Under the moonlight with a shifter

Thirty Three

When they had made it back to Louisiana, her parents rushed at her as she jumped the two of them back home.

Though it had been less than two weeks, Petunia felt like it had been way longer and she had learned so much from not only herself but from everyone around her. She had met many new faces when her life was just her parents and an illness that she could never get past.

But everything had changed for her when she had stumbled across her mate in the forest and she wasn't sure if it was for the better or worse.

She had visited Makita at the coven and she was told that the Enforcers had a task team of freeing captive member and even though Samuel was dead, there was still another evil brewing. Even though some missing members were still accounted for, there were some that were still missing and the human, Jameson were tracking them down.

She tried not to worry too much as their baby was growing inside of her and her parents no longer being helicopter parents, she felt that she herself had grown in some ways. While she was slowly becoming accustomed to having someone other than her parents caring for her, she had to accept that Uriah wasn't leaving. They spent more time together as he would let loose and run the swamps and bayou, as they now made a game of cat and mouse. He would shift and she would try to catch him, jumping to his location and they had done that to one another.

She would catch him or he would catch her. She found his Jaguar to be sexy and though they didn't talk so much about what would happen from there, the fact still didn't change that they were in it together. While they both ran, when alone and the adrenaline kicking in, she would find herself naked in his arms as they ravaged each other just like they had before. Just like how they did in her dreams before she found out that they just weren't dreams, b it she was teleporting herself to him.

Something foreign to her still called to him on a deeper level and though she could feel it possessing her, she welcomed it because deep down, it just felt so right and she couldn't express it into words. She didn't know if it was love.

Slowly but surely, maybe if she let it, it would grow into it.

Her stomach was growing and she had the tell tale signs of being in the awkward stage of her gaining weight or expecting and her parents had come around, excitement filling them at being grandparents. Though they still haven't agreed on a name, she knew that one day it would just come to them.

"Would you be willing to come back home with me?" Uriah asked her as they did their daily walk, having already played their game of chase. Petunia stopped and looked at him closely as she thought about it. Did she want to stay with his tribe or did she want to stay with her parents? After leaving, she basically lost her job and though she could find another one, right now she didn't feel she could focus on human needs when there was still a Demon going out hunting Source Members. "I want us to complete the mating ceremony and want you to be welcomed into our tribe." He said and Petunia thought hard about it.

Last time she had visited the clan of Jaguars, they had been welcoming and she wouldn't have mind but did she really want to stay with him. The foreign feeling of 'yes' repeated in her mind but truth be told, she was freaking out. All these new feelings and emotions were so foreign to her yet, she wanted to tell him yes. "I thought we were already mated." She told him and he nodded his head at her. "We are, but our traditions usually hold a mating ceremony for the couple." He told her and she thought about it. "Is it like a marriage ceremony?"

The idea of being married thrilled her yet scared her and she didn't know why. "It's deeper, you know were mated for life." He told her and she knew that. That deep feeling of being with him for the rest of her life was so appealing. "Please let me think about it?" She told him and almost regretted the words when she saw his face. Though Uriah's expression was almost the same, she felt as though she saw something in him fall.

"Of course, I don't want to force you into it. We know how well that went before." He laughed but his smile didn't reach his eyes as they continued walking. It was quiet and the scenery around them may have been muggy but it was still pretty and serene.

Going back to Uriah's home would be a big step and it would mean not only opening herself to him but opening her heart to him to be vulnerable and she was afraid of it. She knew it may have been meaningless to be afraid of the unknown but in a few months, she would be a mother and she was mated to a shifter. They weren't exactly a normal couple in human or Source standards as they were a cross species couple in years. But before turning him down completely, she breathed as she told him, "I want to go on a date first."

When he turned to her and looked at her as if the idea was so foreign to him she wondered if he ever dated. When she had met him, he was quiet but deadly. Methodical even and she couldn't imagine him taking women out on dates. "Why?" He asked her as he rose a dark brow over his hazel eyes.

"You have to understand that I was raised human my whole life. All this mating and being a special person is new to me. At least let me pretend for a moment that we fell in love before some magical source brought us together. At least give me that normalcy." She told him and he smiled. "But I love
You." He told her and Petunia's eyes widened at his words. "What?" She said and he repeated what he had said. "I love you."

"Why? We don't even know each other." She told him and he shrugged his shoulders. "What is there not to love, you're my mate, I'm attracted to you, you're going to be the mother to my child, and I love everything about you." He told her and Petunia's heart felt like it just skipped a beat. "But you don't know me." She told him but it came out so weak. As if she herself didn't believe those words. "I know enough to love you, and you will feel the same way about me come time." He told her as he grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes as if he was staring straight into her soul.

"So you want me to court you?" He asked with a smile as he broke the spell she felt she was just under. She nodded her head trying to understand what he meant. Even though it was an odd choice of words that may have cemented the idea in her head that he probably did not date. As they headed back to her parents, she couldn't put it through her head that Uriah had said he loved her and she hadn't reciprocated it back. But he hadn't asked her to and she felt that that was just another thread that pierced her heart tying him to her.