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He turned the call off and pulled me closer to him, with his heavy arm around my shoulders. I liked this.
As we approached the village, my heart beat faster and my hands dampened. I hadn’t seen them in a little over two weeks, but during that time, they had all been erased from my mind. I had forgotten all we had lived through together and how much they meant to me.
I never wanted to forget any of them again.
Shane kissed the top of my head. “You’re tense.”
“I’m nervous.”
“Why? You’re going to see your family. They love you.”
“Not because of that, but …” I let out a long sigh.
Shane halted, making me stop with him, and faced me, his hands on my shoulders. “Raika, what is it?”
I looked at his beautiful face, at the sharp angles of his chin and jaw, his deep chocolate eyes, looking at me with so much worry. If I could etch them into my mind forever and nothing, no one could ever erase them.
I was so afraid of losing him in any way, but it was a special kind of horror to be alive and not remember him at all.
“I don’t want to forget anything again,” I said in a whisper. My throat closed. “I don’t want to forget you.”
Shane wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me flush to him. He buried his head in my hair and held me tight as I let one stubborn tear escape my eyes. I splayed my hands on his shoulder blades, as if I could keep him like that forever.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through this, my love,” he whispered, his lips brushing my neck, sending a shiver down my back. “As your mate, it’s my responsibility to protect you, to not let anything happen to you, and I failed. That knowledge kills me.”
I pulled back and stared into his eyes. “Shane, it wasn’t your fault. We had too many enemies, too many things going against us, it was impossible to fight it all.”
He nodded. “That might be true, but I still failed.” He cupped my face. “It killed me. To lose you again. I only hung on because of my siblings, because of the pack.”
I clutched his shoulders. “I’m glad you didn’t do anything stupid, or you wouldn’t have found me.”
He let out a hollow chuckle. “I did something stupid. I abandoned the pack to go after Paimon.”
“And yet, you found me.”
A corner of his lips curled up. “That was fate guiding me to you because we’re meant to be together. We are made for each other.”
I rose on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. He pulled back. “Hey!”
He chuckled. “I want to say something else.” He ran his thumb over my cheek. “I love you, Raika. You’re the most important thing in my life, and I’m so sorry I let you down. I promise you, I’ll do my best so it never happens again.”
My eyes brimmed with tears. “One, you didn’t let me down. Two, you saved me. And three, I love you too.” This time, when I went for him, he moved for me too.
His lips captured mine and I surrendered to him. I was his, now and forever. I wrapped my arms around his neck and melted into him as he deepened the kiss. His big, warm hands snaked around my waist and a low rumble started in his chest.
Something vibrated between us. Shane broke the kiss and grabbed his phone from his pocket.
“A text from Dom asking what is taking so long.” He lifted an eyebrow.
I smiled. “You shouldn’t have told them to get together now. We should have gone into your room, where I could enjoy your hot body.” I skimmed my hands down his chest and stomach. Shane groaned. “And then tomorrow, we could have called them all for breakfast.”
He waved his phone at me. “I can arrange for that right now.”
I slapped his side, and he made a pretend-hurt face. “They probably woke up Minsi and Tyren for this. You won’t send them back to bed now.”
“Damn, I know.” Still, he leaned into me and kissed me again. He moved his lips against mine, slow and deep, savoring every little bit of this slice of heaven. He groaned and broke the kiss. “I better stop now before I push you to those trees—” He jerked his chin to the tree line marking the forest entrance. “—and take you right now.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to that.”
