That night, as they lay in bed, she finally gathered the nerve to ask. "What was with the way you introduced me tonight?"
"What do you mean?"
"That you"re hoping, eventually, I"ll be your mate,” she repeated his words back to him.
"What about it?"
"You started out telling me it wouldn"t work between us, then last week you introduced me to Karen as your potential mate, that I understood. It was the facts without any commitments, but tonight you said you"re hoping I"ll be your mate? The change is sudden, that’s all."
potentialhoping"Sweetheart, it"s been several days since I told you I"d protect you with everything in me. Who protects anyone like that but a mate? How is that sudden?"
She was quite a moment. "I hadn"t thought about it that way." Her voice was soft with the realization t
