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I’m a rag doll when he arranges me on the bed–my limbs heavy, muscles loose. He pulls the covers around me and curls up behind me, spoon-style.
“Do bears mark their mates?” I mumble.
“She-bears don’t do the marking, sweetheart.”
“I might still try.”
Abe rolls me over to face him. “Give it to me, Pearls. I want those teeth in my flesh. I want those nails in my back. I want to hear you scream like you just did for the rest of my life.”
“Did I scream?” I murmur sleepily.
Abe brushes my cheek with his large thumb. “Yeah. It was awesome.” His grin is boyish and sweet.
I reach out and touch his face, too. “Tell me what it means to be your mate.”
His eyes glow for a moment, but he blinks it away. “It means you’re mine.”
I smile. “Interesting theory.”
He takes my hand and drags it to his chest. “No, really, Pearls. It means this heart beats for you. For the rest of my life, there will be no one but you. Your happiness, your satisfaction, your orgasms will be all I work for.”
I let out a soft laugh. “No, for real.”
“That’s for real. Wolves mate for life. I permanently embedded my scent in your skin.” He traces the fresh wounds on my shoulder. “Twice. Every other shifter will know you’ve been claimed. You’re mine, and I’ll kill any other male who tries to take you from me.”
I blink. “Okay, that’s intense.”
“You’re the mate Fate chose for me. The only one I will ever feel this way about. It’s no wonder you showing up at Wolf Ridge caused my nervous system to go haywire. It’s also no wonder that marking you fixed it.”
I trace his eyebrow with my fingertip. “You still feel good? No more headaches or eye problems?”
“I feel incredible. Say you’ll be mine, Lauren. I will never deny what you mean to me again.”
My chest feels warmer than an oven. After losing my mom, the promise of forever with someone has a huge appeal. It also feels like she somehow led me here. To this. She wanted us to come to Arizona.
I don’t know whether she knew about the bear thing or not–I may never know–but she brought us to this place. To the magic.
To Abe.
“I’ll be yours,” I murmur.
Abe takes my face in both his hands and kisses me. It’s a slow but deep kiss. A beautiful kiss. A promise and a discovery.
Epilogue
Abe
“Geronimo!” I shout, running and leaping off the roof of the Sterling Mansion into the pool far below. The deep, kidney-shaped pool was clearly designed to blend into the landscape, with a built-in waterfall crafted from the boulders found right on the mountainside.
The water splashes out onto the pebblestone deck, making our classmates shout and groan.
Lauren and Lincoln are hosting a pool party, and everyone in the in-crowd–and even quite a few outside of it–are here. In fact, it seems like the party at Sterling Mansion is the social event of the season. Bigger, even, than Homecoming or a full moon run.
Everyone has been curious about the mansion on Moongaze Hill, and now that I’ve claimed Lauren, she and her brother are their new fascination. Even more after I let out that she’s part bear.
That fact also made it easy for my parents to fully embrace her as my mate although my dad did warn that pregnancy could be difficult for her. He thinks the fact that she’s part human will mitigate the risks of a bear-wolf breeding, though. Not that we plan to start a family anytime soon.
Lauren and Lincoln’s dad stands out on the deck above us. “All right. No more jumping from the roof,” he calls out.
