Page 28 of Targeted By Love

“You deserve better than me.” I wasn’t the better option.

“I should run away, call the police, a thousand other things.” He sighed. “But I can’t.” He tapped his heart. “You’re in here, and no antibiotics will cure you, there’s no operation to cut you out, no chemo or radiation. Nothing.”

“Are you describing love?” It was too much to hope and yearn and beg for.

“I guess so. It’s as though a tornado has picked me up from my normal life and dumped me elsewhere.” He wiggled his feet. “But I don’t have any red shoes.”

“Huh?”

Rhodes giggled. “I’ll explain the reference another time.”

“Now what?”

“How do we do the mating thing, because let’s get it done.”

15

RHODES

I stared at the mark on his shoulder where my teeth had sunk in. I knew exactly what came next. He was going to give me a matching bite.

At the time, I hadn’t realized what I was doing. Heck, I hadn’t been thinking at all. It was 100% on instinct. But now, after having had this conversation, I got it. The feeling, the overwhelming contentment that washed over me after doing something that normally would have been unthinkable, was me starting our bond. That bite was me recognizing him as my mate before I even understood what all of that meant.

I might have gone about it in a very human way, but I saw what was happening. There was something so comforting in that… in seeing that none of this was new to me, not really. I simply needed someone to point it out.

“How do we do the mating thing?” I was beyond ready. “Because let’s just get it done.” That sounded wrong, almost like it was a chore. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know, love.” He rubbed his cheek against mine. “Trust me, I know.”

More than anything, being mated fully was what I longed for—to seal this bond, to reclaim what I lost all those years ago.

“It might hurt.” His warning wasn’t going to scare me off. And really, I was kind of counting on it. Pain and scents held strong memories for me, and I wanted to savor every second of this for years to come.

“Maybe I want it to.” I hadn’t planned to admit it, but with Maynard, out it came. “I want to feel it so deeply I never forget this moment.”

“I don’t think either of us could.” His voice was softer than I expected. “When you marked me, it was… it was…”

“I’m glad.” He didn’t need any more words than that. The emotions pouring off of him were so palpable, almost as if I were feeling them firsthand.

I ran my finger down the mark on his shoulder. “This is where you’re planning to bite me, right, but on me?”

His body shivered at my touch. “Yeah.”

He pressed his forehead against mine.

“You knew,” he said, “before I even said the words.”

“I did. I was wondering why you didn’t get mad at me, but now it makes sense.”

“No, that wasn’t why. Not fully.” He reached up and cupped my cheek. “I don’t think there was anything you could have done in that moment to make me mad at you. Finding you again—it was everything.”

I bent down and kissed the mark I’d left on his skin. “Do I need to bite you again? To make the mating stick?”

“No, but you can if you want. I wouldn’t stop you.” His rich chuckle wrapped around me like a hug.

He kissed me, long and deep, and I let myself get lost in the feeling, loving every second of it.

Then his phone started going off, and he froze.