Chapter 11

ELEVEN

The Jade Cranewas my favorite Chinese restaurant in the entire Seattle area. Maybe it was because they had the best egg rolls I'd ever tasted, or maybe it was because they were far away from the bustling crowds of the International District, situated on the edge of the city near Lincoln Park tucked into a little inlet.

"Oh my God," Felix breathed. "This looks like something out of a fairy tale."

Or maybe it was the gorgeous Chinese garden that encircled the restaurant from the small gravel parking lot in front of the building to the water behind it.

He was out of the car and looking into the pond that had a small wooden bridge running across it. The pond was my favorite too, and I stepped up beside him. I'd had a feeling Felix would appreciate the Jade Crane as much as I did, and he hadn't even met Mei Li yet.

As if thinking about her had somehow summoned her, she appeared at the door. She was tall and graceful, with fine features that matched her shifted crane form. Mei had been a dancer with the National Chinese Ballet, but an injury had ended her career, and love had brought her to the United States. Her husband, Tai, was a Seattle native who had been studying abroad when they'd met in Beijing. They moved back here in the early eighties and had taken over the Jade Crane when Tai's parents retired. Occasionally, his mom and grandmother, who had celebrated her one-hundred-and-third birthday last year, could be found bossing everyone around in the kitchen.

"Nero!" She threw open the door. "It has been too long."

Her face was lined with age but still beautiful, and I felt Felix stiffen beside me when her arms wrapped around my neck, pulling me into a tight hug.

"Hi, Mei. I'm sorry I haven't stopped in lately. I've been busy."

She laughed. "More like Cal has been out of town and you haven't had to endure his cooking."

My lips pulled into a smile. "That too." I took a step back and wrapped my arm around Felix. "I want you to meet someone. Mei, this is my mate, Felix. Felix, this is Mei. She and her husband own the Jade Crane."

Mei's hands flew up to cover her mouth, and her eyes sparkled. After a beat, she lowered her hands and reached for Felix's, tugging him into one of her trademark tight hugs. "I'm so happy to meet you, Felix. I am so happy you and Nero found each other."

I'd been holding my breath, hopeful that Mei would love Felix. Her opinion had come to mean a lot to me over the years, and maybe somewhere along the line, I'd started thinking of her as a favorite aunt. She felt like family.

It was definitely Mei that made the Jade Crane my favorite.

"Come in, come in." She linked her arm with Felix's and led him inside. He was already under her spell.

"Wow." Felix was staring up at the ceiling where hundreds of paper cranes hung on an invisible line from the ceiling. Some were at different heights, so it looked like they were taking off or landing or flying in groups.

Mei patted Felix's arm. "Zhezhi has been a hobby of mine for a long time, and while the crane is typically known in its origami form, it belonged here." Felix hadn't taken his eyes off the ceiling, and Mei pointed to a spot in the far corner. "See that one there? The faded purple one?"

Felix squinted. "Yes."

"Your mate made that one."

"Really?"

Mei nodded. "How old were you then, Nero? Twelve?"

"I was thirteen. My grandmother was tired of cooking, so she brought us here."

"Ah, yes. Your very first crane."

"You hung it up?" Felix's tone was surprised.

"It was Nero who gave me the idea. He saw me folding the napkins and asked if I knew how to fold paper, so I showed him. I hung his up first, then started making more. Nero helped over the years, until we filled the ceiling."

My mate looked at me, his eyes shimmering, and I felt a pulse of affection through our limited bond.

He understood how important Mei and this place were to me.

The restaurant was small, with ten booths along the walls and a few larger tables in the middle. Tonight, only two booths were occupied. Mei led us to the last booth on the side near the kitchen door. "Sit. Since this is Felix's first time here, I'll grab a menu."

"You don't need to do that. I love Chinese food, and I'm sure I'll love Nero's favorites."

She beamed at him and patted his hand where it was resting on the table. "Nero usually drinks tea. Is that all right for you?"

"Yes, please. And a water if that's okay."

"Of course." She winked at me, then glided through the swinging door, shouting my usual order to whoever was working the kitchen in rapid Mandarin. For as many years as I'd been coming here, I'd only picked up a few basic Mandarin phrases. I didn't have the head for languages. If Quin were here, he and Mei would have had a whole conversation in Mandarin.

I glanced up at the ceiling, looking for one of Quin's lumpy birds. Spotting one tucked among a pristine flock, I laughed.

"What's funny?" Felix asked.

"So you know how Quin is an artist?"

My mate nodded.

"There is one art form he could never quite get the hang of." I pointed up.

Felix's eyes went wide. "No. You're kidding?"

