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The crunch of fallen leaves comes right before she bursts into the opening. Her eyes are wild as she scans the surroundings. Her long, dark hair flicks around as her head shifts. She’s in her trademark black leggings and band tee.

It warms my heart to know if anything, she wanted to see “Shadow” one more time. Calix huffs at her nickname for him, even though we know he loves it. He preens anytime the word rolls off her tongue. Something he may let her keep calling him even after she realizes who we are. Well, that’s if she accepts us, that is.

When her eyes land on me I have one single second of glee before her face crumbles in confusion. Why is she looking at me like that? Isn’t she feeling the pull like I am?

My chest constricts as she slowly steps closer to me. Mine. Mine. Mine. Calix is practically chanting in our shared headspace. Meanwhile, I feel like I can’t breathe. She isn’t saying anything. Why isn’t she?

“Sh…Shadow?”

I won't wait any longer. The excitement of her proximity, wanting to finally claim her, rushes over me as I shift back into my human form. I blink open my eyes as the confirmation I’ve been waiting for finally happens. Mate.

I see it in her eyes. The widening of them, sucking in a breath, and the quick flash of her mini moon wolf eyes, tells me she knows it too.

“It’s you.”

I nod my head.

“How long have you known?”

A sheepish look crosses my face. “Since Bestiare. Well, confirmed during our dance together then. I felt so drawn to you, but I worried that I wouldn’t be your mate.”

“Is that why you’ve never said anything or come near me before now?”

I scratch the back of my head. “You were the first girl to grab my attention, the first one to make me look a second time, and it scared me.”

She takes a step closer to me, her fingers twisting together as she thinks about what I said.

“You’re the only guy that I’ve ever been attracted to. I’ve been wondering for weeks now why I’ve felt so drawn to you. But, I was so confused. Between what I was feeling for Shadow,” she gestures toward where I was just sitting, “to my conflicted feelings during Bestiare with the masked stranger. Then there was you, the one who I’ve only ever sat across the street from as we both sip our teas.”

I nod my head, not breaking eye contact. She slides her barefoot slowly across the ground taking another step closer. I suck in a breath.

“All this time, they’ve been the same person. How long have you watched me? Dreamed of me?” Her other foot slides across the ground, bringing her within arms reach.

I could reach out and pull her into my arms. But, I don’t. My fingers twitch at my sides, my muscles tensing to keep myself from jumping. I might be more than ready to claim her, but this is all new to her. There’s still this thought, like a fly, buzzing at the back of my mind that she is going to reject me.

She hesitates and I realize she’s waiting for me to answer her. “A…a long time now. I tried…tried to,” I gulp, the words sticking in my throat. What is she going to think when I admit this? “I tried to ignore the urge to watch you. I thought I was obsessedwith you and that you would turn of age only to find your true mate. I kept my distance, hoping that it would go away.”

She takes the last step till she is standing directly in front of me.

“And how did that work out?”

“I…it got worse. The more I tried to ignore it, the harder it became.”

“Um, hmm,” she mumbles as her hand reaches out slowly towards my own.

Like waves crashing to the shore, the second our skin connects everything that is her sucks me in. From her plump lower lip pinched between her teeth, to her blown pupils so wide the hazel of her eyes is almost non-existent. The gasp as our feelings mingle into one, no way to determine whose is whose.

Just like every time before, my dick hardens at the thought of her. But, now with her so close, every single molecule of me is excited. It’s not just him, it’s my entire being.

My muscles are clenched, doing everything I can to hold still. We are both new to this, not just that we are mates, but being intimate with each other. All I can think about with her salty musk filling my nostrils is how bad I want to taste every single part of her. To finally run my hands across her soft skin as Caelon and not her masked man.

“Leni…” I whisper as my skin buzzes and tingles with every single touch of her finger tips.

My eyes are enraptured by her movements. Slowly trailing her fingers up my skin. Moving an inch closer as she goes, until she reaches my neck and trails her finger down the side of my neck causing my entire body to shiver. I don’t even think she knows what she is doing to me or just how much I’m turned on right now.

With one shift of her body, she’s almost flush with mine. Not even enough space between us to move a hand, but just enoughfor my hardened dick to sit. My head dips as her hands move down at a snail's pace as she runs her fingertips barely across my skin. The bumps build across my pecs as she moves.

“Leni,” I whine.