which earned him a snort. His smile faded as a memory hit him. “I was pretty dazed when I was lying on the ground, bleeding.”
“Don’t remind me,” she grumbled.
“But I heard Joel cry out. Sensed you were worried for him. What was happening?”
“An extremist was hovering over him with a blade in his hand.”
Carefully sitting her upright, Dominic turned her to face him, keeping her legs on either side of his. “But you didn’t try to help him.” He knew he sounded incredulous. “You stayed with me.”
She frowned. “Of course I did. You’re my mate.”
It was really that simple for her, Dominic marveled. Although he wasn’t what fate had intended for her, she didn’t view him as a substitute for her true mate. Hadn’t chosen him merely because she couldn’t have Joel. No, despite that Dominic wasn’t predestined to be hers, Mila saw him as her mate. Her claim on him ran soul-deep. What she could have had with Joel really didn’t matter to her.
Having watched his mother give up on her mate and son because she’d been too deeply mired in her own issues, Dominic had always known he’d have trouble fully trusting his partner to stick around through thick and thin. But Mila had shown that she was no quitter; that she had the kind of staying power his mother had lacked. He’d grown to trust her in a way that he hadn’t thought himself capable of. Still, it had been hard for him to feel secure in the knowledge that she was his when she lived in such close proximity to her true mate.
It wasn’t that Dominic doubted that she loved or was fully committed to him. She never let him doubt it. But a small part of him—the part he’d hidden behind a mask for years, where no one could hurt, reject, or criticize it—had held back, fearing she wouldn’t find him “enough,” just as he’d never been enough for his parents. Fearing that he’d been a substitute for Joel, just as he’d once been a substitute for Tobias.
But faced with the choice of having to save Dominic or her predestined mate, she’d chosen Dominic. She’d stayed with him on what was effectively a battlefield and done her best to keep him alive until help came, even if it meant that Joel might die just a few feet away from her. And she didn’t regret or feel guilty about it—he would have sensed that. No, she hadn’t struggled with her decision whatsoever. And the last little piece inside Dominic that had held back from her for so long took a deep breath and reached for her.
A razor-sharp pain lanced through his head and panged through his chest, disorienting him. He gripped her hips, as if she’d anchor him. And she did. She anchored him in every way a person could. Especially now that the imprinting bond joined them, bright and strong. He closed his eyes, relief and satisfaction spiraling through him. Those same emotions flooded his wolf as their mate became a part of them in a way Dominic couldn’t describe.
Licking her lips, Mila double-blinked. The abrupt forming of the bond had taken her completely off guard, and now it was warming every cold spot and filling every empty space. Her cat purred and did a long, languid stretch, feeling so much more than just peaceful. She felt whole. And lamely, all Mila had to say was, “Wow.”
His mouth curved. “Yeah.”
“How did it happen?”
A bone-deep contentment settling over him, Dominic tucked a loose curl behind her ear. “I needed to believe—fully believe—that I wasn’t second choice for you. I was second choice for my parents, just a replacement for Tobias. And I knew they’d give me up in a heartbeat if it meant having their perfect child back.”
Mila glared at him for doubting her. “You’re not second choice to me. Never have been.”
“I guess my subconscious wasn’t so convinced. But it is now.” He caught her face with his hands. “Nothing ever has—or ever could—matter to me the way you do. I want everything I can get with you and from you. You’re not gonna get a minute’s peace, and you’re gonna move here.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, and then you’ll become my sex slave—something that won’t change even when we have pups.”
Her lips twitched. “You mean kits.”
“I’m good with having both.” Sobering, he rested his forehead against hers. “I’ll never make you regret choosing me, baby. Not ever.”
“I’ll never regret it. And I hope you won’t regret