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E than hadn’t hoped that Chloe had forgotten about Kira’s little mate-related slip-up. He really hadn’t. He wanted her to know everything.

He just didn’t know how to tell her. He’d barely even gotten the whole ‘mates’ talk from his parents when he was growing up – it had mostly been couched in terms of forging business alliances, and forsaking your mate for a more suitable match if their presence didn’t further the company’s interests.

He sure as hell had never been told what to do if your mate was a human who worked as a veterinarian in a small mountain town a million miles away, and who was also the most beautiful, spirited person who had ever existed.

His father would laugh at the very idea of explaining to a human that they were your mate…

but, Ethan realized, he didn’t care. If he had to choose between the company and Chloe, he would choose Chloe.

He knew that for certain, now. How could he leave her behind and go back to dedicating his life to the business, knowing that he’d given up on his mate?

He couldn’t.

Chloe deserved to know, and he wanted her to know… and really, was there ever going to be a better time for it than this?

Just the two of them, up here on the mountain amongst the gently swaying grasses and delicate flowers, Chloe’s stern glare somewhat tempered by her adorably windswept hair and the excited pink flush of her cheeks.

Do it, you coward, his pegasus hissed in a surprising display of determination – and, rather than argue with it or bring up any of its many, many displays of ghost-related cowardice, Ethan set his jaw.

“Chloe,” he began, and something in his tone must have alerted her to how serious he was being, because she watched him closely, giving him her full attention.

“You already know about shifters,” he continued. “You know that we can change into other forms, and that there are different kinds of shifters. You know that different shifters have different powers. But there’s one more thing you need to know.”

He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

Chloe watched him, her expression intent.

Encouraged, he reached his hands forward, not touching Chloe, but sending out a clear invitation. Chloe took them without hesitation, her gloved fingers interlacing with his own.

In that moment he wished for nothing more than to touch her bare skin, to feel the mate bond in all its strength – but he knew it was there, and it drove him onward.

“Shifters have this thing called ‘mate bonds’,” he said. “It means that the two of them were made for each other. That they’re meant to be together.”

“Made for each other?” Chloe echoed… and for some reason, she looked strangely disappointed.

Ethan’s heart sank. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go at all.

Win her back, his pegasus insisted. Our mate cannot leave us now.

Our mate can do whatever she wants, he shot back. But I don’t need to ‘win her back’. I need to find out what’s going on.

“So you have a shifter mate waiting back home for you,” Chloe said, swallowing visibly, her fingers starting to slacken around his own. “I… I understand.”

What? No!

Ethan saw immediately where he had messed up – he’d just said that shifters had mates, without specifying that that bond could be with a human.

Chloe’s face continued to fall as she tried to turn away from him, and it was the most terrible thing he had ever seen.

He tightened his grip ever so slightly, gentle enough that she could still move away if she wanted to, but firm enough for her to understand that he had more to explain.

She turned back, looking surprised, but still not meeting his eyes.

Before his pegasus could berate him further, he spoke again.

“I phrased that badly. Let me try again.”

He took a slow breath in and out.

“Every shifter has a mate, although most of them never find their mate, and settle happily enough with someone else.”

Chloe seemed intrigued enough that she was at least looking back in the general direction of his face, though his heart broke when he saw the sheen of tears in her eyes.

Hating the thought of her suffering even one moment longer, he went on, “Most shifters have another shifter as a mate. But sometimes, very occasionally, a shifter’s mate will be human.”

Chloe stared at him, blinking her big beautiful eyes, as she tried to take this all in. The beginnings of understanding dawned on her face, but he could tell that she was trying not to get her hopes up.

Tell her now, the pegasus said. Or I will shift and tell her myself.

I’m getting there, he snapped back. And shifting into pegasus form and whinnying at her will not help the situation.

“Chloe,” he said. “You are my mate. You’re the person I’m meant to be with.”

Her fingers twitched spasmodically in his grasp, tightening and loosening, and now her gaze finally met his, her eyes searching his face as if trying to work out whether he was telling the truth.

Apparently finding him at least somewhat convincing, she breathed, “But how do you know?”

