Not when it comes toour mate.
I drag a hand down my face and exhale slowly, forcing control back into my bones. “You deserve the truth.”
Her eyes snap to mine. Dark. Searching. “That would be a nice change.”
There’s a bite in her voice, but underneath it—hurt. Real, sharp, earned hurt. Good. I deserve that. I step closer, careful, like approaching a wild thing. The irony isn’t lost on me.
“I didn’t tell you because I was trying to protect you.”
“By lying to me?” she fires back.
“By staying away,” I correct, my voice rougher than I intend. “By not letting this—” I gesture between us, the invisible current that’s been pulling tighter every second since the day she walked into town “—become something neither of us could control.”
Her brows knit together. “You keep saying things like that. ‘This.’ ‘Something.’ Archer, what are you actually talking about?”
My tiger springs forward at the sound of my name on her lips, low and dangerous, and it takes everything in me not to close the distance entirely. No more avoidance. No more half-truths.
“You’re my mate.”
The words land between us like a thunderclap. Tessa blinks. Once. Twice.
I watch the moment it hits her—really hits her—and the shift in her expression is subtle but unmistakable. Confusion first. Then disbelief. Then something deeper.
“Your… what?” she asks quietly.
“My mate,” I repeat, steady now. There’s no going back. “In my world, that means something very specific. It’s not just attraction. It’s not just… compatibility. It’s instinct. Fate. Biology. Something deeper than choice.”
Her lips part, but no sound comes out. So I keep going.
“When a shifter finds their mate, it’s immediate. Undeniable. The bond forms whether we want it to or not.” My jaw tightens. “And once it starts, it doesn’t just go away.”
Tessa lets out a soft, disbelieving laugh. “So what—you saw me in the bookstore and just… decided I was your destiny?”
“No.” My voice sharpens. “I recognized you.”
That lands harder. Her arms drop from around herself, her posture shifting as she tries to process that.
“I felt it the second I walked in,” I continue. “My tiger knew before I did. Everything in me reacted to you. Still does.”
I take another step closer before I can stop myself. Her breath catches. Mine follows.
“That pull you feel?” I ask quietly. “The one you keep trying to ignore?”
Her gaze flickers away, then back. “That doesn’t mean?—”
“It does,” I cut in, softer this time. “Maybe not the way it works for me, but you feel it. You wouldn’t react to me like this if you didn’t.”
Silence stretches. Heavy. Fragile.
“I tried to stay away,” I admit finally. “God knows I tried.”
Her eyes narrow slightly. “Then why didn’t you?”
Because I can’t. Because my tiger would tear me apart from the inside if I did. Because every instinct I have says she’s mine to protect, to keep, to?—
I swallow hard. “Because human mates…” I pause, choosing the words carefully. “They become targets.”
That gets her attention.