She needed to finish.
Rhylan’s gaze followed where she wanted. Hungrily, he took in her neck and breasts. She arched her back, pushing her ass into the air to claim his attention. Rhylan stepped toward the bed, caught by her temptation. As soon as he was close enough, her hand darted out. She grabbed his wrist and yanked him onto the bed.
He fell atop her, but she pushed and rolled until she straddled him. Atop him, she grinned her victory. Rhylan didn’t seem to mind, his hands already reaching for her breasts.
It was a wonder how they’d gotten to where they were. She would never forget their first interaction. He’d hunted her down, and she’d kneed him in the groin. Somehow, all of that led them to where they were now, his cock between her legs.
Thalia lifted herself, positioning her wet opening over him. One smooth motion and he was inside her, igniting the sensation that had gone dormant. Her orgasm exploded through her, rocking up her spine. Rhylan cradled her back and held her while she rode him. It was soft and sweet, unlike the play they’d had moments ago.
She gripped his shoulders, craving more skin on skin. She wanted all of him against her. She wanted as much of him as she could take. Rhylan slipped his arm behind her and pulled her into him, driving his cock deeper. Thalia let out a cry. He reached into her, deeper than before.
“I love you,” she whispered, voice hoarse.
Rhylan gripped her jaw and pulled her mouth to his, swallowing the declaration as if it might sustain him like food and water. They could feed from one another for days. They could never leave the room again, lost in one another for days to come.
Sliding back and forth, her bead of pleasure rubbed against Rhylan, each thrust blossoming into a ripple of pleasure. Her arms shook. Thalia had to grip his shoulders because she felt like she might crack into a thousand pieces around him. Her body trembled, over and over and over as they came together.
Rhylan’s fingers drifted up her spine, sending another set of ripples through her. The dam of pleasure building inside her, leaking with each touch, was growing to be too much to bear. It was heavy and hot inside her. Each time Rhylan sank into her, she thought it might burst. But, it didn’t. It held, teasing and tormenting her.
Thalia’s nails bit into Rhylan’s skin. He growled with his need. Beneath her, he thrust his hips. The wolf pressed forward, urging Rhylan faster and faster. Above, Thalia couldn’t move. She lost her mind in the pressure building inside her. She sank into it, ready and willing to drown in his arms.
“I love you, too.”
Rhylan shuddered. He came, his eyes holding hers and mouth dropping into an O. The throb of his cock inside her broke the dam. The well of pleasure exploded. Sensation filled her from head to toe, from lips to fingertips. Her whole being threatened to shatter as the shocks slammed into her. Rhylan closed his arms around her, holding Thalia together in the tight embrace.
The pleasure found every little crack inside her and filled it to the brim, each fear and loss from her past replaced by the promise of her future with Rhylan. He was hers and she was his, a bond nothing in this world could tear apart.
Her head fell against his shoulder as she shuddered from the aftershocks. They came, here and there, growing smaller and smaller with each passing moment. Once it was all over, she was left breathing heavy. Her skin felt alive, each brush of Rhylan’s against hers driving her wild.
Together, they fell onto the bed, sparing only a moment to catch their breath before their fingers found each other’s skin again. They spoke of things to come, of the world they might build together.
Chapter Twenty
“It’s going to be a long road.” Javier refused to meet her eyes.
Part of Thalia was afraid that if he did, she would see the lack of a soul in them. The enchantress had part of him in her grasp. Thalia wanted to hunt her down and force her to give it back, but Nora had warned her against it. Nora knew what the enchantress could do if she knew Thalia was coming.
“We’ll fix this,” Thalia told him. “I promise we’ll fix this.”
Javier shook his head. “That’s not your job. Go be with your mate.”
Unable to continue the conversation without crying, she changed the subject. “It would figure you’d be the one to make my mate.”
Javier’s eyes slid in Rhylan’s direction. They dragged across the young shifter. “I knew he looked familiar. Can’t say that was my best day.”
His voice was flat, emotionless. It broke her heart. When would they rescue the other half of her brother? When would he become the man she loved again? Falling into her own despair, Thalia met Nora’s gaze. The witch, who’d showcased power in her rescue attempt, was nothing like her mother. It had surprised Thalia to hear that Nora had come to their rescue.
She vaguely remembered the crackle of a light energy. It had been like sunlight and lightning all at once. Where her mother was the thing that lurked in the darkness of the night, Nora was a summer storm. If anyone could help save her brother, it was Nora.
At least, that was what Thalia hoped.
