Page 85 of Fated to the Alpha

Shane couldn’t keep his face from splitting into a ridiculous grin. “Because the asshole alpha who loves you back didn’t treat you the way you deserved.”

She mirrored his grin. “Well, that asshole alpha also saved me from the big bad hunter. I think we’re square.”

“Not when you consider that you saved me too.”

“And then you gave us the mating bond. We could go back and forth like this all night. Let’s stop keeping score.”

“Sounds good to me.” Shane peered at her in feigned suspicion. “Did we just say we love each other?”

Kimberly played along and puckered her lips in contemplation. “I think so. What do we do now?”

Shane hated how this moment came at the worst possible time. Like forming the mating bond, he had imagined this in a far more romantic setting, not in Dominic’s spare room, stuck in a bed with silver poisoning, and unable to take her in any fashion because of his injury.

All he could do was give a steady tug on her arm and pull her down for another kiss. This one, he pushed to its limits. Lips and tongues played, sensuously tasting one another. His fingers weaved through her short hair as he gripped the back of her head to hold her until they both teetered on the edge of lustful needs that couldn’t be satisfied just yet.

He released and gave her bottom lip a teasing nip. When they opened their eyes, two golden, wolfish gazes met, and their mating bond effervesced.

“We live happily ever after, of course.”

Epilogue

The relocation of Shane’s pack was a game of hurry up and wait. The potential threat of hunters bearing down on Tolstone expedited their plans but complicated the logistics of who moved first. Paul went first, since his alpha couldn’t travel right away, and carried out most of the necessary preparations. Shane and Kimberly were the last to leave Tolstone two weeks after the hunter incident, just as he originally estimated, and after Gage released her from her old pack to be blended into her new one.

Out of the two, Kimberly had the most stuff to move, and that was made clear by the stacks upon stacks of boxes that filled their shared apartment, along with her many potted plants. Transporting her ferns, spider plants, pothos, philodendrons, and one massive tropical monstera had Kimberly on edge in the front seat of the moving van. Every little shift of the furniture in the back had her worrying if a leaf had been crushed or a clay pot had broken. Shane’s only possessions could be shoved into a few pieces of luggage stacked in the bedroom after the rest was donated.

With Shane on light duty, Paul and Wanda offered to help their convalescing alpha get moved into his new apartment. Kimberly managed to convince him to accept their help, so he sat on the sofa and played supervisor, directing his packmates where to drop the boxes as Kimberly hurriedly tried to unpack as soon as the boxes were dropped.

“Are you trying to win the award for first settled in?” Shane asked as his mate threw cooking utensils in one of the kitchen drawers with a clatter.

Kimberly sighed and tilted her head back.

It was then she registered the thin sheen of sweat on her forehead and down the curve of her back. “No. I just know I’ll feel better once all of these boxes are gone. It makes it look like we’re in transition or something.”

Paul came through the apartment door with a box of bathroom linens. “News flash, darlin’. We are.”

Shane gestured to the corner of the room where they had stacked the broken-down, empty boxes. “We’ll be reassembling these bad boys in a matter of months once we can find a bigger place.”

Kimberly groaned and pressed her fingers into her eyes.

Her mate laughed at her expense and waved her over. “Come on. They’re almost done. Let’s just take a minute to breathe.”

Unable to deny a cuddle, Kimberly left the kitchen and wove her way through the maze of boxes to the sofa. She plopped down next to his good side and let him pull her in for an embrace. His body warmth intensified her own, but she didn’t mind the extra heat when it came with the now familiar touch of love through their mating bond.

With the help of the antitoxins and rest, Shane’s bullet wound closed up nicely, and the poisoned flesh lightened from a deep black to a light shade of purple like a fading bruise. He told her it didn’t hurt much anymore, but she still saw the way he occasionally grunted and grimaced with pain when he moved a certain way or accidentally bumped his thigh.

None of that stopped them from making love the minute Nolan cleared him for strenuous activity. It had been only a few times, and Kimberly set the pace. She erred on the side of caution and kept it slow and easy, despite Shane’s protests. Like a sad puppy dog, he submitted to the safe positions, but soon lost himself in a sexual haze and didn’t complain when they lay side by side, tingling and sparkling in the aftermath.

Wanda brought in a stack of two medium-sized boxes, dropped them by the bedroom door, and then dusted off her hands. “That’s the last of it, boss. Anything else we can do?”

Shane shook his head. “I’ll return the moving truck in the morning. Thanks again for the help.”

“No problem. Are we still meeting up tomorrow?”

“Yep. Vincenzo’s Pizzeria at six. My treat.”

Wanda grinned and bid them goodbye but left the door open for Paul.

The beta stayed and dabbed his forehead with a stained rag from his back pocket. “Anything we need to talk about before I go?”