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The one toward the left shows a much younger Gem. I was gangly, even flatter in the chest than I am now, with my blonde hair pulled into a wisp of a ponytail. I’ve got on an oversized shirt, the hallmark for after a shift.
I remember that night. I was a baby at seventeen, only two years after I first met Ryker. It was at one of the Alpha gatherings, one where a few of the Alphas’ guests went on a small, impulsive run one evening. It wasn’t as impactful for me and my feelings for Ryker as the one where we ran all night when I was twenty-two, but still.
The other photo? It’s from last year. The pale pink sundress I’m wearing is the one I had on the day I drove into Accalia, shortly after our intended mating was arranged between Lakeview and Mountainside. My hair was done in curls, windswept from the long drive, and there’s a glow to my expression as I glance over my shoulder at the camera.
I had no idea that anyone was taking my picture at the time. I’d just crossed into Ryker’s territory, eager to greet my intended for the first time in front of his pack, but I’d stepped out of my Jeep only to be greeted by Shane. He told me that Ryker was busy with his council, but he’d come to see me as soon as he was free.
I had… sensed something, though. As Shane introduced himself, I stole a look behind me—and now that moment in time is immortalized in the picture hanging on Ryker’s wall.
Ryker hesitates for a moment before he steps into me. Looping his arms around me, he waits to see if I’m going to shove him away. When I don’t—when I can’t—he tightens his embrace.
“I told you, sweetheart,” he murmurs in my ears, pulling me up the rest of the way against him as I still marvel at the obvious meaning behind those pictures. “I’ve always known you were meant to be mine.”
14
Reaching down, he takes my hand in his. He fiddles with my fingers, but I barely notice. It’s one thing to accept that we’re fated mates. That we were always meant to be. I’ve even found it easier to believe that he reallydoeslove me.
But this? He told me once before that he knew I was his back when he was seventeen. I was fifteen, two years younger, and I didn’t think I was even a blip on his radar back then. For Luna’s sake, I used to trot behind him like a puppy dog, hoping for whatever attention he could throw my way.
And he’s held onto a photo of me from when I was seventeen. That’snineyears ago.
I don’t even know what to say. Good thing he doesn’t seem to expect me to say anything at all.
After another squeeze, he drops my hand and steps away from me, but not before tapping the top of mine with his fingertips. “For you.”
I look down. What the…
Lifting my hand to my face, I notice he’s slipped a simple gold band on my middle finger.
“What’s this?”
“It’s what took me so long. I had to grab this from my hiding place so that I could give it to you.” Ryker reaches out, patting the faint lump beneath my shirt. “I had the necklace made for you. I can admit now that I was willing to do anything I could to mark you, even steal the idea from Filan.”
I pretend to be shocked. “What? No way.”
Ryker chuckles. “I know. Right? But I’m not a vamp. I shouldn’t have tried to use their traditions against them. And while the Luna Ceremony is enough like a human wedding to give us all a headache, it got me thinking. I know we don’t use wedding bands—”
“Right. Because of our marks.”
Ryker moves his hand so that his palm is covering his own heart. No. Not his heart, but the marks I left there long ago.
“Right. You marked me. Tomorrow, I’ll mark you. No one will ever be able to deny our bond after that. But I thought… some human traditions ain’t bad. This isn’t a wedding band. It’s just a simple ring.” He glances down at it, his lips tugging upward in a small smile. “It was my mother’s, though. I know you never got to meet her, but she would’ve gotten a kick out of how hard you made me chase you. She always said, if it’s worth it, it’s worth the work. And, sweetheart, it was worth every single fucking thing.”
A lump lodges in my throat. This… this belonged to Amanda Wolfson?
He’s right. I never got to meet her. Though shifters are long-lived, we’re not immortal. A vamp can only be killed by decapitation while my people are much easier to hurt. Silver weakens us, a fight to the death during a challenge, even an injury that’s too fatal for us to heal.
Henry Wolfson’s death was a tragic accident. But Amanda’s? It was an attack on her mate that she didn’t survive.
It can be dangerous belonging to an Alpha. Ryker knows that better than anyone. No wonder he’s willing to do whatever he can to protect me, even when I don’t want him to.
And now he’s giving me his mother’s ring.
Tears well up in my eyes. I quickly blink them back before gazing up at him.
“I love it. And you’re right. Your mom would’ve probably loved me, but only because you do.”
Ryker wraps me up in his arms, pulling me tight against him. “You have no idea how much I fucking love you.”
