Who is He?

Having to tell Lucian I needed help to use the bathroom was one of the most humiliating things I've ever had to do.

For hours, I hoped the urge would go away. I thought if I didn't think about it, then magically, I would no longer need to go. After hour two, I realized I'm not one of those people who can ignore the urge to go for a long time. I just can't.

Thankfully, I didn't have to shout down the stairs. Lucian came in to see if I wanted lunch since I'd slept right from the semi accident the previous day through breakfast that morning. While it was a relief to find out five or more days hadn't passed without my knowing it, I was busy working up the courage to tell him I needed to use the bathroom because I didn't think I could get up on my own.

As I stare at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, I watch the deep blush spilling over my cheeks and down my neck in remembered embarrassment.

At first, I refused Lucian's offer of carrying me, telling him I just needed someone to lean on. He didn't fight me, just helped me rise from the bed, but the second I put any pressure on my leg, the pain had my eyes filling with tears and I sucked in a sharp breath.

"Please, let me carry you."

There was no demand in his voice, no look in his eyes that told me he thought I was being stupid for refusing his help. Just a soft offer to ease my pain, and one I couldn't deny if I wanted to.

It was the very opposite of how an alpha would have spoken to me. If it'd been Kieran or my father, I doubt they'd have cared enough to offer to carry me.

My father would've told me to stop being stupid and do what I was told as he stalked away and left his beta to deal with me. Kieran would've just ignored my pain, pretending he didn't see me. I doubt he'd have even gotten anyone to help me, either.

So, at Lucian's gentle offer, I blinked back my tears and agreed. He didn't rush me. He asked me if I was ready, and when I nodded that I was, he curved an arm around my waist, slid the other under my knees, and then he lifted.

Other than the brief agonizing pain that came from bending my leg, there was nothing.

He lifted me so easily, so smoothly, and didn't jar me at all as he carried me out of the bedroom and down a cream-carpeted hallway to a spotless bathroom opposite.

Although Lucian isn't built like the big guy—the alpha, Orion, I felt the coiled strength in his ropy lean muscles and I knew he was every bit as strong as Orion was. He could even have been stronger. It'd felt nice being in his arms. And, of course, being closer to him meant I could inhale more of his scent.

That or run a hand through his tousled dark brown hair, which looked soft and inviting.

So, even though I wanted to press closer for a longer sniff or a touch, I didn't. Having an attraction to a shifter who saved me from certain death is one thing, but acting on it is another thing entirely. I can't imagine any guy would appreciate a pregnant girl who still carries the scent of her mate burrowing close.

You'd have wound up on the floor before you knew what'd happened.

So don't mistake kindness with something else, Cassia. Just concentrate on getting well and getting out of town.

Even though it's been a week since I was last with Kieran, Lucian couldn't have failed to pick up his scent on me. A week is nothing to a shifter's nose. I scrubbed my body in a motel shower for what felt like hours after I'd left Kieran. I think that's all I did in the first motel I stopped at. Just focused on getting clean and washing away my past.

It was a waste of time. I knew it, but that didn't stop me from trying, anyway.

The moment he bit me and we joined as mates, his scent and mine created a new scent. A soul-deep connection. As long as I'm still mated to him, any shifter who comes within sniffing distance would know, just as Orion and Lucian did, that I have a mate. I shake my head and refocus on my reflection, knowing it serves no purpose to dwell on the past. I got away, that's what matters. That Kieran and his father haven't tracked me down is a good sign.

I just have to keep moving and never let up my guard, not for a moment.

After Lucian left me just inside the bathroom, I used the toilet and hopped over to the sink so I could wash my face and brush my teeth. I know a shower is impossible with my inability to stand on one leg for too long, and the thought of going anywhere near a slippery surface seems like a terrible idea.

So, I tug my shirt over my head and leave it on top of the sink, trying not to think about Lucian undressing me after the accident. I grab a washcloth in a small wicker hamper filled with clean towels that Lucian left close beside the sink. Although I'd love a shower or a long soak in a bath, I settle for a sponge down instead.

With one hand clamped around the sink as I balance on one leg, I do the best I can to clean as much of my body as I can, doubting I'm any cleaner several minutes later. I certainly don't feel like I am.

Before pulling the t-shirt back over my head, I wipe the steam from the mirror and stare at the bite on my neck. It healed a long time ago, minutes after Kieran bit me at our mating ceremony, and as always, when I see it, my thoughts turn to Nova and Kieran.

How could he bite someone when he already had a mate? Surely his wolf would've reacted in some way because not only is the human side of me Kieran's mate, but so is my wolf side.

It is what makes us mates. We're fated to be together.

Both halves of us.