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The scent of his body wraps around me heavily. My thoughts begin dissolving before I can hold onto them. His hand slides up my back, fingers curling through my hair, and the rasp of his voice eventually lulls me into another deep, peaceful sleep.

“You are safe, Benjamin. I will never, ever hurt you.”

Chapter

Twenty

Orion

The forest has always spoken to me.

Every branch that creaks, each bird that sings, even the rustle of ferns against the morning breeze; it is all mine. I know every scent carried on the wind and every trail carved by deer. The mountain speaks in ways I understand.

But tonight… Something is wrong.

Moving soundlessly between the trees, I pause every few moments to taste the air. Pine, rain, fox and elk. Benjamin. Always Benjamin.

His scent still clings to my fur from where he rested against me, still connected even in slumber. I had not known that mating would be like this: heat, and warmth, and Benjamin's sweet cries. We'd mated as I'd seen humans do before, even though we are both male, as he'd stated. But I do not question what the mountain decides.

Benjamin is mine. We are mates. I know this deep within my soul.

“You tried to kill me in my car,” he'd spoken hours ago.

“No,” I whisper to the empty woods. I had not.

The first night he arrived on the mountain runs through my mind. I'd watched strange lights weave through the trees, but remained hidden, curious about the unfamiliar scent pulling me from sleep—fear, apprehension, loneliness.

I'd followed him from the ridgeline until those humans brought him behind the metal gates, and that was the last I'd seen of him until the night he fell into my tunnel. I never touched the big moving machine, yet he believes I did.

Stopping beside a cedar whose roots twist over the earth, my muscles lock when the wind changes, bringing forth an old scent. I lower myself toward the ground and draw in another careful breath.

Not elk, or wolf nor bear or human, but… familiar.

My heart thunders in my chest as I trace the scar over my brow. An instinct older than memory rises like a flood in my veins: Danger. Enemy.

The scent disappears with the wind before I can follow, but I surge forward anyway, weaving between trunks and beneath branches. My feet dig into damp earth as I search every hollow and shadow within range of my den, but come up empty for my efforts. There is nothing. Only the forest and silence.

I pace back and forth over the area until dawn stains the sky, retracing every path again and again just to be sure there is no threat.

Still… the unease remains.

My mate saw something, and it tried to kill him. Something that looked like me.

Lifting my head, I taste the morning air one last time. Whatever it was that left that scent, it has been here before.

And now it knows my mate exists.

Benjamin is awake when I enter my den.

The fire has burned low, casting long shadows across the stone walls, and relief loosens the tightness in my chest the moment I find him exactly where I left him.

He's still lying atop the furs, only now on his stomach with his rear in the air. That limb between my legs thickens at the sight of his arousal once again dripping down his thighs. His fingers move in and out of himself, small grunts of pleasure leaving his throat, and I stand watch for just a moment.

My human is… beautiful. I'd noticed before, but he'd been near death. Seeing firelight dance off his skin while he writhes and desperately tries to fill himself is a vision I want burned into my memory for eternity.

“Jesus!” Benjamin shouts, flipping over onto his back with wide eyes once he senses my presence. “Holy shit, you scared the fuck out of me.”

“Do not stop,” I growl low, setting down the rabbits I'd hunted before stalking over to him.