He kept his hand where it was, his fingers touching nothing but air now, his gaze roaming slowly over my face. “It must be very hard to be you.”
“You are the king of understatement.”
Slowly he sat back. “I know what you’re feeling toward me. Anger. Resentment. You’re no good at hiding it. But I’m just the messenger, Hayden.”
“No, you’re not. You’re the bounty hunter.” I leaned forward again, wanting him to see the desperation in my brown eyes. “Why don’t you just go back and tell them that you couldn’t find me?”
“Because three days ago you turned seventeen. Happy birthday, by the way. And in nine days your full moon will roll through the sky and you’ll go through your first transformation. You know a female Shifter risks death if she tries to go through it without a mate. And then there’s the harvester. You can’t face it alone.”
“I have to face it alone,” I insisted. “The harvester snatches a soul at the moment of transformation. To guide me through it, a mate would transform at the exact moment that I do—and bam!” I slapped my palm on the table for emphasis, not that my action startled him. His eyes didn’t so much as widen in surprise. “The harvester has us both.”
He assumed that stillness I’d seen in him earlier. There was only one movement: a slow blink.
“Do you see now?” I asked. “Do you understand?”
“The elders insist that I bring you back. Explain to them what you think will happen.”
“It would be better if I just stay here where there are only Statics. There’s a chance the harvester won’t even find me here. I’ve studied the transformation process as it’s described in the ancient texts. I really believe I can survive the physical pain.”
“Hayden.” He took my hand. Again I was surprised by the warmth of his touch and the spark of physical sensation it sent through me. But not one iota of emotion accompanied it. “Even if I don’t take you back to Wolford, your mate won’t let you go through your first transformation alone.”
Rolling my eyes, I scoffed. “Look, this is all moot. I don’t even have a mate.”
“Yes, you do. The elders chose one for you.”
God! They were worse than old maid aunts butting their noses into everything. Why couldn’t they just leave well enough alone? “They had no right—”
“They had every right. They’re not going to condemn a girl to death. They’ve chosen mates before for others when a guy doesn’t step forward.”
In frustration I shook my head. “I won’t accept him. Why would I put him at risk of facing the harvester and possibly dying without his soul secure? Why would they? They can’t control everything. They have to let this go.”
I was agitated, upset. We sat there in silence for a minute, while his thumb stroked over my knuckles. Back and forth. Almost hypnotic. I felt my tension easing away, found myself falling under his spell. I realized with alarm that he could probably convince me to return to Wolford with him without his actually uttering a word. With his calmness, his belief in his mission, his ease with intimacy, he was incredibly persuasive. It was unsettling when I stopped to think about it, because in truth we were practically strangers. We’d never even talked at Wolford, and he’d certainly never expressed an interest in me.
Then curiosity got the better of me. “So who’d they choose…to be my mate?”
He released my hand and touched my cheek, his eyes never straying from mine.
“Me.”
THREE
“Are you totally insane?” I asked, forcing myself not to shriek and draw attention to us. “You agreed to their crazy idea? Did you not get notified that I’m on the harvester’s playlist?”
He just looked at me as though he found me amusing.
I didn’t understand how a guy could let men who were old enough to be his grandfathers choose his mate. They’d tried to match him up with Brittany last summer, but she’d ditched him for Connor.
Okay, ditched was too harsh. Brittany had been in love with Connor forever, but he’d declared Lindsey as his mate, but then Lindsey fell in love with Rafe…. Suffice it to say that we had our own daytime soap going on back at Wolford.
Since Daniel was once again on the prowl for a mate, I guessed the elders had decided I would work well. I didn’t understand why someone hadn’t latched on to him before. If I were a normal Shifter, I certainly wouldn’t complain that they’d chosen him for me.
But I wasn’t normal. And I had a monster after me. I couldn’t do that to him—put him at risk like that. Why would he ever think I would?
As though reading my thoughts, he said, “The elders are scouring through the ancient texts. They’re going to find a way to defeat this thing. But you need to be at Wolford for their knowledge to do you any good. It’s safer there.”
“You don’t know that. They don’t know that. Why? Why would you want to be my mate? During the bonding all your defenses would be down. You’d be as vulnerable as I am. Why would you do that?” I knew I was repeating myself, but I didn’t know how else to make my point.
“I like to live dangerously,” he said.
“Yeah, well, then, take up bungee jumping.”
I got up out of the booth and headed for the door, acutely aware of his following me. My flight response warned me to head to the condo and prepare for my escape.
But this could be my last chance to mingle with a crowd and not be blasted with everyone’s emotions. So while I knew it wasn’t a wise move, when we stepped outside of the Burger Place, I said, “I’ll catch you later,” and turned away from the direction of the condo where I lived. Besides, I hoped by being casual that I’d throw Daniel off so he wouldn’t be suspicious. I needed him to be less vigilant if I was going to make a break for it before the night was over. People were strolling along the boardwalk, some heading home, some going in the direction I was.
“I’ll walk you home,” Daniel said, falling into step beside me.
“I’m not going home.”
“You will eventually.”
I spun around. He wasn’t even startled by my move, as though he’d expected it. That irritated me. “Look, I get it. You’re here to take me back to Wolford. You gave me a reprieve until Sunday, so until then I’m going to carry on with a normal life.” Or what was almost normal for me.