The wedge wasn’t as big as when I took this photo. This isn’t the beast that killed us. It’s mother did.
“What—” I’m speechless when I come across dozens of photos from inside the funnel. “You got them?” I don’t know what to say. I’m speechless. “How? Why? I don’t understand how this is possible.”
“Ruka told me to. He said it was your dream to take a picture within an EF5. I don’t know how to take pictures. Hopefully, they came out okay.”
Tears fall onto the touchscreen, and I wipe them away, not wanting my happiness to blur the photos.
“You’re such a good man.” I pause at one of them. The outer edges are slightly blurred, the clouds showing gorgeous striations of different colors of grey, black, and green with a strong wicked bolt piercing down the middle of the funnel.
The funnel that doesn’t fit onto the screen.
Regardless, it’s gorgeous.
It might get picture of the year.
“Thank you, Oakley. Thank you.” I take the box away from him and set it on the ground.
I jump into his arms, hook my legs over his hips, and wrap my arms around his neck. Grabbing his face, I kiss him softly, throwing everything I feel for him in this kiss. I know he can feel it.
He always can.
“My Kokoro,” I whisper, placing my hand over his heart to show what it signifies.
He dips me over his knee, deepening the kiss, his tongue finding its way to dance with mine. He growls down my throat, his hands clutching my ribcage.
I gasp, heat creeping up my neck as my lust intensifies more than I’ve ever felt before. I slip my hand down over his bulge and give it a firm, tight squeeze.
“Hey, Ruka!” I snag my mate’s lips again.
“What!” he shouts from up high in a tree.
“I’m going to show Oklahoma the storm shelter.”
“Whatever. You guys can’t wait until we’re home?”
Absolutely-fucking-not.
I know Oklahoma said I’d feel everything times a million, but I never expected this. Every nerve ending is on fire. Heat blooms between my thighs, my clit throbbing with need.
I try to use my new speed, but I only trip over myself. Oklahoma catches me, and I’m left looking up at his swollen lips while I’m strewn across his thigh.
“Just show me where to go.”
“You’ll see it. It’s only a few more yards.” I gulp, electrical currents tickling my palms as I rub my hands across his chest.
Oakley slowly rolls his eyes, growling and sucking his tongue over his fangs. “You smell so goddamn good. How much time do we have before everyone shows up?”
I peer down at my watch, the numbers in red as my vision shifts; the need for my mate makes me lose control.
“We have twenty minutes.”
“Perfect,” he growls, swooping me into his arms.
I’m left looking up at the clear blue sky, not a cloud to be seen for miles. The weather is always beautiful after a storm. It’s as if the catastrophic tornado never happened. I’d believe it too, if I wasn’t standing where my house used to be.
Almost everything is gone.
All that matters is that we’re alive. Everything else can be replaced. Everything can be rebuilt, but Oklahoma, Ruka, and the team? Nothing this world could give me could ever come near replacing them.
