Her voice was soft, sleepy, and slurred, but my heart jumped. I smoothed her hair from her face and kissed her again. “Yes, yes, I do. I love you, Jasmine. I love you more than I’ve loved anything else in my life.”
Her eyes fluttered open. At first, they were unfocused, but soon enough, they concentrated on my face. A small smile crossed her lips. “I love you, too. And I forgive you for the past.”
I laughed and kissed her again. I called the others quickly and let Jasmine tell them the good news of her being awake. All of them promised to be over as soon as they could. By the timewe finished talking to Renz, Jasmine was more alert. She pushed herself into a sitting position and stretched her arms and back.
“What happened? I remember feeling the need to touch my garden. It was very important. Then I did, and there was light, but I don’t recall anything after that,” she said, then her face fell, worried. She touched my cheek. “You were possessed.”
“I was,” I confirmed. I shuddered as I remembered how dark and cold that time was. “The light brought me back. It destroyed the darkness inside of me. It went all through the territory, putting out fires and cleansing everyone who had been possessed. There were a bunch of people from Tyrell and Burgess at our borders on either side, and they saw the light come right to the edge of the territory.”
Jasmine’s eyes grew brighter. “Does that mean it’s over? The pack is safe?”
“Safe,” I confirmed. I kissed her again. “Thanks to you. You saved us all.”
Jasmine cupped her hand behind my neck and pulled me into a deeper kiss. My heart soared. Tears burned my eyes. I was so lucky. I’d wasted years resisting my draw to her. Years we could have spent together. But she had forgiven me. She loved me.
I was damn lucky, indeed.
***
Jace
Jasmine wrinkled her nose as I helped her into the tub. Her muscles were still weak, despite it being three days sinceshe woke up. I climbed into the water behind her, carefully supporting her to ensure she didn’t slip.
“I can’t wait until my body starts cooperating again,” she sniffed angrily.
“You have to have patience with yourself,” I told her as I pulled her back into my arms. She sagged against me with a grunt. I chuckled and kissed her neck. “Funny how you can be so patient and gentle with everyone but yourself.”
Jasmine twisted slightly, frowning. “The difference, you see, if that when I’m being patient and gentle with other people, I don’t know what is going on in their heads. With me, I know exactly what is in my head, and I’m bored.”
“Then I suppose I’ll have to do something to distract you.” I got a washcloth and scrubbed some soap into it so that it became creamy with suds. Then I started to wash Jasmine’s back, enjoying the way her muscles relaxed as I passed the cloth over them. Her skin was smooth and soft.
“Jace,” she moaned.
I moved the cloth around, wiping first her arms before setting it aside to rinse off her back. Then I made her lean back on me again and started to wash her breasts. My palms tingled with wanting to knead them, but I reminded myself that she was still weak. If she couldn’t even bathe by herself, no way was she ready for sex.
When she moaned again, I stopped and rinsed off her chest. I set the cloth aside for now, though I’d have to wash her legs later.
“Why’d you stop?” Jasmine asked me, placing her head on my shoulder.
“Because I only agreed to let you have a full bath instead of a sponge bath, because you said it would be relaxing. If I’m firing you up, it’s not relaxing, is it?”
Jasmine tilted her face toward me and smiled. “I suppose not.”
I smoothed her hair between my fingers, thinking about the last few days. We still had a lot of work to do. The fires had destroyed a large portion of our town, and since we were already having issues with funding building projects and sourcing lumber, it was going to be very tricky from here on out. Fortunately, the mill that Burgess lent us had been untouched.
“There’s one good thing that has come from all of this. You’ve really inspired people to rethink their values,” I said aloud. “We’ve seen so many people open their homes to the displaced omegas.”
“That’s not because of me,” Jasmine mumbled.
I shook my head. “It is because of you. They saw how much you did for the pack. They saw that you never gave up, even when they blamed you for what happened. And now they’re seeing you for who you are, and it’s made them reassess what they thought of the other omegas.”
Jasmine was quiet for a long moment before she blew out a soft breath. “So, what you’re saying is that, because they accepted me, they’ve accepted everyone else?”
I kissed her again, lighter this time. “That is exactly what I’m saying. You’re amazing, you’ve changed things more than you can realize. And I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she said, kissing me back. “I’m glad to have you as my mate.”
***