“I hear you have your own mate.”
The sound that rattled through his chest was all at once familiar and unsettling. It was a growl of possession, as if the one thing he felt without a soul was the bond between him and Nora. Though, Thalia suspected it’d been twisted. The hunger he felt was devoid of emotion. It was all desire and fire. There would be no tender moments for them, nothing like what she’d felt with Rhylan hours ago, until Javier’s soul was returned.
“Well, I’ll leave the two of you alone.”
“No, you don’t have to.” His flat voice unsettled her. “I missed you.”
She let out a nervous laugh. “I have a dress to shop for and no money to spend. Do you really want to go on that adventure with me? It will take hours and hours to find a dress that fits my budget.”
“I have money,” Javier declared. “If someone can lend me a phone I’ll have some transferred to you.”
“How do you have money? You’ve been in a cage for nearly two years.”
Javier shrugged. “I had a job before that. It’s not like money disappears.”
Thalia snorted. What she’d learned from living on her own was that money certainly did disappear. It was strange to think that her brother had enough savings to purchase a wedding dress, and that her mate had enough to purchase a house in town. He’d talked about it, about dragging her to see a few homes after they tied the knot.
Her job at the lodge was forfeit. To save her brother, she’d missed three shifts. After two, they’d cut her from the schedule and delivered the news via voicemail. If she and Rhylan were going to stay here, she wanted a job. The longer she thought about it, she realized she didn’t want just any job. She couldn’t’ face the idea of making beds and dumping trash again. No, she wanted something to love and enjoy.
As much as she wanted to wallow, this was her life. She could do whatever she wanted with it. No longer did she have to answer to anyone’s plans or ideas. Rhylan would not force anything upon her. If she wanted something, they would talk about it.
“Thanks.” She wrapped her arms around her brother.
If there was hope for her future, there was hope for his, too. As she left, she glanced over her shoulder to see if her brother and Nora moved toward one another, but they stayed where they were. It hurt to see their distance, but she had other things to do. Her brother and his mate could work on their own fractured relationship in time.
Chapter Twenty-One
Thalia smiled up at the court building. Her father could not fight her on this. She’d found her mate and there was nothing in this world that would tear them apart. They would have a long and interesting life together, always pushing and pulling at one another, but she didn’t want it any other way. A simple love would have been boring anyway.
“Are you sure about this?” Rhylan gave her hand a squeeze.
She could see it in his eyes. He wanted everything for her, anything she could have
ever wanted. It brought a smile to her lips. She could have asked for something grand. All her friends and family could have attended to wish them well.
It would have taken months, if not a year or more.
Thalia nodded. “I’m absolutely certain.”
She hooked her hand around the back of his neck and brought his lips to meet hers. He was hesitant at first, as if not convinced that she would want such a thing, but quickly relented and swallowed her in a passionate kiss. He pulled her close, tugging her into his body. There, pressed against him, was the happiest place in the world. She only wished she could remain there forever, hiding away from the repercussions that this would certainly cause.
“Then if you’re certain, let’s do this,” Rhylan whispered into her lips.
Inside, the only family she needed waited for them. The court house was simple, an office planted inside a historic building. Sure, bland walls and corkboards were not what she envisioned walking past on her way to matrimony, but she wasn’t about to stop.
Miles leaned against the wall, one ankle thrown over the other. There was no sourness or bitterness on his face. In fact, he held his hand up as she passed to offer her a high-five. Laughing, she accepted it, the sound of the slap echoing down the empty hall.
Jax and Sydney sat atop a low bench, hand in hand while they smiled at her and Rhylan. Sydney stole glances at Jax, as if to ask why they hadn’t done the same yet. He pretended to look innocent, but it failed, and Sydney playfully slapped his shoulder. He belted out a deep and hearty laugh unlike anything she’d ever heard from him before.
The only face that made her hesitate was the shadowed one at the end of the hall. Her brother did not wait for her outside the clerk’s office with a joyous smile on his face. He sat in the dark corner of the hall, elbows on his knees and head hanging toward the floor. Nora was nowhere to be found, igniting a small ember of rage inside Thalia. She’d claimed to be his mate, but where was she when he needed her?
All around them were happy faces, the air buzzing with excited energy before Thalia and Rhylan tied the knot in a small county clerk’s office. The energy became distant as she watched her brother. She wished he would stand and follow her. She wanted her brother by her side—not this mopey version, but the smiling man he’d been before.
She knew she needed to give him time. People did not recover overnight from those kinds of situations. Hell, even she still had nightmares of waking in the silver lined cage.
