“That’d be a feather in your cap.” I’d learned a lot about which wildlife magazines were prestigious over the last five months.Audubonwas a good one.
“A feather. Ha ha.” Micah hugged my shoulder. “Either way, I expect you’ll see a lot of me for a while.”
“Maybe for Christmas?” I asked. We wolves were rarely religious, given we bent knee to our Alphas before any god. But we lived among humans, and my childhood memories of Christmas before Mom died still held a warm place in my heart.
“Probably can be arranged. Is that important?”
“Just a thought. I haven’t spent the holiday with anyone else in decades.”
Micah kissed me on the temple. “Then we will.”
“Your darkroom is kind of a Christmas gift,” I said, spilling the beans. I wouldn’t be able to keep something like that a secret anyhow. “Although I may not get the electric heat put in till spring.”
“You’re building me a darkroom?” He grinned widely.
“I might be. If you’re staying.”
“Hey, we’re bonded now. Wherever I go, you know I’ll come back to you. Was true before. Doubly true now.”
“So you agree itisa mate bond,” I grumbled, to hide how full my heart felt to hear those words.
“Seems to be.” Micah ran his hand down my chest, shoulder to nipple to stomach, and I felt that touch inside and out. “I’veheard the bond fades some after the first day. We should take advantage. Imagine what sex will be like with you in my head and me in yours.” He kissed me, the wildness of his wolf close under his skin, heavy in my nose. I kissed him back, chasing the taste of his mouth that I loved, relishing the echo of his-mouth my-mouth that made the kiss resonate.
When we separated, I said, “We have a big bed at home. Or some hard rock that’s abrading my tender bits in the freezing air right here.”
“Both good options.”
“I vote bed. Where we can take our time.”
“Seconded.”
But neither of us leaped up to shift and run back to the house. Instead, we sat there, side by side, arms around each other. I leaned my head on Micah’s dark hair. Every place where we touched lit up like a small sun, me-and-Micah, in each other’s heads and hearts. The glory of the world spun around us. Someday, Micah would go out and chase that beauty again, but for the first time, I truly felt, down in my soul, that he’d always come home to me.
Mate,my wolf said impatiently, and thenrun, hunt. Together.
Micah shuffled closer to me, letting my bulk shield him from the wind, and I had no problem with that. A bald eagle launched from a tree behind us and circled the sky, climbing on a thermal toward the clouds. The river far below sparkled in reflections of gold from the setting sun. Micah breathed against my skin and his heart beat next to mine.
The sweetness of the moment and the grandeur of the view might’ve invited poetry, but Micah would have to settle for a man of fewer words.
“I love you,” I told my long-lost mate, and the glory of being found sang through us both. “Come on. Let’s go home.”
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