I should answer her. Manners are important. But I can’t. She drops the necklace onto her chest and it nestles deep into her cleavage. It’s glowing a strange sort of blue and I swallow hard. It can’t be. These things don’t just happen. Holy fucking hell it’s a Matestone!
“Uh, excuse me? My eyes are up here?” she barks at me, the frosty tone holding a hefty warning.
I startle and look up at her, realizing that she must think I’m staring at her chest.
“My apologies. I just, there’s something blue. It’s glowing. In your erm....” I gesture towards her cleavage and she raises an eyebrow in challenge.
“Oh you are way too old to get away with calling it an erm. If it’s good enough for you to stare at, silver kit, it’s good enough for you to name it. Where are you referring to?”
I swallow again and I can feel my face turn this ruddy shade of red that happens when I’m at a loss for words. Silver Kit? What does that mean?
“Um, your, uh cleavage is glowing. I’m sorry.” I finish lamely, firmly looking at her face.
Ronnie narrows those big, beautiful eyes at me and purses her lips for a second before looking down at her necklace. She seems surprised to find it is glowing and pulls it out of her cleavage to examine it more closely.
The feeling in my chest explodes outward when I see the crystal in her palm.
“Mate,” I blurt out, reaching towards her blindly.
She backs away, holding the crystal out of my reach. “What did you say?”
Fuck. I’m scaring her. I think fast.
“Uh, Fate. Fate must have brought us together this morning. The crystal confirms it.” Despite my enthusiasm, I can tell she still thinks I’m weird and shady.
After a long, awkward moment her shoulders lift in a half-hearted shrug.
“Well, I did ask Fate to take me on an adventure. I was flipping a coin. That’s how I ended up here. Would have been nice of Fate to let me know Betsy was having issues though. That part sucks.”
The blood drains from my face as I process her words, but my brain is working overtime. She asked Fate. Fate delivered her to me. I feel a mate bond. This is our mate! She’s here! She has a Matestone and everything! Mate! Mate!
Shuffling my feet, I try to imagine what my brothers would do in this situation. Earl would probably go caveman on the poor girl. Trevor would most likely already be in her pants. Bryan would be able to gain her trust.
Clearly I need to get her to them and then we’re gonna need a meeting. Immediately.
“Look, there’s no service out here. There aren’t any people for miles. You can walk for help but it might take you half the day. Or? You can ride with me and come into town to arrange a tow. I promise I’m not a serial killer.” I blurt out. Shit, that’s probably exactly what a serial killer would say.
She eyes me suspiciously for a long moment, her eyes flicking over to my Harley and then back to me. She bites her lower lip, and then nods quickly.
“Ok. But you have to promise you are not going to hurt me. And I need to pack a bag,” she says, her face tight with worry.
“Ronnie,” I hold out my hand to her with a solemn expression, “I vow on my life that no harm will come to you. I know you don’t know me, but you can trust me.”
The moment our hands touch, an electric shock travels up my arm. We leap apart, both staring at our palms in surprise.
“Must be static. Wow. That’ll wake you up,” she grumbles before she disappears back into the van. I stand frozen in place while she loads up a backpack. The pull in my chest. The presence of the Matestone. The electric shock. It can’t be coincidental. That’s a matebond.
Helping her onto my bike, I feel the warmth of the matebond flow through me again. It’s like hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day or the first ray of sunshine in the spring. A soft, golden light that has suddenly flared in my heart.
I don’t know what we did to finally have Fate grant us such a gift, but I know I will move heaven and earth and anything else to make our pod the one she chooses. Each gasp and giggle, each pounding beat of her heart against my back as we ride, it cements this bond a little further.
I shift uncomfortably in my seat, my desire for her growing very evident. The last thing I want is to scare her off because she thinks I’m some sort of creep who gets off on rescuing women or something.
Ronnie tugs on my sleeve as we come out of the curves, and points at the woods. I can’t hear her but I follow where she’s pointing and I see him.
Keeping pace with us along the edge of the woods is a grey wolf.
I accelerate, leaning deeper into the twists and turns. I can outrun a wolf on my bike, but the damage has already been done. She’s been scented.
As much as I know that time is of the essence, the idea of separating from the gorgeous creature plastered to my back causes actual physical pain. Shit.
Nothing is supposed to be able to penetrate our wards. And if they do, we always know about it. Sea Lion MC have been the de facto guardians for our little coastal hamlet for the last fifty years. Our numbers are dwindling, but my pod remains active and in service to the community.
Nothing gets through. We’ve made sure of it.
Nothing at least, until her.
Statistically, she shouldn’t be here. But when she told me she trusted Fate to guide her and I saw the crystal, I knew. Ronnie wasn’t just any woman. She was ours.
If the wolves already know about her. It won’t be long