"I'm not. Quin picked up Mandarin like he was born speaking it, but he couldn't fold a crane to save his life. When he was young, Mei hadn't been able to tell him his cranes were too misshapen to hang on the ceiling, so she tucked a few in among some of the nicer ones."

Felix studied the ceiling, looking for the cranes that weren't perfect, then he met my eyes and reached across the table to put his hand over mine. "I can feel how much this place and Mei mean to you. Thank you for bringing me here."

Flipping my hand over, I wound our fingers together as had become our habit and reveled in the thrill of Felix's touch.

The swinging door creaked, a sound that would annoy most but felt like home to me, and Mei pushed through with a tray. She set a simple metal teapot on the table between Felix and me and a small ceramic cup and small plate in front of each of us. Then she put down a serving dish piled with six golden egg rolls. Steam swirled from them in a translucent wisp, and my mouth watered.

"I put some extras on the plate since I figured Felix would want to try at least one." She laughed, patted my shoulder, then disappeared through the door to the kitchen again.

Felix slid his hand away from mine and reached for the teapot, tipping some tea into his cup, then pulling my cup over to fill it. It was the tiniest gesture, but it lit me up inside, and I felt my lips tip into an uncharacteristically wide smile as he set the full cup back in front of me.

"I take it these are your favorite?" Felix nodded toward the plate of egg rolls while he held his cup to his lips and blew on the tea to cool it down.

"They are." I picked one up and split it in half, watching steam rise from the middle. I placed half on Felix's plate, and he looked at it, then smiled at me.

"Is that all I'm going to get?"

I pretended to consider his question. "Maybe."

He nodded solemnly before his lips lifted in a sly smile. "I understand. You're going to need your strength for later."

It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about. I loved Mei, and the garden, and the egg rolls, but I hadn't told Felix my favorite thing about the Jade Crane yet, and there was no way he could have guessed. When he raised an eyebrow, I got what he was referring to.

"Oh, you mean our bet?"

"Yeah. What did you think I meant?"

I bit into my half of the egg roll I'd split, rolling the bite around in my mouth because it was still too hot, and shrugged. "I have different plans for after dinner."

"You promised me dessert."

"I did. And I'm going to make good on that promise as soon as we get home, but there is something else I want to do first. Are you down?"

"You're not going to tell me what it is, are you?"

I shook my head. "Nope." He grinned when I popped the p at the end.

"I'm in. I trust you, Nero."

His words hit my heart like an arrow hitting a bull's eye. Until that second, I hadn't realized how much I needed to hear him say those words. I knew my brothers had been right when they said we needed to get to know each other and learn to trust each other, but hearing Felix say that he trusted me made me feel like our bond was real, even after only knowing each other for a short time.

It was fast, but maybe we were already ready to take the next step and claim each other. I felt ready. Maybe tonight was the night we would fully commit to our fated bond.

Felix bit into his half of our shared egg roll and moaned around the bite, the sound going straight to my cock, which had perked up thinking about claiming Felix.

"God, this is amazing." His mouth was still half full.

"I know." I finished off my half and picked up a second, then dropped another onto Felix's plate.

"This feels like a declaration of love." He gazed longingly at the perfect golden-brown appetizer on his plate.

"Maybe it is." The words tumbled out of my mouth before they'd had a chance to run through my brain, and the silence that followed made me want to pull them back in.

My mate just smiled at me and bit into the egg roll I'd given him.

Mei appeared a few minutes later and dropped off more food. Felix dug in with gusto, and I tried to keep it together while he moaned and licked sauce from his lips over and over again. Between bites, we talked about everything and nothing, pointedly staying away from anything having to do with Amanda Vanderkaamp or who was after Felix and the case we had taken on. While the knowledge that he was in danger was never far from my mind, it felt nice to enjoy a meal with him one-on-one.

"I don't think I can eat another bite." Felix sat back from the table and rubbed a hand over his stomach. "That was amazing." He'd told Mei as much when she'd popped by to check in on us, and she'd been pleased by the praise.

"Are you too full to shift?" For me, there was no such thing, but that made sense since my animal form was huge, much larger than my human form. For Felix, the opposite was true.

He shook his head, then narrowed his eyes. "No. Why?"

I looked down at my hands, suddenly nervous to ask Felix to do this with me. Some shifters were particular about showing their animal forms to others, and while Felix was my mate, we hadn't claimed each other yet. Clearing my throat, I met his gaze. "I want to show you why the Jade Crane is my favorite spot. And I want to show you my orca."

Felix beamed at me, his smile so bright it felt like the whole room lit up by a degree or two. "I'd really like that."

"Good." I slid out of the booth and stood, holding out my hand to him. "Let's go."

He started to scootch across the red vinyl seat but stopped suddenly, his hand in mine. "Don't we have to pay the bill?"

