“Kidnapped.”
“Yeah, it’s a long story, and I really would prefer not to get into it right now.” She came back and sat beside me. “Look, I know everything you’ve seen tonight is a lot to take in, but Dimitri is a good guy, and the others are, too. They wouldn’t have done what—”
“I know. I don’t know how I know, but I believe him. Why do you call him Dimitri when he says his name is Snow?”
“Snow is the name he was given when he was taken in by Knox. It’s a play on his animal. Not all of the guys have names that match up with their animal names, but some do. Knox told me that the first winter Dimitri was here and it snowed, he walked on top of the white powder, and everyone else sank trying to catch him. Like I said, we were made for the cold stuff. Special feet, special tail, special body. When we’re in cat form, no one can compare to us. He’s always been Dimitri to me. I guess I have it in my head that if I call him Snow, we won’t be as connected. Stupid, I get that, but it’s how I keep him as my big brother.”
“I don’t think that’s stupid. How someone feels is never stupid. They are your emotions, and no one else needs to understand them except you.” I placed my hand over hers, and she squeezed my fingers. “Siam…” My cheeks burned with heat, and I could only imagine how red they were.
“Yeah?” She nudged me with her shoulder.
This was fucking embarrassing. “Does Snow have…someone?” I blew out a breath in a rush and covered my face with my hands.
“You could say that,” she snickered.
“Oh.” My heart plummeted to my stomach.
“My brother hasn’t been one for dating much, but he recently found his mate.”
“Mate?” Why did it feel like my heart was breaking? I didn’t know this man at all, less than twenty-four hours, but I’d kept asking questions about him to learn more, to fulfill my desperate need to get closer to him. An impossible dream.
“Siam!” Snow burst into the room, glaring at his sister. “Out!”
Siam skipped over to the door and hopped to kiss his cheek before darting out of the room. I got up to follow her, but he stopped me. “You and I need to talk.”
“We can talk later. Shouldn’t you find your mate?”
Snow tilted his head to the side. “I’m looking at her.”
My jaw dropped open. “What?”
375
Snow
In retrospect, that was not how I wanted to tell her, but Siam had painted me into a corner, and I could feel the waves of pain and hurt coming off of Verity. Granted, there was probably no easy way to actually break it to someone who wasn’t a shifter; however, anything would have been better than blurting it out when she was trying to escape.
“What?” Her mouth hung open, accentuating her bow-shaped lips, her bottom slightly fuller than her top. And I might have been somewhat perverted because I imagined my dick sliding between those lips as she sucked on me.
I pushed her inside and shut the door, adjusting myself when I was turned away. Spinning around again, I found her standing right behind me as still as a statue. “Why don’t we sit down?” I guided her to the bed and took the chair, afraid of freaking her out too much.
“You’re not sitting with me?” The way her cheeks turned a bright pink and her hand covered her mouth, told me she hadn’t meant to say any of that.
“Uh…okay?” I sounded like an inarticulate moron. I sat next to her and pulled her hand away from her mouth, clasping it in mine, my thumb rubbing the back of it. Her skin was soft with three small freckles that if I drew a line connecting them, they would make a triangle. “Siam shouldn’t have said anything to you. I fully intended to tell you after I got out of my meeting.”
“She only said you had a mate.”
“Tonight, I was riding my bike to meet Siam at the bar. I heard you scream.”
“How?”
Smirking, I told her, “Cats have excellent hearing.” She nodded but didn’t say anything else, and I continued. “I found you in the alley, and he was dragging you backward, a knife to your throat. I could smell you, and I shifted. I knew almost as soon as I walked into the alley that you were mine. I realize this is a lot to take in. Earlier, you thought we were the enemy and killed your brother. You have every right to be hesitant, and if you want to leave, I’ll make arrangements, but you can’t go back to your apartment right now.” I was word vomiting like never before.
“Snow?” My name on her lips made my cat purr.
“What?” I asked hesitantly. If she wanted to leave, I wouldn’t force her to stay with me even if she was my mate.
“Kiss me.” I had not been expecting that, but I did not allow her to change her mind.
Lifting my hand to her chin, I tilted her face up and claimed her lips. This woman was mine. My mate, my partner, my forever. I desperately needed more, and she did, too.
Her hands were pushing my cut off my shoulders and down my arms
