“Quinn,” Mike called, pulling me from my stare-fest.
I blinked, then looked at the camera. I was a professional. I’d worked my way up to national news. I was well trained to work through any technical issues while the program was live. But not once had anyone ever been approached by an Atlan while doing a segment. Clearing my throat, I winged it. “Well, folks, looks like we’ve got a visitor from the Bachelor Beast set. Aren’t I lucky to have him come down to join us? I’m all done with the weather segment, Mike, so I’ll let you move on to sports.”
“I think, Quinn, that he said you were his.”
I laughed, tried to remain calm with the cameras on me. Even when I wanted to strangle Mike for throwing me under the Atlan bus instead of getting the newscast back on track.
“Mine,” Bahre said, validating Mike’s words. The way he spoke, I was surprised he wasn’t beating his chest.
“See?” Mike laughed. “Careful, he might just carry you out of here.”
I hoped my voice didn’t quaver too much as I spoke to the camera. “That’s it for the weather. Have a great night, everyone!”
I cleared my throat, took Bahre’s hand, and tugged him offstage. I had a feeling if he hadn’t wanted to follow, I wouldn’t have been able to move him. He was like a freaking redwood in the middle of the set.
People moved out of our way as I led Bahre away from the set, down the hall, and back to the hair and makeup room. I had a desk, but it was in the main newsroom, not a place for privacy. I glanced back to see if any cameras were following, but couldn’t catch a glimpse of anything around Bahre’s huge body.
Thankfully the room was empty, and I shut the door behind us. Locked it. I was sure Susan had left for the day and I had no idea where Ellen had gone, but the room would be unused until the early hours before the morning news. I leaned against the only barrier between me and the nosy outside world. I wasn’t trying to keep us in. I was trying to keep any curious cameraman out, but the lock would do that. No, I was using it for support because my heart was beating out of my chest because of the way he was looking at me.
“You are my mate,” Bahre said, his gaze raking over every inch of my body from head to toe. His dark eyes continued to move as if he were memorizing every inch. I’d never been looked at with such intensity. It was heated, focused, intense.
“You don’t even know my name,” I replied.
He looked me in the eye. “Tell me.”
“Quinn McCaffrey.”
“You share a Hunter’s name,” he commented, although the way he was eyeing me meant it was probably a good thing.
I frowned, not completely sure. “How… how can you even know that I am your mate?”
The scar I’d seen on his forehead was even more pronounced now, as if he’d been sliced by a lion’s claw. There was another on the side of his neck that went beneath the collar of his shirt. He was handsome but scarred. He’d lived a hard life so far. Dangerous. Painful. Somehow it made him more attractive to me because he’d survived.
“Did you see the Bachelor Beast program with Wulf?” He took a step closer.
I swallowed hard. He was even taller in this room, the ceiling much lower than the set. “Yes.”
“It is the same with me. I noticed your scent near the stairs.”
“The stairs?” I turned my head and sniffed. I didn’t want to lift my arm to see if I had BO, but how else could he have smelled me? I’d have known if I smelled that bad. Ellen and Susan would have told me.
“Do not fear,” he began, reaching out slowly to run his fingers over my hair. I stilled at the motion. “Atlans have a strong sense of smell. Your scent is floral. Light. Like a gentle breeze. I knew it instantly as belonging to my mate.”
“How?” I asked, practically holding my breath. I wasn’t afraid of him, but he was… new. A stranger. A stranger who was looking at me as if I was everything to him. I’d seen that look before, and the guy had been a fucking stalker.
He shrugged his big shoulders. “It is not known exactly, but my beast recognized you without even seeing you.”
“Then… then why aren’t you going all beast and tossing me over your shoulder?”
Not that I wanted him to. That would have freaked me out. To say I was skittish around men was an understatement. Bahre wasn’t even a man. He was an Atlan who had a beast inside. He could hurt me in ways the stalker couldn’t.
“Wulf and Braun had mating fever,” he explained. “Their beasts were just beneath the surface, and when they found their mates, they were unable to control them. What you saw with Wulf will not happen with me. I do not have the fever. I am in control.”
I had a feeling his words meant more than just with his beast. He was so collected. While he was intense, I didn’t sense the same coiled tightness that I’d seen on TV with Wulf. There hadn’t really been any footage of Braun with his mate, only recorded interviews with him before he’d found her.
“So what now? I’m supposed to just say okay and we go back to The Colony to live happily ever after?”
My sarcasm turned up the corner of his mouth. “You can’t leave Earth without my cuffs about your wrists.” He glanced down at them as if imagining the wide metal there. “You must be claimed first. Then we can go to The Colony and live this… happily ever after.”
“Just like that?”
He frowned, cocked his head to the side. “That is not how it is on Earth?”
“No. We date. Get to know each
