Page 33 of Seducing Sasquatch

Feeling the sudden urge to have him near, I wrap my hand around his waist, pulling him onto my lap and situating him until his back is pressed into my side. Blake lets out an adorable squeak as he’s lifted from the ground, his hands reaching to clutch at my chest. His fingers brushing through my thick fur coat, has a shiver running down my spine.

“You’re even stronger now.” He looks up at me with wide eyes.

I grin, enjoying the way my mate no longer looks at me with terror etched across his face but with a new twinkle in his forest-colored eyes. “Yes, baby. And I’ll never use that strength against you.”

His brow furrows. “You keep saying that. How you won’t hurt me. I believe you.”

I want to cry with joy. My sweet baby boy is so brave. He’s come face-to-face with a monster; he’s accepted who I am and now he trusts me, despite the fact I’ve lied to him since the moment I met him.

“I’m glad to hear that,” I preen, wiping a stray swirl of hair away from his forehead.

Mindlessly, Blake’s fingers travel up and down my chest. His rhythmic petting calms me to the bone.

“Have you always been a Sasquatch shifter?” Blake asks.

I lean back into the sofa, my eyes tracing the slope of his button nose as he leans his head against my sternum.

“Yes, baby. Both my parents are Sasquatch shifters,” I reply. My hand finds his thigh and my thumb swipes across his leg in broad strokes. “They live on the mountain opposite the river. All the mountains in this region are home to at least one Sasquatch shifter.”

Blake lifts his eyes, his face brightening in wonder. “There’s that many Sasquatches?”

I nod, enjoying the way my lips spread into a grin. “When the odd Sasquatch hunter comes along, we like to play tricks on them. It’s amusing to watch them get excited over a footprint in the mud or a snapped tree.”

“Huh,” Blake mutters. “What about the times when they get caught on camera?”

I chuckle, my eyes finding the dance of the flames in the fireplace. “There is a whole world of shifters out there, baby. From other cryptids like me, to animal shifters. We keep our abilities to ourselves, but sometimes shifters mate with non-shifters. Humans.”

Blake’s fingers meet my chin as he pulls my face toward him. His lower lip trembles. “Why have you shown the truth to me, Arden?”

Arden. Not Daddy. Not mountain man. Just Arden.

I swallow the ball of dread that’s coiled itself in the back of my throat. I knew this conversation would come. I knew I’d eventually have to tell him; he’s my fated mate. That my beast chose him long before I knew he even existed. And despite my beast’s choosing, he can reject me if he so chooses.

“Because, sweet thing,” I give his knee a tentative squeeze, memorizing his warmth beneath my skin, “my beast has chosen you to be my mate. My fated mate.”

Blake’s eyes widen. His jaw goes slack as he leans back to look at me; I can hear the way his heart thumps in his chest. His gaze covers my face, his fingers freezing against my chest.

I can’t breathe. I can’t move. I’m frozen in place, held down but the crushing weight of my fear. With my ears ringing and pins and needles spreading up my arms, I simply hold Blake. Waiting for him to say something. Anything.

“So…” He sucks in a strangled breath. “So that means we’re together? Like partners?”

I bite the inside of my cheek, nodding gently. “Only if you want to be.”

All my life I’ve been at the mercy of my beast. From growing up and wondering who my fated mate would be, to when I realized they might not exist. And now, to have him sitting on my lap, watching me with interest swimming in his gaze, it’s whiplash I doubt I’ll ever recover from. But if he chooses to stay with me, I’ll treasure him every day.

“And we can’t break up?” Blake chews on his lower lip, his fingers resume to pet my furry chest.

“You can reject me, baby. But if I mark you, our souls will become one, and then it might be a little tricky to separate.”

Blake nods, his eyes wander to the fireplace, his face scrunches as he thinks. But I stay quiet. Letting my boy process his emotions.

A rosy tint blooms on his cheeks as he turns to look back at me with a new twinkle of determination in his gaze. “So you can’t ever leave me? If I don’t reject you, you can’t leave?”

My heart skips a beat. Sitting in my arms, on my lap with his scent surrounding me like fresh linen, my boy is more worried about me leaving than himself.

“I physically cannot leave you, Blake,” I respond, watching the way his shoulders relax and he lets out a sigh.

“And you really want to be with me?”