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CHAPTER 38
LILY
After breakfast, Raiden offered to fetch some of my clothes while I took a shower. That way, I didn’t have to sneak around in any of his clothes or worse, trudge back there naked or wrapped in a sheet. I could always shift into my wolf, but in our world, creeping around the packhouse like that at the crack of dawn was considered 'the walk of shame'. If only it was. The walk of shame from Ray’s room to mine would have been nothing, had I been the only woman in his life.
Closing my eyes, I enjoyed the warm water cascading down my body, relaxing my tired muscles and rinsing away all of yesterday’s pain. Today, however, would be different. Today, Raiden promised to tell me everything, and I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it.
I washed my hair and shaved my legs in perfect tranquillity. There were no maids around, no friends trying to catch up on the time we’d lost. It was only me and the wonderful aroma of Raiden’s body wash. His smell was everywhere. In my hair, in the bathroom, in his bed. I wanted to swallow down as much of it as I possibly could before our dreaded conversation.
Finally stepping out of the bathroom, I wrapped myself in a fluffy white towel and combed my fingers through my hair when I saw the neatly folded pile of clothing laid out on his bed. He was nowhere to be seen and I smiled, picking out an old favourite of mine. A navy-blue band t-shirt, which my mother despised, so I very rarely got to wear it. A gift from Sala on one of my birthdays; exactly which one it was, I couldn’t recall. Back then it had been too big for me and I used to tie it along the side, but now, years later, it fit perfectly. I decided to match it with a pair of blue jeans, which also sat snugger than before. In fact, I gazed at myself in the mirror and contemplated taking it off, thinking it to be too tight for a Luna to wear. But then again, Raiden had already chosen a different Luna, so I was just a regular wolf visiting his pack and decided to keep it on. The hell with posing as a proper Luna.
Slipping my feet into a pair of dark grey sneakers, I made my way back into the bathroom and began brushing my damp hair at the counter. The lighting was good and the mirror huge, stretching from wall to wall, lined with tiny white-glowing light bulbs. As I put my hair up into a messy bun, Raiden walked in, knocking twice. I’d left the door open for him and turned to see a warm smile on his face.
Butterflies erupted in my stomach and I quickly looked away, focusing on my hair instead. Not mine. He was not mine. When the butterflies didn’t go away, I opted for conversation instead.
“So, any plans for today?” I asked, tilting my head toward him. The bastard smirked at me from where he leaned against the doorframe.
“Uh-yeah, actually. I have to lead a very important meeting with the elders and some other higher-ranking pack members.”
“Oh? Sounds interesting. Are you prepared?” I asked, tucking the last loose strands of hair into my bun.
He flashed me a drop-dead gorgeous smile, and answered, “I’ve been ready since the day I found you.”
I stopped fidgeting with my hair and turned to fully face him. What did he mean by that?
Ray stepped forward, his eyes on mine, “I’ll be informing them of my mate’s arrival.”
His mate’s arrival? Mine? Me? The room around me started spinning, my mind swimming in a sea of possibilities. Was he saying that-? He took another step closer but I held my hand up, shoving my palm into his chest, ignoring the tingles as they erupted. “What are you saying, Raiden? What about your Luna?” I deliberately chose to use the word Luna instead of mate, because in this case it was two very different things and represented two very different people.
“My Luna,” he said, pushing against my palm, “is right here.” His eyes travelled down my body, over my neck, shirt and jeans, taking their time before they came back up to meet mine. “She’ll be mated to me in two weeks’ time, in front of the entire pack.”
“She? Me?” I was in a daze, mumbling, my fingers twisting into his shirt when they were supposed to be pushing him away.
He pushed again, his chest against my palm and my traitorous arm surrendered, bending to let him come closer. He was on me in an instant, his arms wrapping around my body, lips lingering just above my right ear. “Yes, you,” he whispered, low and seductively, sending goosebumps skittering across my skin.
My blood began heating up under his gaze, but words evaded me, and those damn butterflies sent their army ramming into the lining of my stomach. His hand came up to my face, his thumb brushing over my lower lip, “I love you, Lily. Always have. Always will.”
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I wasn’t even sure if I was there at all. It seemed too good to be true, too sudden and too unreal. But he leaned in and kissed me. The tingles exploding between us reassured me that the moment was in fact real. I kissed him back and a single tear ran down my cheek. I’d fought so hard to get here, to have him.
Raiden pulled back, wiping my tear away with his finger and popped it into his mouth, licking it off. “You’re mine now, and I’ll never let you go. Nor will I spend another second with another.”
The wolf inside of me growled possessively, the sound forcing its way up my throat. “I-I love you too, Ray.”
His lips twitched, pulling up on the one side, a single dimple appearing, “I know.”
Raiden reached for me, taking my hand, lifting it to his face and placing a loving kiss in the centre of my palm.
“The pack-elders forced me into an arranged mating with the woman you met last night, Tanya. She’s a strong warrior from our pack, and they chose her on that quality alone. I’ve never had any romantic feelings towards her and never wanted to be mated to anyone other than you.”
I swallowed, unmoving. Unthinking, watching him move my hand to his cheek, leaning into it like he craved my touch.
“When years went by, and I couldn’t find you, I-I started losing hope.” The flame in his eyes guttered. “I’m sorry, Lily. I just wanted to do what was best for my pack. Everyone told me to stop looking. To accept that you were probably dead.”
My heart clenched at the thought and the roughness of his voice. He’d lost hope too. My eyes burned with the sting of hurt, but I wasn’t angry. How could I be when he’d waited years for me?
His grey eyes, now slightly glassy, lifted back up to meet mine. “Luckily, fate intervened when you ran into Gunnar and his mate. It was the last bit of hope I desperately needed. I searched for you relentlessly, postponing the mating ceremony with her for as long as I could. I couldn’t bear the thought of being with anyone other than you. I’ve waited so long for you, fought so hard to have you by my side. And now that I’ve finally found you, I won’t ever let you go. You are mine and I am yours.”
Heat crept up my neck and over my face, molten lava gathering in the pit of my stomach.
“You and only you will rule alongside me as Shadow Creek’s Luna. It’s your rightful place.”
Something inside of me snapped, another dam of tears breaking free, falling from my eyes in rivers of pent-up agony. He bent down, brushing his lips against mine and kept them there for a long tender kiss. Tears kept streaming, while he kept kissing, moving his lips slowly against mine until I opened up for him. He kissed away my guilt, my sorrow, my past. The mate bond's tingles erupted once again, moving from our lips, our mouths, our tongues, until it spread through us. Under his palms, under mine, the tingles grew in fury, pulsing pleasantly into us, caressing the tears until they dried up completely, leaving only desire and love in their wake.
I was home at last.
