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“Maybe,”he said softly, “This doesn't have to be the last day we see oneanother.”

My heart jumped,and I looked over at him. “Huh?” I thought I’d misheardhim.

Christophe continuedto stare up at the stars. Then he slowly turned to look at me, his crimson eyes glimmering in the dim light like molten stars. I could feel my pulse throbbing in the palm of my right hand. It didn’t hurt, but it felt hot, andstrange.

“Mason,I don’t want this to be the last day we spendtogether.”

Ijumpedwhen I felt his fingers touch my hand, then slowly wrap around it. The pounding I felt suddenly vanished, leaving my hand tingling, like it’d fallen asleep.Was this actuallyhappening?

“What do you mean?”I stammered. I felt frozen inplace.

Christophe leaned in.I closed myeyes.

Then I felt him.Softness and warmth against my lips, the tingle of his breath against mycheek.

Inearly punchedhim in the face in surprise. Instead, thankfully, I kissed him back. My lips melted into his, and I felt the world begin to swirl and give way, like we were the only two people in existence. Our kiss started with just small tastes, and slowly grew stronger and hungrier. We both seemed to not want to be the first to stop. I felt Christophe’s tongue tease against my lips, and I welcomed him inside, greeting him with a flick of my owntongue.

Our tongues continuedto trade back and forth, and gradually our kisses became smaller and lighter until I was left breathless, my lips parted and waiting for more from him. An ache pulsed between mylegs.

“What is going on?”I whispered in adaze.

“Ithought it might be obvious,”he said. “That I felt this way foryou.”

“Not to me.”

“Not even the romantic dinner?”

“This was romantic?”

He smirked.“I thoughtIwasclueless.”

“Shut up.”I kissed him again, and grinned. “Wow.” Still in disbelief, I planted a few more pecks on his lips, and laughed. “This is insane. This doesn’t feelreal.”

“It doesn't,”Christophe agreed. “Especially because I thought you hatedme.”

“Imean,I kinda did. But to be honest… Oh, this is fucking embarrassing tosay.”

“Tell me.”

Ihesitated for a moment.“I was attracted to you from the moment I set eyes on you. I’d never been drawn to anyone like thatbefore.”

“When I cameto the policecompound?”

Ishook my head. “No,”I said. “Even before that. It was the night I broke in. Jennifer and I were scoping out the house from the forest, and I saw you come outside on the balcony. That was the first time I saw you. I remember you looked like you didn’t want to be there. Like there something that was bothering you. It’s crazy how vivid that memory is in mymind.”

Christophe’s gazeturned back to the stars. After a moment, he asked, “Mason, would you be willing to believe that there’s such a thing as destiny if I could prove it toyou?”

“How could you prove destiny?”

“When I was a little boy,my father took me to see the clan Teller to have my destiny read. My father always would tell me that it was a bunch of dog shit, but it was part of clan tradition and so I had to go. But what the Teller told me has stuck with me my entire life. Secretly, I’ve always wanted to believe that what he said would cometrue.”

“What did he say?”

IwatchedChristophe’s face and saw the waves of emotion that crossed over it as he stared up into space. His hand, still holding mine, started to tremble slightly. “He told me I’d one day meet someone who was destined to be my mate. He said that a birthmark I carried on my body would match the paw of that person. The truth is that I’ve been drawn to you from the very beginning, too. And that I think—no—Ifeelthat there’s something connecting us. And I think that’s what you felt,too.”

Suddenly,I remembered Christophe asking me about my paw back when I was being held in jail. He’d asked about my missing pawpad.

“And you thinkthat my paw is the one that will matchyou?”