Page 46 of Blade

“I never led her on.” Blaine’s careful tone was filled with conviction I didn’t think any of them would question. “It never occurred to me that any woman in our world would focus on me like that.”

Oh, a lot of them would’ve focused on him no matter what he said his mate would be.

Just him holding my hand was making my heart skip a few beats, so my sexy dork would’ve had women falling all over him whether he realized it or not.

Hot dork.

Yep, he never would’ve realized it at all.

“This was in no way your fault.” Serena looked around, smiling at the group who’d actually managed to get Blaine backin the right body. “We’re just very glad that it worked and that you’ve found your mate.”

Me.

Yep.

Me.

That was something I was going to have questions on later, but I was going to wait until I either organized my thoughts better so I wouldn’t sound like an idiot in front of the witches…or until we had privacy so it wouldn’t matter if I sounded like a moron. If Blaine was actually my mate, I probably didn’t need to worry about looking stupid in front of him.

The number of licks I’d gotten over the past couple of days said he liked me even when I sounded like I didn’t have any brains at all.

Giving her head a shake, she frowned. “I’m sorry. My manners. Please come inside. We’ve got clothes ready for you and you can take a shower if you’d like.”

Magical shenanigans seemed to have kept this form fairly clean, but I could see how tempted he was before he started to shake his head.

“Yes, that would be great.” Taking over, I smiled and pulled his hand so he’d have to start walking or make a scene. He wasn’t going home in just a blanket. With my luck we’d end up getting arrested. “It’s been a while since he had modern luxuries.”

And eventually he’d be pissed at himself for walking away before he saw the inside of the house.

He huffed, giving me a side-eye that was adorable. “Are you saying I stink?”

That got more giggles from the coven who were still watching him a bit like he was a rock star that’d just dropped in the backyard.

“Picture the shower in my place and then the one here.” I really was doing him a favor in a variety of ways. “Besides. You said you’d take me on a date. That means shower first.”

And since he hadn’t done it in seventy years, he probably wanted one at the very least.

“Alright.” Shaking his head, he pretended to be exasperated with me as we made our way through the beautiful yard and up to the screened porch. The whole thing looked like we were walking through a movie where the South was almost like another character. “But I’m going to ignore how high-maintenance you’re sounding.”

My scoff got more giggles from our audience.

“I never promised not to be high-maintenance.” I came from a whole family of lunatics. There wasn’t a quiet one in the bunch. “I like attention and you’ve got a bit of talking to make up for.”

We did a good job of playing calm and cute for the coven, but I could feel Blaine’s hand tense as we walked into the beautiful house.

“You can start by figuring out which stories you’re going to tell me first. Then we can work from my list if we need to.” I grinned as I glanced over my shoulder at the strange group of people still following us down the hallway with the stark white walls and into the main part of the house. “I’ve been making notes on my phone.”

Making sure to keep us still looking adorable and not dangerous in the slightest, I swung our hands as we followed Serena until she pointed to what seemed to be a small guestroom. The white bedspread and antique-looking wood furniture made it seem like it was for show, not everyday living. “We’ve got clothes laid out on the bed and everything you should need in the bathroom.”

“Thank you.” As I tried to figure out the best way to make sure Blaine could have as much privacy as he needed, his handtightened around mine to the point of almost painful. Got it. “We’ll be out in just a few minutes.”

I was slow sometimes but not completely stupid, so we both walked into the small bedroom and I closed the door behind us. The house was clearly old but the knob was new and had a lock, so I clicked it into place and let Blaine take a deep breath.

With our audience gone for the moment, I shifted so I was standing in front of him. “Take a deep breath for me and let it out slowly.”

His hand was starting to shake, but he seemed to be doing his best to look relaxed. As he opened his mouth, I knew he was going to give me some bullshit line about being fine, so I cut him off quietly. “Don’t lie to me. You don’t have to talk if you’re not ready but mates don’t lie.”

At least that Bigfoot lady had said they didn’t.