Havoc's Mate (Badlands Territory #2) - Lila Rose Page 0,20

seriously, about the time thing with Havoc. I’m sure he’ll take some off for you.”

“Which is sweet.”

She cackled. “I never thought the word sweet would be something to describe Havoc. And I bet you’d be the only one who got away with it.”

Suddenly, I sobered. I wouldn’t be the only one. His mate would, and that was the main reason I hadn’t gone to bed with him like I wanted to. When the kissing got heavy, and boy it did, I put a stop to it, feeling like we needed more time. Not only that, it would be too easy to fall for Jackson Havoc. He treated me like I was everything he wanted. But it wouldn’t be the case when his mate came along.

“What’s got you down, Cora? You look like someone shit on your pillow.”

Blinking, I kept my gaze on the desk in front of me and shuffled some papers around. “Nothing.”

“Cora, we’re friends, yes?”

I lifted my eyes to meet hers. “Of course.”

“And friends let each other know if something is on their mind. I might not have the answers, but I can at least try to help you.”

Smiling softly, I shook my head. “Thank you, but this isn’t something you can help me with.”

“Cora,” she whined, which had me laughing. Honestly, being around Kathy had me realizing shifters were just like any of us—besides the fact they transformed into an animal. But they loved, liked, were sad and annoying like anyone could be. Having Kathy around had made any worries I’d had about being around shifters vanish.

They were my people. I seriously felt like I was where I was supposed to be.

“What happens when Jackson finds his mate?” I put my attention on the computer screen and scrolled through things without really looking while I went on. “I mean, I know he’ll find his forever eventually, so really I should step back before we get into anything too serious. I don’t want to hold him back from anyone else. The… right person—shifter who was made to match him.”

“Oh, Cora,” Kathy whispered.

It was then I realized a few tears had escaped. I thought I’d held back my despair at the possibility of letting Jackson go. But I hadn’t.

God, how it hurt.

It felt like my body was sliced open from chest to belly and I was left with a gaping hole.

Why did I feel this way?

“Cora,” Kathy said. “There’s one thing you don’t know about shifters.”

Licking my dry lips, I roughly wiped at my eyes and asked, “What’s that?”

“For us, there is no one else but our mate. We don’t want or seek anyone else, even for one night, because we only belong to our mate.”

I swung my gaze her way. “Then why would Jackson….”

She smiled.

Did she mean…?

Was I his?

Hope rushed into me, had me shaking my hands out in front of myself before fisting them and shaking them again. “I’m human,” I told her as if she didn’t know already.

She laughed. “You are.”

I slapped my hands to the desk and stood. “But…” I shook my head. “I can’t be…” When Kathy just kept smiling, I asked, “Are you serious?”

“Very. He wouldn’t have approached you otherwise.”

My eyes widened, my heart fluttered, and I wanted to scream and jump for damn joy. “Holy hell,” I whispered. Smiling, I planted my hands on my hips, only to have the smile washed away with a new thought. What happened if me being his mate was wrong somehow?

“Don’t,” Kathy warned. “Whatever you just thought, you’re wrong. You were made for Havoc, like he was yours. Shit, it was probably how you came by this town in the first place. You were supposed to be here to meet your mate. And don’t stress over being human. There’s a heap of shifters who have human mates.”

“Okay, all right,” I said, nodding as I started to pace. “That’s good to know I’m not the only human mate….” I stopped, faced Kathy, and asked, “Why am I so darn happy to be his mate? The thought of leaving him had me torn to pieces on the inside, and now I’m… heck, I’m giddy at the thought of forever with a man I’ve known for two weeks. This is crazy, right?”

She laughed. “No, it’s not crazy at all. It’s how things work for us. As soon as I saw Alton, I knew he was my mate and ran and jumped into his arms, begging him to take me home.”

An abrupt laugh fell from my mouth. I slapped my