“Oh.” Kenzie relaxed again. Uncle Cristian had a silver tongue; he was the best negotiator she’d ever met. The fact that Bowman lay here, confident, letting Cristian handle it, told her better than words that everything was going to be all right. They’d made it through another crazy week in Shiftertown.

Kenzie reached for him. The movement took way too much effort, but Bowman stretched his hand toward her as far as he could in the cuff. Their fingers touched.

The contact sparked all the way up Kenzie’s arm to her heart. Heat blossomed in her chest, and she swore she felt her wounds start to close.

“The touch of a mate,” she said softy.

Bowman’s smile warmed her again. “And maybe the mate bond?”

Kenzie caressed Bowman’s blunt fingertips, loving their familiar roughness, his strength. “Do you think so?”

“I felt you,” Bowman said, his smile dying. “When you were in the mists, when you were so far from me.” His Adam’s apple moved with a swallow. “I heard you calling out, in my dreams.”

“I heard you.” Kenzie remembered the clammy touch of the mists, her fear, her anger, her need to be next to Bowman. Then she’d heard his voice, shouting her name.

“And then we could talk to each other, in Turner’s lab,” Bowman said, his deep voice awakening every need inside her. “We could speak without words.”

“Can you hear my thoughts now?” Kenzie asked.

Bowman stilled a moment, then shook his head. “No. But it’s different now.”

“I know,” Kenzie said softly.

Their touching fingers brushed each other’s again, a tingle of warmth. Kenzie had expected an explosion of incredible emotion when she and Bowman finally found the mate bond, but this quiet awareness was no less intense.

They were bound together. Bowman glanced from their caressing fingers to her face, and Kenzie caught the storm in his eyes.

She wet her lips, longing to spring across the chasm that separated them and into his arms.

“Is it real?” Bowman asked quietly.

“It’s burning me all over,” Kenzie answered, her cheek pressed to her pillow as she locked her gaze with his. “What do you feel?”

“Fire,” he said. “And love. The most incredible love for my hot, golden-eyed, kick-ass goddess of a mate. It hurts with every beat, but damn, it’s the best thing I’ve felt in my life.” Bowman’s look turned dark, a feral smile spreading across his face. “And I can’t stop thinking how amazingly sexy my mate looks in a hospital gown and nothing else.”

Kenzie closed her fingers around his middle one, letting her fingertips dance suggestively. “If I could, I’d get out of this bed, pull down that sheet, take you in my mouth, and show you what I want to do when we get home.”

“Yeah?” Bowman leaned down and licked across her fingertips, his tongue hot and wet. “And if I wasn’t handcuffed to the bed, and could actually move, I’d be pushing you back into that bed. Maybe turning you over, because that gown ties in the back. Wouldn’t even need to take it off you for what I have in mind.”

“Mmm.” Kenzie flicked the tip of his tongue with her finger. “I’m starting to feel better.”

“Touch of a mate,” Bowman said.

“We’d heal much faster if we could touch each other all over,” Kenzie pointed out.

“We should make them push our beds together.” Bowman’s eyes sparkled. “And see how much we can touch with me cuffed. Might be fun.”

“Sure, challenge me, Bowman.” Kenzie gave him a saucy look as her heart cried out in gladness. “See what you get.”

“Little devil.” He drew her finger into his mouth, suckling, and heat squeezed deep in Kenzie’s body.

A cleared throat made her jump. Bowman’s teeth closed on her finger, not releasing her, as he shot an irritated glance at the intruder.

“I’d tell you to get a room,” Gil said. “But . . .”

Bowman pretended to ignore him, but Kenzie looked limply at the man. She was still angry with Gil, but too wrung out from the fight, and much too interested in reveling in the mate bond, to bother.

“I see you two have finally figured it out,” Gil said.

Bowman released Kenzie’s fingers and turned a growl on Gil. “I want to know why you’re the only one not chained to a bed,” he snapped.

Gil shrugged. “I’m a police officer. I was investigating Turner’s activities and happened to be on the spot when everything went down.” He winked at Kenzie.

“Shit.” Bowman sank back to his pillow, but he captured Kenzie’s fingers again and didn’t let go of her. The touch made Kenzie’s strength grow.

Kenzie skewered Gil with her gaze. “How do you know about the mate bond? What was all that shit about me feeling it for you? I still want to gut you for that.”

Gil approached their beds, and Kenzie wondered how she’d ever thought him simply a human cop. There was an ancient air about him, of a being who’d seen much, suffered much, and become wise instead of broken.

“I don’t know,” he said, losing his smile. “I felt something, Kenz.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “I’d been feeling it for a while—a long time—seeking the other side of my heart, I guess. And the first time I saw you, I saw the mate bond in you.” He put his hand in the air between Kenzie and Bowman, near their joined hands. “Very faint, but it was there. When you sat in the patrol car with me, you almost glowed with it.”