Chapter Nine

There was nothing sweeter than being held by Stone. This feeling, this connection, was something I'd never understood when people talked about it—specifically when referring to their mates. They spoke of this all-encompassing sensation that made you feel safe, at home, and alive all at once. My human friends never held the same emotion as they raved about their love lives. No, it had always been my shifter friends exclusively.

Silly me. I'd always thought it was just people exaggerating. Trying to make their person seem as wonderful to you as they were to them. Not intentionally being deceptive or anything. More that they were so in love that they simply saw things differently. That, or they simply experienced romance differently than I did. Not once had I ever thought it was possible for me to feel this way.

And it was more than just the post-joining aww that endorphins bring. I didn't understand it fully, but this sense of completeness, it was real on a cellular level. There was no part of me that wasn't touched by him. He was part of me, and I was part of him.

His warm breath tickled the back of my neck, reminding me that not only was he there but that he was close. Not that his body was letting me go; we were as physically close as two people could be, and I was cherishing every last second of it.

My phone had been buzzing nonstop, and I was sure it had everything to do with the storm. But in that moment, being here with him was far more important than any job, any class, any…anything. We just lay there together in peaceful silence. As his knot slowly subsided and he finally withdrew, the sense of loss was immediate. I rolled over to face him. He'd positioned himself up slightly on his elbow, looking down at me with a wide smile as I faced him.

I reached up to touch his cheek. "I feel like there's some things we probably need to talk about."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I push too fast?" He tensed, the exact opposite of what I'd wanted to accomplish with my comment. Gods. I was messing things up and quickly.

"Oh, no, no, no. Nothing like that. We should probably talk about last night and the…the dream." Might as well jump right into it.

His eyes went wide. "You were there? Like, really there?"

"Yeah, and that's something I sometimes do," I said, feeling the awkwardness grow between us. "Not on purpose, and usually not with anyone I'm not related to, and usually only in really specific circumstances." Could I do a worse job explaining it? "But what I wanted to talk about wasn't exactly that part—it was more the afterward. When we woke up, my brain kept poking at me and pushing, telling me that you are my mate." I bit my bottom lip. "I don't mean to be clingy and that guy..."

He cut me off with a kiss. "I feel it too," he mumbled against my lips. "I feel it too."

I didn't fully understand the entire mate thing with shifters, and I didn't need to. All I needed to know was that he was mine and I was his. Together, we were going to be connected in this way forever. The rest of it was all details. Important details, but details nonetheless.

He wrapped his arms around me, and we snuggled, enjoying each other's embrace as I backtracked enough to tell him about my dream walking and how he could keep me out if he wanted to. To my surprise, he seemed more interested in letting me in. I wasn't exactly sure how to make that happen, but it was something we could figure out.

But not today. It quickly came to a point when I could no longer ignore all the beeps from my phone.

"I'm sorry." I sat up. "With the storm and everything, it could be an emergency." It had better be for disturbing me so.

"No, no, no. This is your place."

"It's not really my place. I just work here." I hoped that didn't disappoint him, but I wasn't the owner or anything.

To my surprise, it looked like it was a relief for him, like he'd rather I not own this place. I'd ask him about it later. But, for now, the phone was still buzzing. I grabbed and unlocked it. Over a dozen notifications, which were over a dozen more than I wanted there to be.

Surprisingly enough, it wasn't the residents looking for repairs or information. It was random messages from local agencies, mostly talking about not traveling and another storm band coming through tonight. Pretty much, it was all the typical things that came with this kind of weather.

I could have ignored it after all. Nothing on my phone needed my immediate attention. But ignoring them meant potentially ignoring a guest, and I wasn't willing to do that. If something were to happen to one of the cabins and they needed assistance for safety, I had to be aware. Telling them I met my mate, so sorry they had their roof cave in, was hardly the responsible way to run this place.

"Nothing urgent." I climbed back on the bed. "I promise you I wasn't ignoring you."

"No, you weren't, but also, it would've been okay if you had. By my count, there are a dozen cabins here, that's a lot of people that might need you. I'm guessing you need to work now?"

"I don't want to leave you though." Needy and whininess level achieved. Ugg. I needed to figure out how to handle these big emotions because this wasn't the way.

"I don't want you to either, but, whatever it is, we'll both do it. That way, we can be together, and you can meet your responsibilities." He climbed off the bed and pulled on his boxer briefs. "And whatever it is, it's gonna start with a sandwich."

"Did you just say you're gonna make me a sandwich?" I teased.

He rolled his eyes. "Cliché, I know. But, yeah. Unless you want to make me one."

I laughed. "That's even more cliche, but I can do that. Or," I countered, "we could make them together."

I had a can of chicken in the cupboard. It was hardly what I would call delicious fare, but we mixed it with some mayonnaise and mustard and ate it with the last of the English muffins, and they were good enough to make the most basic sandwich feel fancy.

If the day had gone differently…less work, more alone time, I'd have cooked him a nice meal. But that would require many things, including a trip to the store and, according to all the reports I saw, that wasn't going to happen. It would have to wait.

But one good thing was that no decisions needed to be made about him leaving today because the storm wasn't going to allow it. With another band coming in, staying put was the safest option. It gave us time to figure everything else out.

When there was yet another crack of lightning and another shake of the house, followed by the unmistakable sound of a tree branch falling to the ground and hitting another roof, I couldn't be upset by it. As we ate our mediocre sandwiches in the tiny little cabin that I didn't even own, in the middle of vacation rentals, life could be a whole lot worse than this. A whole lot worse.