Live It Up by Emma Hillman Page A

himself grinning. His little kitten definitely had claws, and he liked that. A lot.
    “I second that. Who the hell is Lana anyway?” Kellie, always the mouthy lion, added from her place beside her mate.
    “Shh.” Nate wrapped his arms around her shoulders in a vain effort to control her.
    “Lana was…is my mate. It’s a long story.”
    “I’m all ears,” Sunny piped up, her eyes still on him.
    He stepped toward her and knelt at her feet. Linking their fingers together, he looked at her face and tried to explain to her without words how sorry he was. “We were teenagers and had just learned how to shift. We’d gone to the woods to play…and Lana…she...she fell down a ravine. She was in so much pain I let my lion take over, knowing he’d know what to do with her when my human form was too busy freaking out. And he…he linked with her.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “He mated with her so he could take the pain away from her.”
    “Like what you did with me,” Kellie whispered, turning toward Nate. “Right?”
    “You got mated when you were a teenager?” Sunny asked.
    “Yes. At first, I was happy about it. I mean, we’d always been friends. But…”
    Sunny leaned forward. “But?”
    “She wasn’t happy. You see, Lana is…well, she doesn’t like men that way.”
    “Oh.” He watched her eyes grow wide. “Oh. Damn. And you were mated?”
    “Yes, see the problem?” he asked, his voice hopeful.
    “Yes. Yes. But where is she now?”
    “She decided that if she had to live with this mating bond then she’d have to live away from me. So she moved out of the Pride.” He wouldn’t tell her where. Not right now anyway.
    “Just like that.” Sunny frowned.
    “Just like that. She has her life, and I have mine.”
    “But you’re still mated. Forever.”
    “Yes.” He nodded.
    Kellie broke the ensuing silence. “That’s so fucking sad.”
    That was why he’d accepted the role of Enforcer.
    Even the people close to him had yet to understand why he’d decided he might as well have no life and had accepted the job when the old Enforcer had died.
    He’d only been twenty at the time and should have had the rest of his life in front of him. Instead, he’d locked himself in a prison of his own making. It wasn’t as if he had anything else waiting for him.
    After all he was mated for life to someone who preferred women, someone who’d never have his children, someone who’d never love him as more than a brother.
    He’d said goodbye to his dreams and had become the hard man the whole Pride now feared. He’d lived like this for so long he’d only realized he hated it when his brothers had both gotten mated and he’d felt their joy. Then Sunny had happened, and she’d turned his world upside down, made him feel things he hadn’t thought he’d ever feel.
    He waited for her next move, unable to talk.
    She tugged her hands away, and pain slashed through him at the gesture. He was beyond surprised when she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
    She embraced him, her face falling into the crook of his neck, and just feeling her close made everything all right. That quietude lasted a whole minute. Then his father roared his displeasure and left the room.
    Sunny jumped in Andy’s arms and pulled back to look at him. “He’s really mad.”
    “That’s how he is pretty much 24/7,” Kellie chirped in. “Glad you’re both fine though. We’ll, uh, leave you two in peace.” She shepherded everyone out of the room, and they found themselves alone together again.
    “I’m sorry I ditched you. I didn't want to go to Lincolnstown. I should have told you. I shouldn’t have left you there, but I just reacted. I’m sorry.”
    “I’m sorry I behaved like a dickhead.”
    She hiccupped.
    “What?” he asked.
    “You apologized.”
    He chuckled. “I do that on occasion. Don’t get used to it though.” He pulled her close again, eager to have her body wrapped around his.