Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 310 Lisa: Humans Have Pheromones?

LISA

Kellan's stare leaves me unsettled. It's been intense ever since our reunion.

I'm grateful for the space he's given me—this whole fated mate business is like being slammed into by a rogue freight train—but there's a whole lot of little things that keep throwing his feelings into the foreground, making it impossible to ignore.

Like how he touches me a little too often.

How he watches my every move.

He hasn't kissed me again, but it doesn't make the current situation any less awkward.

"Can't sleep?" he asks, as if us sharing a bed and him lying on his side to stare at me for the past hour is somehow conducive to falling asleep.

"Nope." The word pops out with a little more sass than I intend, but damn it, does he have to stare at me like that?

"Oh."

And awkward silence again.

"So, why couldn't I just bunk with Dr. Blackwell?" My question breaks the uneasy tension between us.

"They don't have an extra bed," he explains easily.

"And no empty beds anywhere else? At all? Just—none?"

"None."

"No sleeping bags?"

"No."

"Extra blanket?"

"Not even one of those."

He's lying through his damn perfect teeth.

"You have a couch," I point out. I saw it. I know it's there.

"People come in and out at all times of day. It isn't the safest place to sleep. Better to be in bed."

"Right." Fiddling with the comforter—soft and warm and smelling like Downy—I dare to glance in his direction again, only to be caught by his unblinking gray eyes.

could sleep on the couch," I point out in a vague

"I don't want to."

These wolves just do what they want and damn the

fit and demand he sleep on the couch—I just make an inane sort of sound and watch the ceiling in the darkness. I hate to admit it,

Ava and Lucas

"I'm sure they are."

voice has

Bad! He thinks you're his mate and he's being all

between us. "It's only right to give the newly mated couple their own space, don't

nods, his intense gaze softening slightly. "Absolutely. Ava and Lucas need to be around each other as much as

piques, momentarily overriding my discomfort. "Why's

bond requires proximity," he explains, his voice taking on a lecturer's tone. "Especially in the beginning stages. It's like... imagine a sapling that's just been planted. It needs constant care, water, and sunlight to grow strong roots.

need to be

feel wrong and anxious without his sense, and his aggression will increase when she

romantic when you suddenly get slapped with the

Less awkward, more... contemplative. I find myself studying Kellan's face in

ask you something?"

"Anything," he replies immediately.

with us?

know this is a lot to take in,

don't want this? The mate thing, I

He's quiet again.

going to force me, are you? Drag me into your cave and

he responds,

into the mattress. The tension that had been coiling in my

think of

words must have sounded. "No! I mean, I don't—" I stumble over my words, trying to backpedal. How do I explain that

his broad shoulders slumping slightly. "Look, Lisa, I know you're an independent soul. The last thing

suspicion creeping back in. "So... does that mean you are going to do it and you're just

Never." His gray eyes lock onto mine, intense and sincere in the dim lighting. "I want you to come to

him, I realize. Despite everything—the chaos of the past few days, the whole mate situation being dropped on me like a

breathe out, not sure what

on, which is far too enticing for a woman like me. Especially when I'm trying so hard to not fall into his arms. "I know this is a lot to take in," he

I said earlier—we can take this as slow as you

ask you

"Of course."

so kind as to explain things, I may as well ask all the questions we humans want to know. "What exactly does being mates mean? Like, practically speaking.

of it. It's a deep, instinctual connection. Like finding a missing piece of yourself you

sounds romantic, sure, but also terrifying. "But what does that mean for