It still hurt. "I know it hurt. It hurt to stay away from you." My eyebrows scrunch together and he gives me a cheeky smile. "Can you..." 'Yes,' when his voice echoes through my mind I smile. 'It's easy you just have to imagine yourself in my mind and you can hear my thoughts or you can talk to me like this as well.' Sighing I try to get into his mind but I fail and he tightens his arm around my waist. "It might take a little while for you to get it, but for now I'll stay out of yours." My fingers move up to glide over his temple. I know I should be angry at him for keeping this from me but with the way he's reacting to my touch I can tell that the big furry thing inside of him was pushing him every day to tell me the truth. He knew and he had to hold all that information bottled up inside him. I know what it feels like to keep all your emotions locked up tightly inside of you. He's watching my hand and I can feel the uneven rise and fall of his chest beneath mine. I'm sorry. He smiles at me again. "You have nothing to be sorry about Lottie. You have a right to be angry about what happened, just forgive me and we can take this slow." "I thought you said you were going to stay out of my mind." "I did, you were the one that just said you were sorry in my mind, you were in there for a while as well." He smiles. Biting my lip I slide back from his hold again. "Slow," I repeat from his sentence before, slow sounds good. "Slow a pace that you're comfortable with. Werewolves usually claim their mates in a matter of hours and complete the mating process in a couple of days. I just want you to be comfortable with me and all this." "Mating process?" I question my eyebrow shotting up. He winces a little and shifts uncomfortably. "Meet your mate, claim them and then you know," he drifts off. I'm confused by his words. I don't know, I've never done a human relationship let alone have a mate. Ryder sighs noticing that I don't get what he means. "Mating, or as you'd better know, sex, making love." I freeze welcoming his hand when he takes mine and intertwines my fingers. "You're seventeen, so as much as I want to and my wolf is forcing me to close that last gap between us, it won't be happening before you're of age and definitely not before you're comfortable with it no matter how long it takes." Ryder left me alone in the room after that. I was nervous about the whole mating thing but his words relaxed me. He's having a shower now, in his shower. He's naked less than five meters away from me. There is a part of me that is forcing me to get closer to him and finish the process that he told me about. I think that even I can feel that push to do it. Not the same as he does, I don't have a wolf, but it's strong, I can feel it tainting my thoughts that are telling me to wait and properly define the relationship for myself. I know what it is. I understand the mate bond and my connection to him, but I want to define the feelings that I had before it. I could feel that he wanted me to have that human connection to him that confuses the crap out of me. I know I love him. He bought me out a set of clothes for the day before he got in the shower and told me that I know have full access to the closet. He hadn't told me about it before to keep it hidden from me that this was his room. I had free reign on what I got to wear now but he had already given me a new pair of jeans and loose fitted floral singlet that seemed to float of my body. When he handed me the pile of clothes with a fresh pair of underwear on top, I blushed. He gave me a cute smile and lent down to press a kiss to my cheek. "Hey," Ryder says behind me his hand dropping to my lower back. I'd moved to stand by the doors that looked over the gardens and the east wing of the castle. When I turn to look back at him the warmth returns to my stomach. He's gorgeous in the tight fitted grey shirt and black jeans. His regular outfit when he's with me. "There's breakfast being set up down in the courtyard," he tells me his hand sliding to my hip when I moved to face him. When he doesn't move just giving me a questioning look I nod at him telling him that's what I want to do. When he sees my movement he finally responds and his hands move to take the bottom of my shirt. "May I?" he asks just as I begin to grow nervous over what he's doing.