Free Live It Up by Emma Hillman

inside. Moments later, she heard the shower turn on.
    Sunny sat down on the edge of the bed and relived what had just happened. What the hell was going on? He’d been perfectly fine earlier. Hell, they’d spent an amazing week on the road, taking their time, laughing a lot, making love several times a day just because they could. And now this?
    She bit at the skin of her thumb, dread spreading throughout her at the thought that maybe the honeymoon was over. Maybe, he’d finally remembered she wasn’t a shifter and never would be. Maybe he’d realized she would never be enough for him or his father…or his Pride for that matter.
    Tears threatening to fall, she tugged the covers down and slid into bed. She laid there, wondering what would happen when he stepped out of the bathroom.
    They usually spent their evenings making love. On the bed. In the shower. On any rickety piece of furniture they could find. Even now, just thinking about it made her pulse quicken and her body soften.
    Except that this time when Andy appeared, he took one look at her and said, “Remember when you asked who Lana was?”
    She blinked then turned around in bed so she could face him. “Yes?”
    “She’s my mate.”
    Sunny struggled to sit up in bed, but by the time she’d moved, he’d already left. She heard the door slam shut behind him and wondered where he’d sleep for the night. She guessed it truly didn’t matter. He was right. He was an animal. He could shift and sleep anywhere out there.
    He’s got a mate .
    He’s mated .
    She knew enough about biology to know she was screwed, her dreams shattered by one simple word.
    She just didn’t know what felt worse, that he’d lied to her from the start or that she’d really thought she had something real with him.
    Stupid, stupid her.

 
     
     
    Chapter Ten
     
    The atmosphere was so tense inside the SUV it was a wonder the top hadn’t lifted up from the emotions swirling around, Sunny thought as she stared out the window.
    The view had gradually changed over the past couple hours and had become more familiar. She knew that they’d be at her hometown soon, the place where she’d grown up with her parents, the only place she actually felt a kinship for in this world.
    And yet she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
    She loved the commune, but she didn’t know anyone there any longer. Even worse, she really didn’t want to live there again. So why had she given Andy that name when he’d asked her where her home was? She could have just made something up, but he’d needed to take her somewhere so she’d said Lincolnstown.
    And now that things were so off between them, she had no idea what her future would entail. She had no car. She barely had any belongings, apart from the ones she’d left in a friend’s garage all those months ago when she’d first started on her road trip.
    She’d wanted to discover herself along the way and understand what her purpose in life was. Instead she’d been hurt by a mad woman and saved by a lion shifter. And the man she’d thought might be her soul mate had turned into someone she wasn’t sure she knew, someone who’d lied to her and made himself look good even though he really was no better than any other man out there.
    She’d been the one falling into his bed so she only had herself to blame. Dark thoughts whirling inside her mind, Sunny closed her eyes and leaned her head against the window.
     
    Andy felt his fingers tighten around the wheel, and not for the first time that morning either. His lion was going berserk inside him, threatening to take over so he could go and console his heartmate. But things were complicated enough as they were.
    Even if he could feel her every emotion and even if it was driving him crazy to know he was the one at fault here, that he’d shattered the very thing he loved about her, he also knew he'd had no choice.
    One day, she’d come to realize he’d done her a favor. They weren’t suited. They