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Chapter Twenty-five
“This is beautiful,” Alani said with a soft sigh. Her eyes wandered across Angel Fire at the base of the mountain. The early morning fog had finally cleared, and with the little New Mexico village bathed in beautiful warm sunshine, it looked quite idyllic. So many regular people were just getting their day started, not knowing that only an hour earlier, two clans were on the verge of killing each other.
It was a frightening thought, yet somehow she was at peace. She leaned back against the bear shifter draped over her, blocking the somewhat cool breeze from getting at her with his body—which was basically a furnace, especially now. She glanced up, expecting him to be studying the small town’s beauty too, but found him looking at her instead. Her cheeks warmed at the affectionate smile on his lips, and she turned her gaze back to the town.
Ivo had carried her up the mountain after the fighting had finally stopped, sensing exactly what she needed and whisking her away to peaceful solitude so that she could calm down privately, away from the clan.
All things considered, she had handled herself well. Alani had never been in anything worse than a bar brawl before, and she had not been doing any of the fighting herself even then. So, really, she should have been in the throes of a complete breakdown after everything she had seen. Yet here, overlooking Angel Fire within the arms of the man she loved, an odd calmness prevailed.
“How are you doing?” Ivo asked after pressing a peck to her cheek. She shrugged.
“Fine,” she told him, “but there’s no telling how I’ll feel tonight or tomorrow when it all hits me.”
“And I’ll be there for you,” he promised. “However you feel, whatever you think, I’ll be there by your side.” He paused for a moment. Being so close, she heard his gulp. “If you want me to, that is. I’d understand if—”
“Of course I want you there.” Alani wasn’t sure how she’d be able to sleep tonight if Ivo wasn’t there holding her. In a single day, she had been taken hostage, almost assaulted, and thrown into the midst of a shifter battle with a frightened toddler in her arms. No one could blame her if she found herself riddled with nightmares tonight. She sighed, closing her eyes, and wrapped her arms around his bare midsection. “I already told you I’m not leaving your side. You’re stuck with me.”
“Rats.” They both chuckled, and she felt Ivo stroking her hair. “I guess I’ll find a way to survive.”
“I’m sure you’ll manage,” she replied in agreement.
In the silence that followed Alani considered her life outside of Angel Fire. The last few months had been spent inside a bubble, including what happened today. The real world was waiting for her beyond the mountain range, outside of Angel Fire’s town limits. She had two precious babies eagerly anticipating her return home, and while loving Ivo made her feel complete, she certainly wasn’t whole.
“You know, I really wish I’d brought some pants,” he muttered, squirming around on the spot. Alani glanced down, biting back her smile, and exhaled dramatically.
“Am I just going to have to accept that you’re going to be naked all the time?”
His lips twisted into a smirk. “Like it’s such a travesty.”
“Something I’ll just have to endure.” She sniffed. Then her joking expression faded as she added, “But you can’t do it in front of Kai and Leila.”
He cleared his throat. “Of course not. I’d never shift around them unless their safety was in question.”
The notion brought tears to her eyes, but she blinked them back. “Good.”
“If their safety, or yours, was hanging in the balance like today,” Ivo continued, his voice wavering a little, “I can’t make any promises. I can’t control myself when you’re in danger. I just see red—”
“And if you want to be around my kids,” Alani told him, pulling back so she could look him in the eye, “you’ll have to figure that out.” His face crinkled in a frown, one that softened when she pressed her palm to his cheek. “Ivo, I love your passion. I’ve never felt safer than when I’m with you, but your anger and your fear… You have to learn to control that when you have children. It isn’t easy. Some days I want to scream and cry and breakdown, but I’m a role model now. I have to be. And… if you want us to be here with you, you’ll have to be too.”
Now his eyes were the ones looking a little glossy. “I really want them here. All three of you. More than anything. I’ll… I’ll buy a new house, and—”
“Let’s take it one step at a time,” she said, her heart swelling with joy at the thought of him doing something so monumental—and permanent—just to accommodate her family. “First, I need to finish my semester.”
“Agreed.” He nodded as he sniffled and swiped a thumb under each eye. “Your education is the most important thing right now.” The wink he shot her made her blush again, infuriatingly enough—when was his charm going to stop affecting her? “I’ll try not to stomp around during studio time.”
“Scout’s honor?”
He crossed his fingers over his heart. “Scout’s honor.”
Alani grinned. Ivo Ames was the furthest thing from a boy scout that she had ever seen—but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“From there, I’ll have to go back to Hawaii for a little while,” she continued. As much as she wanted to up and move her girls to Angel Fire so they could be with Ivo, she had to be an adult for a little while and think things through. Make sure what she was doing was the best for everyone. “Maybe you can come visit? Meet my babies?”
His flirtatiousness dropped as his head bobbed up and down. “I’m counting down the days.”
“And then,” she said, feeling that this was a much bigger undertaking than she might think, “I’ll make arrangements to bring the two loves of my life here so we can be with my…” She licked her lips. “… fated mate.”
Ivo stiffened for a moment, and then laughed, drawing her back to him with a quick peck.
“Of course you’ll come back,” he said; so sure of himself that it made Alani’s heart sing. “The clan’s gonna love you just as much as I do, Alani. You’ll stay in the new house I build for our family, and I’ll love your girls like they’re my own.” That impish smirk was suddenly back as he wiggled his eyebrows. “Because, Alani, baby… I couldn’t bear to part with you ever again…”
Their laughter echoed across the mountains, washing away that morning’s events and ushering in a brighter tomorrow.