"No. In case you couldn't tell, I come here a lot. Mei has my credit card on file and strict rules to add a healthy tip."

Felix giggled. "Cal's cooking is really that bad, huh?"

I affected a fake shudder in response.

My mate stood, his hand still in mine. "Guess I'll be getting to know Mei a lot better, then."

"For sure."

I pulled Felix through the restaurant and out the front door, taking a sharp left into the ornate garden. When we'd pulled up, Felix had been in awe of the garden, but he hadn't seen even the tip of the iceberg. We crossed the little footbridge that was visible from the parking lot and were immediately swallowed up by the rest of the garden. I brushed the low-hanging branches of a weeping willow aside, and Felix stepped into the space under the tree. The willows ringed the center of the garden and provided an extra level of privacy when there were leaves on the trees.

"This way." I led Felix out the other side.

"Oh my God. This is gorgeous." My mate spun in a slow circle, taking in the large pond in the center, the ocean inlet behind the garden, and the three covered bridges that crisscrossed over the water. Flowers in various shades of pink, purple, and red were dotted along ornate shrubs and smaller trees of multiple varieties. The half-moon overhead bathed the entire scene in silver light, reflecting off the surface of the water and making it glitter.

Felix dropped my hand and stepped in front of me, winding his arms around my neck. My hands immediately found their place on his hips, and his lips brushed against mine in the most painfully gentle kiss I'd ever received. It felt like the perfect kiss for where we were, and I loved it almost as much as I loved having Felix in my arms.

He brushed his lips against mine again, a little firmer this time, before whispering in my ear, "I think this is the most romantic date I've ever been on."

My fingers tightened on his hips. "Me too." I found his hand again and turned him around. "Come on. There's more to see."

We wandered through the garden, taking the path I knew led out to the Jade Crane's private beach. Felix sighed when we stepped off the last bridge and onto rocky shore. The Olympic Mountains were dark giants visible in the distance, but otherwise, we were completely alone on the small beach. Mei knew I'd want to come out here, and she'd keep anyone else who knew about the beach away.

I reached for the hem of my T-shirt, and Felix gasped.

"What are you doing?"

"I hate ripping my clothes when I shift, so I'm taking them off."

He glanced around nervously. "Here?"

"Yes. The beach is private, the garden prevents anyone from the road seeing back here, and this is one of my favorite places to swim." I could feel Felix's anxiety through our bond, and I tried to send him a wave of reassurance that matched my words. "I promise it's fine."

He nodded. "Okay." Then he pulled his own shirt off over his head.

A few minutes later, we were naked on the beach, the moonlight making Felix's dark skin glow.

"There is something I've been meaning to ask you."

I turned to face him, trying my hardest to keep my gaze above his waist. "Ask me anything."

"What did you show your brother that made him realize I was really your fated mate?"

Pointing to the edge of the saddle patch on my neck, I stepped closer. "Until we meet our mates, the edges of our saddle patches are smooth. Now you can see this little swirl." I leaned in closer, letting him run his finger over the area that curled in on itself. "It's like a fingerprint. If you were an orca, your fate mark would match mine. The pattern is unique for each fated pair."

"It's beautiful." His fingers slid along the sensitive skin of my neck, turning me on with the simplest touch. "Wait. Is it possible for an orca shifter to meet their mate and not realize it until they see their saddle patch change like this?"

I shrugged. "I guess so. I've never met anyone that's happened to, but I think it's possible."

Felix's expression turned thoughtful. "That would be hard, I think. To see the evidence on your body that you've met your mate but not to know who they are."

I tried to put myself in that position, and I didn't like thinking about it. "I think you're right. If that had happened to me, I would have probably spent the rest of my life looking for whoever had the matching mark."

He looked out over the water. "Does it bother you that I won't have a mark that matches since I'm not an orca shifter?"

I didn't even have to think about my answer. "No."

"Really?"

"It doesn't bother me at all because you may not have this mark, but you'll still have my claiming mark."

Felix's fingers were still on my skin, and I felt more than saw the shudder that rolled through him.

"You like that idea, don't you? Wearing my mark. Letting the world know you're mine."

"Yes," he whispered. "I really do."

"And everyone will know I'm yours. When we claim each other and you mark me as yours, a notch will appear in my dorsal fin when I'm in my orca form." I grabbed his wrist and pulled him against me, sealing our lips together in a hot, hard kiss. Felix's skin was warm against mine, and I felt his cock going hard against my thigh. I wished I could throw him down on the beach and make him mine, but there were too many rocks for that to be comfortable. We kissed until we were breathless, Felix pushing his hands between us to rest on my chest while he caught his breath.

And his swollen lips, glistening in the dark, were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.