Bonnie gasps, but doesn’t respond otherwise.
He grips her hip tighter with one hand, and uses the other to force her head up to look him in the eyes. “I can give you that release, Bonnie. All you have to do is give in to our bond.”
Bonnie continues being uncommonly silent as she bites her lip and watches Tucker.
Tucker takes advantage of her silence, and leans into whisper in her ear. “Give in to us and I promise I’ll make your whole body sing.”
A strangled sigh leaves Bonnie’s lips seconds before I watch her visibly pull herself together. She wiggles out of Tucker’s arms, knocking the bar stool behind her over as she puts distance between them.
Grabbing her martini glass off the bar she downs the remainder of her Cosmo without taking her eyes off Tucker. When there’s not a drop left in the glass she sets it back down and tells him. “Nice try Lassie, but dogs don’t sing they howl. And I have no intention of letting you hump my leg long enough to get your howl out.”
While Tucker stands there in shock at her words, Bonnie takes the opportunity to sneak away through the crowd of guests.
He turns to watch her leave, and once she’s out of sight he asks. “Did she really just?”
“Refer to you as a dog and insinuate you wanted to hump her leg?” I finish for him.
“Yeah, that.” He mumbles, still partially in shock.
“Yep, she did.”
“What the heck am I going to do with her?” He asks more to himself than to anyone else.
“No clue. But whatever you do try make sure to tread carefully, because that girl’s tongue can do more damage than our claws.” Pike says shaking his head.
Chapter 4 – Bonnie
I stomp over to where Emily and her mate, Kit, are sitting. I grab his glass of whiskey and down it. It burns my throat, causing me to cough. I take Emily’s glass next, a fruity mixed drink, to soothe the burn. Neither of them say anything, but I can see them watching me with worry in their eyes. I ignore that. I can’t process anything at this moment. Well, that’s not correct. I can talk about how lovely the ceremony was, or how beautiful Bloom looks in her dress, or even how the caterers screwed up the steak. But I absolutely cannot process anything to do with me possibly being mated.
My only goal today was to celebrate with my best friend. She deserves to be happy. She’s been to hell and back this past year. I never thought I’d see her smile again. But somehow Pike’s pulled her from that darkness. I’ll forever be thankful to him for that. But, because of the giant shifter who keeps following me around like a lost puppy, I’ve added on to today’s goal. Not only am I going to help celebrate, I’m going to be doing it with alcohol. Lots of it. I’m going to keep downing it until I can’t hear his damn voice in my head anymore.
“Bad idea, Bonnie-bean.” Tucker warns.
“I think you mean brilliant!” I hold up Emily’s glass like I’m making a toast, because I know he’s somewhere close watching. Then I bring it back to my lips and down the remainder. I slam it down on the table, wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, and ask. “Who wants a shot?”
“Bonnie!” Tucker growls his warning.
I, of course, choose to ignore him.
Emily and Kit look at each other, probably doing the talk in their heads thing. Finally, Kit stands and leaves the table. Emily turns back to me and explains. “He’s going to get your shots.” She pats the seat beside her and directs me. “Sit with me.”
I slide into the seat and cross my legs. My forearms are on the table, and I drop my head down on them and grumble. “How do you handle it, Em?”
She reaches out and pats my hand. “For one, you don’t fight it.”
“I feel like I need to though.” I tell her, turning so I’m facing her with my cheek still pressed to my arms.
“That’s not a natural reaction to a mating.” She explains with a worried look on her face.
“What would be natural?”
“Giving in.” She takes a moment to find the right words before she continues. “Tucker was made for you. You’ll balance each other perfectly. Every other person in your shoes would be feeling that truth down to their very soul. They’d feel the draw to him. That absolute need we all have at the very beginning to be with him every moment. They’d be etching every sweet and good thing about him into their hearts, so they’ll always remember why they love him. But they definitely wouldn’t be fighting him.” She looks towards the bar where Kit is ordering our drinks and sighs. “I can’t imagine why someone would want to fight their mating.”