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I pull away just enough that I can tilt my chin and meet the concern written in every line of his handsome face. “It’s gone,” I breathe. “It’s finally gone.”
“Gone?” Concern turns to confusion turns to undisguisedhope. “You mean—”
I nod, beaming at him.
“Gravetail? He’sgone?”
“It just happened. It’s like… I don’t know. This weight on my shoulder was lifted,” I explain. He should understand. When Quinn rejected her mate bond with West, he told me that’s exactly what it felt like. “That’s why I almost fell. I wasn’t expecting it an—oh.”
I wasn’t expectingthat, either, though I probably should have.
West’s relief—with an added dose of love for me for good measure—slams into me a split second before he reacts. With a whoop, he lifts me off of the ground, whirling with me until we’re both dizzy and now West is laughing with me. He lowers me again, cupping my chin with his palms so he can tilt my head back, taking my mouth in a claiming kiss that swallows our laughter.
We’re both breathless by the time he breaks the kiss, tugging me back into his tight embrace. Even as he starts to lead me over to his favorite tree—marked with gouges from his claws, dotted with old blood, and covered in the scars that West healed on himself during my continued rejection of him—I know exactly what he wants to do.
Every full moon since the all-important one we spent together outside of Hickory, he leads me to his personal territory, positions me up against this tree in one way or another, and takes me as if it’s our last time together.
It’s not. It’ll never be. Nothing can separate us again, and if he needs for us to build better memories in this clearing, our sex christening the ancient hickory instead of his pain, I’ll brace my arms against the stripped bark, arch out my back, and invite him to take what’s his whenever he needs it.
Like right now.
I’m already sopping wet by the time West lowers his hands to my waist, already gripping the fabric of my sundress, inching it over my hips. Breathing the same air, his lips on mine, West groans into my mouth when he takes a deep breath and catches how thick my arousal is.
He dives back in for another kiss, backing me up against the tree as he strokes my tongue with his, nipping at my bottom lip with his fang. He’s panting, but I can still make out his words as he grates, “Luna knows you’ve always been mine. If I had to share you to keep you, I would, but…”
West groan turns even huskier as he slips his claw-free hand between our bodies. His eyes blaze when he realizes that, when I set off in search of him earlier, I left my panties behind. He drops his mouth to my neck, already fumbling with his jeans as he adds, “But, baby, I’m so fucking glad I don’t have to.”
I press my palms against his chest, enjoying the feel of his thundering heart. It’s such a heady realization, knowing that it beats only for me—and that it always has.
That’s not all, either.
His heart is mine. His body is mine.
Hisforeveris mine…
Then again, it’s only fair.
As West lifts my thigh, guiding me to wrap my leg around his waist before he frantically pushes his cock inside of me, I let out a throaty moan, burying my hand in his hair. He hasn’t turned me to take me from behind; probably because he wants to steal kisses in between thrusts. Fine with me. My human side adores face-to-face mating, and I clutch a few strands of his thick, perfectly-styled hair as I hold on and let him take me for a ride.
The evening sun is shining down on us. The soft yellow light glitters against the gold ring on my left hand.
I grin, thinking of the matching one West has on. I thought about ordering one for him. I was too late, of course. He had the matching band in his sock drawer, only slipping it on his ring finger after we first returned to Hickory as bonded mates. He wants the whole world to know—human and supe—that he belongs to me.
Like West, I’m proud to wear his bite and his ring. Wedding or no wedding, I’m not only his mate. I’m the Beta’s bride, and when a shifter saysforever,they mean it.
Me and West are it, ‘til death do us part.
