She lifted her gaze and met his.
“—you and your cub will be protected. You won’t have to put yourself in any danger to earn your pay.”
“Why?” she asked, brows dropping low. Deep down, she knew he was being honest, and that she could trust him, but doubt still whispered in the back of her mind. His offerwas too good to be true. There had to be some ulterior motive here, something hewasn’tsaying. “Why are you doing this for me?”
He searched her face for several seconds, and her heart quickened beneath his intense stare. She couldn’t guess what he was thinking, couldn’t guess what he was going to say—and never could have anticipated the next words out of his mouth.
“Because you’re my mate, Shay.”
It took several seconds for Shay to register those words, for them to make any sense, because there was no way they could be true—and what did they really mean, anyway? Maybe she’d just heard him wrong. Maybe her pregnancy was fucking with her hearing, because he couldn’t have just said what she thought he’d said.
“What?”
“You are my mate,” he repeated. “My every instinct is drawn toward you. It started the moment I first picked up your scent in Foltham’s, even if I didn’t know what it meant right away.”
Shay stood up abruptly, knocking her chair backward onto the floor. “The fuck you say?”
Mate?Mate? Like an animal sniffing out its selected female?
She retreated a few steps and pointed at him. “But you’re anazhera! You’re all…hairy and werewolfy and whatever, and I’m…I’mhuman.”
He furrowed his brow. “What doeswerewolfymean?”
“It’s like…like you, kind of. Part wolf, part man, all mixed together. But that’s not what we’re talking about right now!”
“I thought I looked more like a cat,” he muttered dejectedly.
Shay narrowed her eyes on him. “Again, that’s beside the point.”
Drakkal leaned back, and the chair creaked and wobbledbeneath his weight. “Doesn’t matter what I am or what you are, apart from you being my mate. I haven’t tried to hide that I want you. But I’m not asking you to accept it, terran. You will, eventually, but I won’t force it.”
Shay shifted her stance, uncertain of what to say. He was so sure that she would accept that she was…his. Like she belonged to him.
Would it be so bad to be his? To have him as a protector, as a provider?
Damn it, I can provide for myself!
Yeah, she could, but at what cost to her and her baby? Why make it harder when he was offering her…everything?
Drakkal placed his hands on his knees and pushed himself to his feet. He stepped around the table, righted the chair she’d knocked over, and picked up the jacket that’d fallen off her lap—the one she’d stolen from him. He draped the garment over the chair’s backrest.
“If I don’t accept?” she asked, unable to look away from him.
“I’m still going to look out for you and your cub.” He took a step forward, and though it seemed such a small move for him, it devoured the distance that had served as the last buffer between them. He lifted his right hand and reached for her face, hesitating briefly as though to give her a chance to retreat. When she remained still, he tentatively settled his hand on her cheek.
His palm was rough and warm, but she couldn’t let herself admit how good it felt. She couldn’t let herself show how starved for affection she was by leaning into his touch.
“There were a lot of people locked away down in Foltham’s zoo,” Drakkal said in a low voice, “and I felt for every one of them. But when he showed me you, Irecognizedyou. I had to act. I had no choice. I needed to get you out of there, neededyou to be free…needed to have you. And even if you had shot me afterward, I would’ve chosen to get you out of there again and again.”
He stroked his big thumb over her cheekbone, and the tip of its claw brushed back a few strands of her hair. “Think about my offer. Like I said, it’s not contingent on you accepting that you’re my mate.”
All Shay could do was nod.
Drakkal lingered for a moment, an oddly sad smile on his lips, before lowering his hand. She felt its loss immediately.
“Let me know what you decide,” he said as he turned, scooped up his coat, and walked to the door. He swung the coat on as he moved. “That way I know whether I can stop stalking you or not.”
“Totally creepy, azhera,” she said, one corner of her mouth quirking despite her inner turmoil.