He was standing at the window when I walked back in, one hand braced against the frame, eyes somewhere out in the dark. Like he was already fighting something nobody else could see yet.
I watched him for a second.
Just one second before parting my lips to talk"Say it."
He turned.
"Whatever you pulled them out of the room to say. Just say it Mason."
"You're my mate."
I didn't move.
"My real mate. Not just the bond from the bite. Before that. Before any of this." He exhaled slowly. Like he'd been holding it since the river bank. "The second I saw you at that altar something in me went completely still. I told myself it was adrenaline. I told myself it was the mission." He pause and inhaled a sharp breath. "I was lying to myself."
"How long have you known. For certain."
"The river. W
