Hex

* T E N *

“All right. All right.” He grumbles putting his hands up in surrender. “I told you about mates right?”

I roll my eyes, feeling another verbal vomit coming. “Yeah, what about it?”

“Well…you said she was coming really soon and she did. I think a part me knew who she was even before I got my wolf back.”

I feel my stomach and heart drop but I keep my tone aloof when I respond, “So you found your mate. Good for you. But that doesn’t explain why the hell you bit me!”

“No, Ruth, you’re not understanding. You are my mate.”

In my head the record player screeches to a stop. My eyebrows rise and my jaw falls open as those words slowly seep into my brain. You are my mate. Mate, meaning soul mate. Soul mate meaning that I am the other half of his soul. Other half of his soul meaning he is my soul bound. I feel like crying, vomiting and screaming all at the same time.

“Ruth?”

I just sit there still frozen in shock.

“Ruth, baby, talk to me.”

Baby. He called me baby. I’m his soul mate.

Holy fucking shit on rye.

“Ruth, come on, talk.” He pleads, moving closer to me. He reaches out and caresses my cheek but I’m still too shocked to respond to it. “Come on, baby, please just say anything. Tell me you hate me or that I’m an asshole, I don’t care. Just talk!”

“I…I think I’m going to throw up.” I say thinly, sounding a bit pitchy.

He frowns before lowering his head. “I know this is a lot to take in, I get that. I’m not exactly what someone would want in a soul mate, I get that too. I want you to know though that I wanted to do this right. I wanted to get to know you, to tell you as soon as I could and mark you with only your permission. I thought I was better than this but my wolf’s just been waiting so long to lay eyes on you. We thought we would never find you.”

I swallow thickly, my throat still feeling a bit dry. “Okay…so if I’m your mate, why did you bite me?”

“Its called marking. Its my wolf’s way of putting a claim on you so others know that you’re ours, only ours.”

“And you didn’t think ‘hey, maybe Ruth should have a say in who she belongs to’? That little thought didn’t pop into your or your wolf’s minds? Are you fucking insane?”

“I’m sorry.” He tells me, looking imploring as he looks at me. “I really didn’t want to do it this way. I thought I could do it the right way, talk to you a little, explain myself and then just…I don’t know, work my way to the marking.”

“Well we have all the time in the world now.” I grit out, feeling the wound begin to burn with pain. “Might as well explain yourself. Lets start with how the hell you know where I live.”

He winces at my tone. “Nadine.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I scream before realization hits me. “She called you at the cabin didn’t she?”

“On the landline, yeah.”

“Sneaky bitch.” I grumble before sighing. “Okay, so she told where I lived but how did you know I was your mate? I was already gone by the time your wolf must have come back.”

“Yeah, you were gone but your scent was still there. It was the first thing my wolf recognized. I knew you smelled good but I didn’t realize why you smelled so good until my wolf pretty much snarled it at me. He’s pissed at me too by the way.”