Page 113 of Moonlight & Mayhem

“I did,” she breathed.

“Can't return me now,” he said. Moon looked at him—her mate, her choice, and her entire future.

“No.” She kissed him. “And I wouldn't want to.”

Outside the clinic, someone pounded on the door. “MOON!”

“Christmas,” Moon groaned.

Mayhem shouted, “Go away!”

“Is she alive?” Chris asked.

Moon laughed. “Yes, I’m alive.”

There was silence, and then Chris asked, “Is Mayhem?”

“Unfortunately!” Moon called back. Mayhem looked offended, and Chris laughed from the hallway.

“Good. Tempest says food in twenty minutes.”

Mayhem shouted, “Make it forty!”

“I'm not telling her that,” Chris shouted. Footsteps disappeared down the hallway, and Moon buried her face against Mayhem's chest.

“Everyone knows,” she whispered.

“We locked ourselves in your clinic; what did you think would happen?” he asked.

“That people wouldn’t notice,” she said.

“Baby, half the clubhouse probably knew this was going to happen before we even did,” he said.

Moon lifted her head. “I like it when you call me baby,” she whispered.

Mayhem grinned. “Love you, baby.”

Moon smiled. “Love you too, Mayhem.” Her wolf stretched contentedly inside her, and Mayhem's answered through their new bond. Moon closed her eyes. For once, she didn't need to know what happened next because whatever came, they'd choose it together.

Epilogue

Six Months Later

Moon woke with a black wolf sprawled across her legs again. She opened one eye. “Mayhem.” The enormous wolf didn't move. “Mayhem.” One ear twitched, and Moon sighed. “I know that you're awake.” Still nothing. “You're also crushing my legs.” His tail moved an inch to the left. Asshole. Moon shoved at him, and he somehow became heavier. “That isn't physically possible.”

The wolf made a sound suspiciously close to a laugh, and Moon reached for the pillow. His head immediately lifted, and his golden eyes watched her. “Move,” she shouted. He yawned. “Now.” Mayhem's wolf stretched across the bed, taking his sweet damn time before finally jumping down. Moon sat up. “Thank you.” The wolf looked at her and then shifted back into a man. Mayhem stood naked beside the bed, and Moon stared at him.

He grinned. “You're staring, Doc.”

She looked away as though the sight of him naked didn’t still do strange things to her girl parts. “I've seen it before.”

“Still staring, though,” he teased.

“I'm a medical professional,” she insisted.

“Pretty sure that excuse stopped working when you put your mating mark on me.” Moon's gaze automatically dropped to his shoulder. Her mark remained there as his did on her. Six months later, she still touched it just to remind herself it was real—not because she doubted Mayhem; she didn't. She doubted herself occasionally because old habits were hard to break.

Mayhem walked toward the bathroom, and Moon watched his back. “You're staring again.”