into the corner of her mouth as she concentrated on driving through a tricky intersection, and felt heat coursing through him.
Now, I’ll be lucky if I can make it through the day without causing some kind of public scandal.
Even as he watched her now, he could feel his blood surging through his veins, his hippogriff screeching and stamping within him, demanding that he show his mate exactly what being the beloved of a shifter truly meant…
Beau almost jumped out of his seat as a strong vibration passed through the seat of his pants.
As it was, he must’ve made a sudden jerk, because Annie glanced over at him, face concerned.
“Everything okay?”
“Uh – ah! Yeah,” Beau said with as much grace as he could manage, twisting around in his seat to yank his cell phone out of his back pocket.
He already knew who’d be trying to get hold of him – but he couldn’t even bring himself to feel that guilty when his younger sister Courtney’s name popped up in the family group text.
“Sorry, I just gotta check this,” he said. “I know it’s a bit rude of me, but it’s my family.”
Annie just nodded. “Take your time. No biggie. I get it.”
Okay… maybe Beau had to admit he felt a little guilty. But to be fair, he’d had a lot on his mind. You didn’t find your mate every day, after all.
Hey hey, Courtney had written. What time r u getting here?
Beau grimaced a little, wondering what to say – how to explain this situation.
Not for a bit, he typed. Sorry. It’s a long story. I’ll explain soon.
He hit send, but he knew he couldn’t leave it at that. A text like that would only make his family worried something had happened at work. And to be honest, he wasn’t sure he could keep the news to himself for much longer anyway.
Taking a deep breath, he typed, I found my mate.
He swallowed at the long pause that followed, watching the undulating dots at the bottom of the screen that could only indicate Several people are typing…
And then, all at once, their messages exploded onto the screen.
R u serous? Omg! u shld bring her! congratulations!!
Really??? Where??? Ok u HAVE to tell us how this happened!
Okay, so that’s cool, you’re bringing her with you to the Christmas do, right?? I can’t wait to meet her!!
On and on the messages went.
Suppressing his grimace, Beau knew he really should have known better than to think he’d get any other reaction from his family.
He’d known they’d be delighted and excited for him – but the situation was more complicated than they knew!
Like the fact he hadn’t even told Annie herself yet.
That was something he’d have to deal with, before he could even contemplate any next steps.
It’s complicated, he typed, and then, aware of Annie sitting next to him and how much he’d rather be getting to know her better than trying to explain the situation to his family, he quickly added, She’s human. She doesn’t know about shifters or mates, so I have to do this right. It may take a couple of days.
He slipped his phone back in his pocket before he could read the barrage of good luck messages that would undoubtedly be flooding into the group chat over the next few minutes. Beau loved his family, but right now, he knew he had to focus on Annie, and Annie alone.
“Everything okay?” Annie asked, as she swung the car into a half-full parking lot.
“Yeah. Just letting the family know I’ll be a little later than planned,” Beau said. “They’re cool with it.”
Annie glanced at him as she parked the car, a strange expression on her face. “So… you’re really serious about this ‘give me three days’ thing? You’re really going to stick around here instead of going off to enjoy Christmas with your family?”
Does our mate doubt our word? Within him, Beau’s hippogriff sounded wounded. Have we not shown her our commitment to her? Unacceptable! We must do better to show her what she means to us!
Despite its tantruming, Beau managed to keep his expression level – he hoped.
“I am,” he said. “I really do mean it, Annie. Not just because it’s Christmas.” Beau swallowed, his throat feeling dry as he looked into Annie’s wide eyes. “I would’ve done it anyway, just to spend more time with you.”
“But… but you don’t even know me,” Annie said, sounding mildly bewildered.
My soul knows your soul, his hippogriff insisted, and Beau had to stop the words from