Page 93 of Oakheart

Katya had brought by the mattress she’d sewn and the quilt from Aleks’s bed earlier. When I’d asked if she was sure, if she didn’t need to keep it, she’d smiled at me so softly, cupped my cheeks, and pulled me down to kiss my forehead.

“It’s for my boys,” she insisted.

Then she left me there, blinking back tears.

It was still hard to trust, sometimes, that I’d gottenthislucky. I had a family who loved me, who’d stay and fight and—and maybe Ma hadn’t had a choice. I could see that now, much as it ached to have lost her.

There were moments when I couldn’t quite believe I was allowed to keep all this, and the future Aleks and I were building, like if I finally believed it was real, it’d crumble in my hands on my next breath.

But it wasn’t crumbling. What we were building was stronger than that.

I made the bed, and when the sun started to go down and work was finished for the day, Aleks found me there, frozen, staring at this place that was ours.

He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. When he leaned in and kissed my cheek, I could feel the corner of his smile pressed against my skin.

“Are you going to come and eat?” he asked. “Mama made borscht.”

I never thought I’d be so fond of anything made with beets.

With a rough swallow, I nodded.

Sensing my distress, Aleks nudged his nose beneath my jaw, a comforting little nuzzle that shook me out of myself enough to grip his wrists and cling to him.

This was real. It was mine. Nobody was going to take him from me.

“We can stay here tonight.” He sounded excited, his arms tightening around my middle.

This was it, my mate. Our home.

I took a shaky breath. “If you want to.”

He snorted, and it tickled beneath my ear. “Yes,” he said simply. “I would like to stay with my incredible mate, in the home that he built for us. Come.” He unwrapped his arms, but he held on tight to my hand, drawing me away from the bed I’d built—the only piece of furniture we had so far. It might be the only piece for a while, as I needed to get to work on pieces for the big house and start planning what came next.

But for meals, Katya would care for us. We could bathe at her house, or there was always the river.

We had all we needed, and we’d build more.

“We’ll fill our bellies,” Aleks promised, “then, I want to see just how sturdy that bed you made us is.”

Heat rushed into my face. “It’s pretty sturdy.”

He hummed, grinning, happy to have knocked me out of my spiraling. “We’ll see if it’s worthy of my alpha mate. It is very important that he stay comfortable”—his free hand pressed into the small of my back, and he leaned in to breathe in my ear—“as I take him apart.”

The sound I made wasnota squeal. I didn’t squeal. Aleks was wrong about that.

At worst, it was a squeak.

Narrowing my eyes, I pushed him back with a hand on the center of his broad chest. “If you want me to come to supper, you’d better watch your tongue.”

For a flash, it darted between his lips.

I swallowed roughly again. This man was too much.

“I amnotprancing around in front of the whole pack with a boner, Aleks.”

He grinned, victorious. “Yes, you are right. That’s for me.”

He leaned in and nibbled the edge of my jaw playfully. He lingered a few seconds longer than he needed to before stepping back.

“Supper first,” he insisted.

I nodded, and my heart skipped when he laced his fingers with mine.

What we were building was exactly what I needed, and I couldn’t wait for what came next.