Page 89 of Shifter for Brains

"You’re a new shifter dealing with a rush of sensory information and stronger impulses and instincts, it’s a lot to sort through. This isn’t the best time to add another person and their spirit to the mix."

He struck forward, favoring the left again and leaving his right side open. My hand lunged for his side—as he pivoted and caught my arm, anticipating the movement.

I only grinned. “I know.”

Since I hadn’t moved too close, he had to make up the difference. The rest of my body stayed fixed in place, letting me use his momentum against him and twist him down to the ground with me on top—nearly.

He somehow flipped away at the last moment, saving himself in the nick of time.

“You have to teach me that,” I demanded.

"Are you serious?” Chase wondered as he danced away from me. “Or just trying to distract me?”

“Well—ah!”

Before I could answer, he sprang forward, and my method for getting out of a tough situation was much less graceful than his.

"Ow, Milton, you slippery bastard."

"You just called me a bastard."

"You kicked me!"

"It worked!"

“Whatever, we should probably talk about this later—"

I charged at him head-on. Naturally, he caught me and did not budge an inch.

“I’m serious about bonding," I informed him.

"Lucas," he whispered, eyes wide. “Let’s be smart here. After what you just went through—"

“They were trying to corrupt a beautiful symbol of everlasting love, I won’t let them win.”

“And given the timing—”

"Shut up," I ordered, smacking at his chest for good measure.

“What? You can’t just tell me to shut up.”

"Yes, I can. Human or fox, body, mind, heart, it doesn’t matter. When it comes to you, I know exactly what I want. Every part of me is sure about you. You’re the only thing I’m totally sure about. Adding you to me won’t confuse things, you complete me. "

"Lucas," he breathed out my name softly, hands falling to his sides. He inched back, staring at me with…whoa.

The guy who never gave much thought to settling down might be prickly about linking our souls together, I knew that. I hadn’t expected his arms pulling me a fraction closer before he backed away. I hadn’t considered the naked longing in his eyes.

Apparently, we were already on the same page? Chase was only hesitating because he worried about overwhelming me.

“I’m not sure exactly when it happened,” I said. “But you’re already part of my heart and soul. So all mating does is that last little bit to put to you exactly where you belong."

Chase stared at me so hard that I almost complained about him being too heavy. Then he sprang away from the mats so fast he nearly lit his ass on fire. Had we arrived at the running away portion?

Oh, he grabbed one of the towels near our stuff and flung it at my head. I dodged, but he only waved it around.Waving the white flag. Admitting defeat.

"Did you know I was on the debate team in high school?" I said.

"Oh yeah, you win a shiny gold medal?"