Chosen Mate: Lion Shifter Romance (Cybermates Book 5) by Candace Ayers (top 100 books to read txt) 📗

huge jerk. I didn’t know how to do this whole mate thing. I’d screwed it up already and it didn’t seem that I was getting any better at it. There was a very good chance she’d never understand or accept my explanation. And that she wouldn’t give me a second chance.

If that happened, I would spend the rest of my life stalking her, following in the shadows, watching over her from a distance to ensure she was safe.

I took Elin to Sunkissed Key Medical Center’s emergency room where she was given burn cream and a band aid. She kept shooting me I-told-you-so looks, but I didn’t care. As far as I was concerned, I couldn’t be too careful when it came to my mate and unborn child. Nugget. Her nickname for the baby cracked me up.

When we returned from the ER visit, she tried to protest, but I insisted on carrying her inside. She finally gave in. I knew she didn’t need to be carried, but I needed to be close to her, and I wasn’t beneath using whatever excuse I could. I sniffed her hair, breathing in her sweet scent.

Inside, I placed her on the couch, despite the fact that she looked exasperated with me.

“I’ll bring you a blanket. Do you need anything else? Food, water?”

She rolled her eyes and held up a finger. “One, a blanket? It’s ninety degrees outside and the air conditioning in here cools it off only enough for the heat to be tolerable. I don’t need a blanket. Two, it’s a teeny tiny burn, I’m not recovering from major surgery. And three, I don’t need you to bring me food or drink. I can feed myself.”

“Fine. Okay. Well, it’s nearing dinner time, I just thought you might be hungry. If you are, I don’t mind getting you something. Why don’t you let me clean up the kitchen while you relax a little?”

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “You’d do that?”

“Sure. And if you get hungry, I’ll order something—pizza, Door Dash, Grub Hub, whatever you want. Here, let me put something on TV…” I stopped because I realized neither of us had bothered having cable service connected, so that was out. “No cable, but I can hook my MacBook up to the TV and you can watch Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, YouTube, whatever you want.”

She scrunched her forehead. “You know how to do that?”

Before I could answer, she waved the question away, silencing me. “Of course you know how to do that. What am I thinking? I forgot, genius tech guy.”

I grinned. I didn’t exactly think of myself as a genius, but the description was flattering and, although a little sarcastic, I couldn’t say I wasn’t tickled she said it.

I waited for her to respond, but her look was blank. I wasn’t sure if she was going to go for it and let me set her up, or if she was going to tell me where I could insert my MacBook and how far up it should be shoved.

I thought fast, remembering the Klingon costume she’d been wearing when we met (and really, was that something anyone could forget—ever?).

“Are you a Star Trek fan?”

When her face lit up and she looked interested, I gave myself a mental pat on the back. “I was a pretty big fan in college. Why?”

I fake coughed. “Uh, no reason in particular… the Klingon costume you were wearing when me met made me a little suspicious is all.” I grinned.

She blushed. “Oh. Yeah. Duh.” She adjusted her position but remained curled up on the couch. I noticed a hint of dark circles under her eyes. She was tired. She might be overworking herself. I’d do whatever I could to get her to stay on the couch and relax tonight.

She shrugged. “I used to work comic cons all over the state of Florida when I was in college. You spoke Klingon…were you a Trekkie?”

“Oh, yeah! I was. I guess I still am.”

“Let’s see…” She thought for a moment. “Heghlu’meH QaQ jajvam.”

That was an easy one. Every Trekkie wannabe knew that one. It was the Klingon battle cry. I straightened and raised my chin taking on the stance of a proud Klingon warrior. “Heghlu’meH QaQ jajvam—today is a good day to die.”

Her giggle made me feel ten feet taller. It was thrilling to finally see her laugh when she looked at me rather than scowl in anger, or draw back in trepidation.

“I can’t believe you’re a Trekkie too.” She looked down and picked at a piece of imaginary lint on her yoga pants, grinning shyly. “I was actually a huge nerd in high school and college. I read sci-fi and fantasy novels and played Dungeons and Dragons, the whole bit.”

Now I was really surprised. “You played D&D? Me too! I ran a few campaigns.”

“You were a dungeon master?”

“Don’t want to brag, or anything.” I exhaled on my fingernails and buffed them on my shirt jokingly in an I’m-a-hot-shot gesture. I felt like a rock star when, again, a smile stretched across her pretty face.

“Alright. Let me go get my MacBook and connecting cable, and you can pick out something to watch.”

Elin scrolled through streaming services while I cleaned up the kitchen. Even though she’d said she didn’t want anything to eat, I sliced a few pieces of the freshly baked bread and slathered it with butter.

When I returned with the snack, she was asleep, snoring softly. I sat in the corner armchair watching her. I would have rather been on the couch next to her, or holding her in my lap, but I didn’t want to push my luck. She seemed to be enjoying my company the past half hour or so. Okay, enjoying might be a stretch, tolerating. She’d been tolerating my company.

I kept staring at her. She was an exciting anomaly. She looked like the cross between a fashion model and a cheerleader, but she was a total nerd.

I was debating whether or not I should carry her to her bed