Ethan’s heart soared. Chloe hadn’t told him to get lost. She seemed interested. She seemed… hopeful .

“Do you remember when we first met?” he asked, realizing how inane it sounded. It was only… what, yesterday? It felt like a lifetime ago.

At her nod, he went on, “When we shook hands, I knew it. The touch of your skin. That’s how shifters know.”

Her eyes widened. “That electrical feeling?”

He nodded.

“Okay. Wow.”

Chloe looked a little dazed, and Ethan couldn’t say he blamed her.

He watched her closely as he waited, giving her time to get used to the idea. Her forehead was creased in thought, but at least the sadness of earlier seemed to have dissipated.

After a few more moments of contemplation, Chloe slowly, deliberately pulled off her gloves, tucking them into her pocket.

Confused, Ethan watched on – and was taken off guard when Chloe suddenly rose up on her tiptoes and grabbed his face, pulling him down into a searing kiss.

The crackle of the mate bond shot through him, fierce and powerful, and somewhere in the background his pegasus was hooting triumphantly – but Ethan could only think one thing.

My mate. My Chloe.

He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, cradling her head and deepening the kiss. She made a surprised sound, but then quickly gave back as good she got, her hand sliding suspiciously low down his back.

He could’ve stayed there doing that all day – or maybe he could’ve stopped long enough to lay her down amongst the flowers and then pick up where he’d left off – but eventually, after what seemed like way too short a time, he broke it off.

They had a mission to accomplish, after all, and the last thing they needed was to end up traipsing around the mountains in the dark.

Pulling back reluctantly, he looked into her hazel eyes. They were still sparkling, but this time it was with happiness.

The aftershocks of her touch danced on his skin.

Ethan’s mind spun, a strange feeling engulfing him. It took him a long time to identify it as giddiness , as he’d never actually felt it before.

I could get used to this, he thought, even as he schooled his face back into what was, hopefully, a more or less neutral expression.

His pegasus was pretty much flying around in circles with unbridled joy at this point, but Ethan was feeling benevolent enough to let it continue to do so without making any sort of snide comment.

Chloe continued to gaze at him for a long moment, and Ethan could see that she was brimming with questions, but also that she was willing to put them aside for now.

Ethan had questions of his own. Questions he’d never even considered before now.

Like, Do I actually want to abandon my entire life, and start over afresh in a small town with no future plans beyond being with my mate?

And okay, on one level, that sounded incredibly appealing. But he wasn’t the kind of person who just went into things without a plan. The idea of heading into the unknown was much scarier to him than the thought of standing up in front of a group of CEOs and giving a two-hour presentation.

Well. As long as there aren’t any YouTube videos of trains involved, anyway.

But maybe doing things that scared him was okay, if he had Chloe at his side. All he knew was that the life that had meant everything to him a few days ago was now something he had to abandon.

It seemed insignificant. Hollow.

Chloe seemed to know that his thoughts were turbulent; she cupped his cheek with a smile, running her thumb along his cheekbone. Helplessly, he smiled back.

She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“Let’s go find this necklace, shall we?” she said, slipping her gloves back on, and he nodded.

Hoisting the backpack over his shoulders, he started heading down the hill toward a path that was still thankfully intact, letting the pegasus guide the way.

It was still a bit delirious about the whole mate thing, but it had gotten its head together quick enough when it realized that this was an opportunity to impress Chloe with its navigational prowess.

I’m glad that at least someone here has navigational prowess, Ethan thought, ignoring the feeling of smug triumph that radiated from the pegasus.

He could admit that this was an area in which he himself knew relatively little, as much as it galled him to admit it.

Unless you counted navigating the warren of identical cubicles and offices at work, anyway.

He’d never quite been able to wrap his head around the fact that sometimes the pegasus knew things that he didn’t.

Not only was it strange that they could share thoughts while not sharing understanding, but also the pegasus could be downright dimwitted at times.

It was galling to think that it could ever be more knowledgeable than him about anything.

He was used to it now, though. He didn’t like it, but he’d gotten over it years ago. Mostly.