Then Wyatt pressed his face into the curve of her neck and just breathed her in.
After.
He disposed of the condom and returned to bed, pulling her against his side. Her head found its place on his chest. Her fingers traced patterns on his skin.
Her fingers found the scar on his side—claw marks from the feral years he’d told her about over dinner that night at his cabin. She traced them gently.
She pressed her lips to it. Soft and reverent.
In the dark of his cabin, in the room he’d never let anyone enter, Wyatt held his mate and let himself experience more than fear.
It was a start.
TWENTY-SIX
WYATT
He woke before dawn.
Narla was still there. Warm against his side. Real and solid and breathing soft and steady.
“Stay.” The word escaped before he was fully awake—rough, honest, stripped of all the careful distance he’d spent decades constructing.
A simple word. Loaded with everything he couldn’t articulate.
Narla stirred. Her eyes blinked open, and when she found his gaze in the half-dark, something in her expression softened.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I’ll stay.” She settled back against his chest. “Not because I’m scared. Because I want to.”
His arms tightened around her.
Wyatt lay still after, watching the light change as the sun crept toward the horizon. His panther was quiet for once—not pacing, not demanding. Just… content.
He’d forgotten what that felt like. Or maybe he’d never known.
His gaze traced her face in the growing light. The dark hair spread across his pillow. The silver threading her temples. The lines at the corners of her eyes that spoke of laughter and worry and forty-four years of living.
Mine.
Not just his panther’s claim. His own.
She stirred. Stretched like a cat, all graceful limbs and sleep-warm skin. Her eyes blinked open, and when she saw him watching, a slow smile curved her lips.
“Morning.”
“Morning.” He couldn’t resist dipping his head to kiss her—soft, unhurried, tasting the remnants of last night.
She hummed against his mouth. “I could get used to waking up like this.”
“Good.” He pulled back enough to meet her gaze. “Because I’m not letting you go back to that spare room.”
Her smile widened. “Possessive.”
“Panther.” As if that explained everything. Maybe it did.
