Page 56 of Blade

“That isn’t going to magically change how you feel about it, though.” He waved his hand at me. “This form. Magic. Brains don’t work that way.”

I wish they did.

“If I want to hold my mate’s hand, I will.” Things had changed. “I understand this is a different time.”

Oh, that face.

“You’re not allowed to make my mate unhappy, scared, or worried about things like that.” His unreasonable stubbornness was coming back into play again. “I’ll make a limit about that if I have to.”

There he went again.

Limits.

“You’re not using that word the same way I would have before.” I wasn’t going to sound like an old man and start complaining about back in my day…but back in my day that wasn’t how we used the word. “How are you using it?”

He blushed.

The only times Henley got uncomfortable were when he had to explain his family or talk about sex.

So this was sexual somehow.

How?

One of the things I’d quickly learned about the new world I’d been dropped into was that they were much more open about sexual topics.

Much more open.

“Um…” Looking adorably pink-cheeked, my mate opened and closed his mouth several times before he swallowed hard. “I’m going to explain this badly because I’ve never had to do it.”

Interesting.

Nodding forward, I tried to sound as relaxed as possible. “Let’s go this way while you figure out where to start.”

Because whatever I’d stumbled into seemed important enough not to let it get hidden away again.

What did limits and sexuality have to do with each other in this context?

Was it somehow connected to his desire to be restrained?

“That’s a good idea.” Sounding relieved, probably because he had a few more minutes to put off answering me, he let out a breath. “I can figure this out.”

What could be so common anyone he talked to would understand limits in this context?

“We’re going to run into a lot of things that I don’t understand, but we’ll take them one step at a time. You’ve been very good at explaining the odd things we’ve run into so far.” Like microwaves and stun guns and bear spray that was not just for bears.

If we had that before, I’d never seen it, but then again, I’d never done a lot of camping in actual wilderness areas.

“I want you to understand the current world so it doesn’t always feel strange to you.” Something about the conversation changed for him because my mate stood straighter as we started to walk. “I’ve read books where the main characters were transported to new worlds and they’re always very unhappy until it’s familiar and they don’t have to think about every detail.”

Had there been books like that when I was younger?

“I want this to be your home, so you need information.” Sounding like he wanted to repeat that over and over, my mate nodded to himself. “And giving you information doesn’t mean I’m pushing you or influencing what you want.”

So he wanted me to want something but he wasn’t supposed to admit that?

“Information itself isn’t good or bad.” Some of his talking podcast people might disagree with that, but their opinions really didn’t matter to me. “I just need to understand what’s going on around us in conversations and when you reference something.”

“You need information.” Still nodding to whatever was going on in his mind, Henley took a few more deep breaths and walked nearly half a block before he could figure out where to start.