His lion shoved forward with enough strength to stagger him in place. Rhys grunted and shoved back on the sendings the beast flashed through his head. Sage, stepping around the scrawny little tree she’d hidden behind. Walking toward him. Splaying her hands over his chest.
The images weren’t based in reality, but he wanted to turn them from fiction into fact.
He’d had a mate.
He had a mate.
Fuck. Rhys let off a short growl. Those dueling sentences crawled through his mind and left him more ragged and unsteady than ever.
Breathing hard, cold long forgotten, he reached for the handle.
Noise erupted around him as soon as he stepped through the door. He brushed his hair out of his eyes and took in the pride with a quick glance. The den wasn’t big and made for a tight fit with everyone stuffed inside. Cozy, he supposed Hailey would call it. It was a sign of her trust and Trent’s good mood that they’d been allowed inside at all. Most pride gatherings took place outside, with everyone adding tables and chairs to discourage any property damage when a brawl inevitably broke out.
Hailey held court in the kitchen, waving a spoon like a scepter as she ordered Kyla to pull out the batch of enchiladas from the oven. Dash and Colette dutifully moved plates and silverware from their homes to the counter, before Dash jabbed at his mate with a fork. She rolled her eyes at him with moderately believable disdain, then clacked her own fork against his like a fencing pro. Trent scowled at the racket and turned back to his conversation with Lindley. Lilah passed Seth the last of some beer bottles to fit inside a cooler, then both joined the alpha and the second.
“Rhys!” Hailey shouted over the noise. “You’re right on time!”
Of them all, Sage had his complete attention.
She’d gone quiet in the days since her father’s delightful fucking house call. Not that he’d expected anything else. All the fear she’d kept locked away had spilled over into absolute terror.
Her father wasn’t the only cause of frayed nerves, either. He’d misstepped at the bar, if he tried to be charitable with himself. Fucked up, if he wanted to be honest. They hadn’t even talked about what that kiss meant—or the fact that she’d shoved him away.
So he sat back and watched, just as he’d done for eight months trying to figure her out and pick apart what his lion wanted with her. The beast coiled inside him, patience waning and claws pricking him each time she moved, but Rhys held strong. Stayed back. The little cat needed space to find her feet.
The first days were quiet, as if she’d turned in on herself. That he wasn’t the only one iced out didn’t soothe him much. Worry had churned in his gut, but he didn’t sense any panic or despair in her.
After that, he noticed her initiating more often. For months, Kyla and the others had been the ones to drag her out of her den. She’d dutifully followed them as they committed shenanigans and hijinks, but always stayed at the outer edges. She still wasn’t as wild as the others, but she went and knocked on doors to hang out almost as often as the others prodded her into socializing.
And then, of course, came her late night peep show.
Not even a full day since he’d found her alone in the darkness, and all his heated desires returned in full force. They were wrong. Greedy. A man like him didn’t deserve one mate, let alone two, but his lion prowled and panted for a taste of her. The good sense to keep away to avoid hurting her melted away under bright, sultry eyes watching him from the darkness.
“Time to eat!” Kyla called out.
Sage hung back while the others jostled for position in line. Even then, she didn’t immediately move from her seat. Only when the line started moving and the first couple made it back to their seats with full plates did she take up her spot at the end.
Rhys pushed off the door and stalked after her. He couldn’t help himself. Not in the slightest. She pulled at him like a magnet.
His lion rumbled inside him. His gums ached with every inhale of her sweet scent. She was right there, close enough to make the eyes that had watched him into something he could feel against his skin.
Rhys crowded close behind her as soon as she reached for a plate.
Shifters ran hot, but nothing like Sage. Heat rolled off her body and roasted him through his clothes. His lion wanted nothing more than to rub and twist around that source of warmth, and Rhys didn’t stop him. The memory of her eyes on him, her heart sounding like thunder in the night, brought the parts of him he thought long dead roaring back to life. He couldn’t ignore his lion’s urge to get close to her, or his own to strip her down as slowly as she’d watched him dress.
He snaked an arm around her to snag his own plate, bending close enough to rumble in her ear, “Did you like what you saw?”
She froze, then set her plate down with slow deliberation. Her hands pressed to the counter on either side as her sides expanded and contracted with shallow breaths. She dragged down a deep, steadying breath, then turned to face him.
Her eyes roved up his chest and locked with his. Fire flared in the green depths. Did she have any idea how bright they looked? Right that moment? The night before? He could practically feel himself tanning under the light.
Red flushed over her cheeks. Her lips parted on a sharp breath and, for a second, he had the overwhelming urge to lean down and kiss her again.
One heartbeat skipped right into the next, the thud picking up speed as her throat worked with a
