her either, which was strange. “Is this the mate bond magic you were talking about?” Zoe looked down and saw one of her hands on his arms, like this was totally natural for her when she knew it wasn’t.
“What do you mean?” Liam grabbed his own clothes and got dressed while she pulled the hoodie on.
Zoe sat on the edge of the bed and watched him, wondering when the shift had happened. It was so easy to be around him, and she felt like she was going crazy. This wasn’t normal for her at all, but somehow, he made it effortless.
“I’m not usually physical with partners outside of sex,” she admitted, trying not to be too obvious that she was checking out just how low his sweats hung off his hips or that she’d noticed they were grey.
The boy was too beautiful for his own good and grey sweatpants should be illegal.
“It normally makes me very uncomfortable, but not with you.” Zoe felt hot and bothered all over again when he pulled his shirt on and the fabric stretched over his chest, letting the tattoos peek out of his sleeve.
Liam settled the shirt and then gave her his full attention. It was intense. He didn’t blink as he held her gaze and considered. “Probably to some extent,” he admitted. Zoe thought it might bother him, but Liam didn’t seem too concerned. “It’s designed that way on purpose. Shifters consider the bond to be sacred. The universe made us, so why would it pair us with someone who wasn’t made for us? That usually includes personality and preferences, but I assume it doesn’t always work out perfectly despite all that.”
“And you just…trust in that?” Zoe asked, chewing on the new information.
The way he smiled at her didn’t feel condescending when it would have from anyone else. Maybe it was because she knew he was being completely honest with her. “I had my doubts. Who’s to say that you were created for who I am now, versus who I was before all that shit happened? I didn’t think it was safe to find my mate. I would gain a new weakness and I knew losing her would break me, so I never looked.”
How he could say all that without the smile wavering at all, Zoe didn’t know, but she admired him even more for it.
“Then when my packmates started finding their mates one by one, we handled everything that came at us, and protected them. They helped protect us and our territory. Our pack got stronger. Even someone like Shane had it work out. He has some pretty severe OCD and PTSD.” Liam rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. “Alexander’s wolf is extremely aggressive which is completely at odds with his human personality thanks to being put in cage fights as a wolf for who knows how long. It makes it easier to believe it’s meant to work out that way when someone like Lily was desperately looking to put down roots and ran into Alexander, who couldn’t leave.”
He’d told her a bit about the other members in the pack, but Zoe had no idea just how bad it was for each and every one of them. She supposed it did make sense to believe it would work out after seeing it proven so many times.
And Liam and Noah were born as wolves. This was their whole life. They’d been told from the beginning this was how things happened from birth. What she was surprised about was that they’d doubted, probably because of what had happened when they lost the pack, but then that belief had been solidified again.
It didn’t really explain how it changed her, but maybe…
Zoe inspected her hand and tried to remember what things were like before her mom had left. What kind of person had she been? Vaguely she remembered hugging her mother, her new baby sister, even her friends.
Physical affection had been one of her favorite love languages and as a wolf, it seemed like it was Liam’s as well. When she was near him – her mate, it felt as natural as breathing to be close to him, to feel his warmth and hear his heartbeat.
It was kind of terrifying to want that just as badly as she’d wanted to become a nurse.
“Breakfast.” Liam stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders, turning her toward the door. “We’ll eat and I’ll help you figure out what you want to do about work.”
As