backed another step, starting to shake. “I don’t have a mate bond with you. I can’t have. I can’t.”

Gil only stood there. The light in the living room was suddenly garish, hurting her eyes. Another being seemed to transpose itself with Gil, looking like him but stained with harsh magic she didn’t understand.

“What are you?” Kenzie shouted. “You’re one of the fucking Fae, I knew it!”

Gil’s face darkened. “I told you I wasn’t. Don’t insult me. Call me any name you want, but for the Goddess’s sake, not Fae.”

Kenzie pointed a rigid finger at the front door. “Get out of my house!”

“You’ve been in denial since the day I met you, Kenzie. Open your eyes and look around.” Gil came to her, and Kenzie couldn’t move. He smelled of the woods and the night, and a faint tang of magic. “I know it’s a lot to take in.” He touched her chest again, and Kenzie’s breath caught. She felt the heat, and she couldn’t pull away. “Think about it awhile. I’ll be around when you want to talk.”

Kenzie’s throat closed up. “Please, go away.”

“I’m going, don’t worry.” Gil leaned forward and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. The little smile he sent her broke her heart.

He left then, disappearing out the door so quickly she barely saw him go. Kenzie was left alone with two mostly filled bottles of beer, a wrinkled manila envelope, and confused thoughts whirling through her brain.

She couldn’t have formed the mate bond with Gil. She couldn’t have. She barely knew him. He wasn’t Shifter.

Cold reason made her discard the arguments as quickly as they came. Shifters could form the mate bond the instant they met their true mate. They could form it with humans and half humans—hell, the Guardian of the Austin Shiftertown had mate bonded with a Shifter who was half Fae.

Kenzie loved Bowman. He was her mate. It would kill her to leave him. It would kill Ryan.

No. She couldn’t. It couldn’t happen. Not like this.

Gil had said she’d been in denial since she’d met him, and maybe she had. Kenzie had felt something when she’d sat in Gil’s car, a feeling that she could talk to him as though they were old friends, even though she’d never seen him before in her life.

Of course Kenzie denied the mate bond with him. It was all wrong.

Her thoughts went to Bowman, smiling at her in the darkness. We’re good together, you and me.

The memory of his rumbling voice, the warm weight of him as he lay on her in the woods, broke her. Kenzie collapsed to the sofa, all strength leaving her, and she cried as she’d never cried in her life.