The Deputy and His Enforcer (Kincaid Pack #3) - Kiki Clark Page 0,60

Meyerville and she announced she could turn into a red panda.”

Chuckling, Robson raised a fist for her to pound. “Right? Did you freak out?”

“A little, but Bennett was there so he could explain some things while Melissa shifted and showed me her other form. They both explained why she hadn’t told me and that we were mates, and by then…” She shrugged. “Like I said, I was already in love, so I got used to sometimes spending Sunday afternoons cuddling with a cute animal instead of my hot wife.”

The room erupted in laughter again, but something she said stuck out to Robson, causing him to glance at his own mate. Would Marcus want to spend time together regularly with him in his wolf form? He wasn’t sure why the thought hadn’t occurred to him considering they’d already spent time like that twice, but it was still an interesting thought. Would it be less fun for Marcus to run through the trees with Robson since he wouldn’t be able to keep up?

Marcus raised his eyebrows just a little, asking him if he was okay without being obvious about it. He squeezed Marcus’s fingers like he’d done to Robson and refocused back on why he was there.

“Okay, so we’ve gotten slightly off track,” he said, then turned to Bridget. “You wanted to know how your animal side recognizes your mate, right?”

She nodded enthusiastically, then shot a quick look at where Nico was perched on a stack of three chairs, big body loose and relaxed. When Robson pressed his lips together and raised his eyebrows, she blushed and looked at the ground between her feet.

“My understanding—and one of you shifters correct me if I’m wrong—is that it’s an honest-to-god magical connection, right? It’s not just being attracted to someone physically.”

Marcus nodded. “It was explained to me that the goddess blesses us with a mate and our animal side recognizes them before our human side does because of the stronger senses and instincts.”

It was explained to me… Who could have told him something like that? Since Marcus hadn’t shared that information, Robson assumed he didn’t want to give that detail to everyone, but it made Robson curious.

He looked at Bridget to see if that answer was good enough for her, and she nodded without meeting his eyes. Poor thing. He understood crushing on one of the pack Enforcers, but he was pretty sure that was all it was. It probably happened all the time.

“I guess that makes as much sense as anything else,” Robson said, trying not to focus too hard on the idea that some goddess somewhere thought he’d be the perfect match for Marcus. His devout Catholic mother would have a heart attack. As it was, he had to stop himself from making the sign of the cross and asking for forgiveness in believing in another deity. “Does anyone else have questions? Or should we move on to the actual sex part of this sexual education class?”

Marcus sputtered next to him, but Robson ignored him, focusing on the hand that went up in the second row.

A young guy asked, “Since you’re human, could you decide to leave your mate one day? Humans divorce all the time…”

He felt Marcus stiffen, but he tightened his hold on his hand and turned to Janice and Melissa. “I think this one is more for you two than us. I’m curious to hear if that happens or not too.”

Melissa wrapped an arm around Janice, but it was Janice who answered. “In theory, yes. But I don’t really see that being a possibility. We might not be magically linked through bonding bites, but our relationship is unlike any other I’ve ever experienced. I can’t imagine ever not feeling this way about her and our mating.”

“It’s extremely rare,” Marcus spoke up, body still rigid, like he was worried Robson would take note of the out clause. “Shifter law makes it illegal to force a human to remain in a mating if the human wishes to leave, but I’ve only ever heard of a handful of cases, and usually there are extenuating circumstances.”

When no one else said anything, Robson nodded. “Cool, good to know. But, um, let’s back up a second. What the hell is a bonding bite?”

Nico started laughing so hard he almost fell off his stack of chairs. Bennett steadied him with one hand and reached up to the neck of his plain white T-shirt with his other and pulled it aside. Robson shot to his feet and