Shadow Mated (Ouachita Mountain Shifter Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

“I’d never lie to you.”
    His head pulled back in surprise. “How long?”
    “I-I don’t know. Maybe… maybe from the beginning.”
    His shoulders sank and the frown bled from his face. His new expression made him look like a lost little boy. “You don’t know? But how can you not know? What I felt… it was so strong. Like you wanted this more than anything. Us.”
    Bailey scrambled to her feet. Whatever was happening, she couldn’t do it sitting on the floor in a dress. In fact, whatever it was, her instincts were telling her to run. To go far away until her brain could work properly.
    Quickly, she tossed the scraps of the carrots she’d been chopping in the garbage and packaged the rest for the fridge. She’d wash the knife in the morning.
    “I felt everything,” he said darkly. He stood directly behind her. Too close. Too much. No air. “Through the bond. Did you know that could happen?”
    “No,” Bailey managed. Hell no. If she’d known, she would’ve pulled her hand away much sooner.
    She knew mated instincts were different. Enhanced. But it wasn’t like any of her friends had gone into detail. And mating was so new to all of them, probably no one had thought it worth mentioning.
    She twisted away to reach the sink, but Gash grabbed her arm to stop her.
    “Please,” she whispered, avoiding his gaze. “I should go home. We’ve both had a weird night. Things will feel different in the morning.”
    “Will they?” He sounded truly curious.
    She shrugged a shoulder. “Probably.”
    “You said you’d never lie to me.”
    Her breath caught as she met his steady gaze. He wasn’t angry, she realized. He was… what was he? She focused on their connection. This new stretching bond that seemed to weave threads of him with her, in ways words couldn’t adequately explain. Narrowing in on the emotions that felt foreign, she finally got her answer.
    He was shaken. Scared, but not in a terrible way. In the way it felt to stare into a new woods, to take a new path, new risks, new adventures. Or maybe how it is when things aren’t quite as you thought they were. When truths become something else. Not quite lies, just… different truths.
    “Probably not,” she admitted. Not for her anyway. She’d feel the same about him as she had since he’d stepped foot on Ouachita land.
    He gave himself a little nod. Like he was building up to something.
    “Okay. Okay,” he breathed. “Then I need to tell you something, and if you still want to go home, I’ll see that you get there safely.”
    Bailey nodded. She wanted to hear him out, even if she felt battered by the night that wouldn’t end.
    Gash took a deep breath, releasing her arm and stepping so close all his heat bled past the fabric separating them and into her skin. She shivered, unable to stop herself, until he softly cradled her burning cheeks to stare into her eyes. His touch grounded her like it did before. Steadied her. And even though his hands were rough, they gave her courage to hear what he had to say.
    Except he said nothing.
    Nothing. For so long Bailey thought maybe he was trying to communicate in some way that didn’t involve a voice. Or maybe he’d changed his mind about what he wanted to tell her.
    “I came here for you,” he said roughly, his words tumbling out like a waterfall over jagged rocks. “To this lodge, this clan. I came here because I was looking for you. Because I intended to claim you and force you under my protection, so my brother could never harm you like he does in my dreams. But when I arrived and learned about the pact, and that you’d pledged to remain free… I couldn’t take that from you.”
    His eyes went shadowy with grief, and Bailey stifled a whimper at seeing what she felt through their bond reflected on his rugged face.
    “I knew the pain of being bound against my will. Of my choices not being my own. Of being ruled by the whims of others. And for safety or not, I couldn’t do that to you. Not to