Slowly, his head lifted, and their eyes met. He did his best to offer a lopsided smile, but she could see how it didn’t reach his eyes. She would take it. She wouldn’t run to him and drag him into the clerk’s office. She wouldn’t force him to do anything he wasn’t ready to do.
Still, her heart ached. If she could have, she would have wished it all away. The years spent in the hands of the hunters, the nightmares that would surely follow him for years. There was still no way of knowing how much of his soul remained.
Before she could linger on it, she was tugged toward the clerk’s office. Inside the bland room, she pledged her life to Rhylan. He did the same, slipping a not-so-small ring onto her finger. She gawked at the stone, looking between it and her mate. He shrugged, as if it were nothing at all, and enveloped her hands with his own.
The marriage license was signed. Sydney stepped forward with Thalia’s phone so the new bride could snap a picture of it. Grinning from ear to ear, Thalia sent the photo of the contract to her father. Moments after it’d been sent, her phone started to buzz with her father’s fury. She only grinned and tossed the device back to Sydney. He would have to deal with the decision Thalia had made.
Sydney laughed and tucked it back into her pocket.
For over a year, Thalia had been running away from her life. Finding her brother had only been an excuse to escape everything she hated about her world. In the space of days, all of that had been turned upside down. Rhylan had stepped into her life, wild and out of control. He’d pulled her into his pack, given her a circle of friends who stayed because they truly loved her.
Pulling away from her husband for a moment, Thalia searched for her brother. She found him outside, his face toward the sun like a man starved. She wondered how much he felt without his soul. The mind of the man she knew was there, but the passion and laughter were gone.
They were in the witch’s hands. That was the only thought that could darken this day. She wished she could storm into the witch’s life and demand she return his soul. She would walk to the ends of the earth for him. Hell, she’d already done almost that, crossing the country and spending every minute, every dime in search of him.
Slowly, she approached her brother’s side. Silence lingered between them, the joy of the day becoming cold in his presence as worry gnawed at her mind.
“I’m happy for you,” Javier whispered.
Thalia could barely control herself. She threw her arms around her brother’s neck. Tears burned her eyes and sobs worked their way through her chest. Javier, it seemed, couldn’t figure out what to do. Slowly, his hands rose and patted her on the back. It wasn’t quite a hug, but she would take it.
The road to recovery was a long one, but she would be there for him. Both her and Rhylan.
She offered him a half smile, quavering with the power of the tears falling down her cheeks. Javier wiped them away before his gaze moved past her. Thalia twisted to see the redhead across the road. She leaned against a brick wall, sunglasses covering the dark circles beneath her eyes.
Nora had risked everything to help them. Including Javier’s life, yet he didn’t seem to mind as an invisible magnet drew him across the street. It would be a messy relationship, Thalia acknowledged, but messy meant lively. Sure, they had things to work through, but once they moved past that, there was a lifetime of happiness waiting.
At least, she hoped. Her brother deserved the best and Nora had proved deserving of the title. Thalia watched her push off the wall with a cringe. The younger enchantress was healing, but not as fast as a shifter. For the first time, Javier showed any kind of true emotion, jumping to grip Nora by her elbows and steady her.
There was hope for them after all.
“Talk about weddings that will destroy families,” Rhylan joked as he appeared beside her.
She hooked her arm in his and pulled him closer. “Dad will just have to deal with it. Cordelia, on the other hand, is going to implode.”
***
His mother was going to love her. He held onto the hand his bride laid on his arm, glowing from the inside out. The wolf was sated, pleased that there was nothing in the world that could take her away from them now. The wolf knew their life would be brighter, would be fuller, now that she’d promised to stay by their side.
Rhylan and his wolf still had a lot of work to do. It still filled his mind with thoughts he normally would have never considered. It plagued him at the most inopportune times, but they were working on it. And, it was going well. So much that he’d applied for a job in town. It was a simple clinic and the pay wouldn’t be much, but it was something.
It was another reason to stay in Fangway.
No matter what, his pack would take the city. He had to believe that. The hunters would not live to push against them. They would not torment his pack.
“What are you thinking about?” his wife asked with a smirk on the corner of her mouth.
“A future,” he said.
She swallowed, her eyes watering. He didn’t mean to make her cry. The wolf growled at his idiocy. He opened his mouth to say something, to find the right words, but his wife shook her head. She wiped away the single tear at the corner of her eye and offered him a bright smile.
“This is more than I ever could have asked for,” she confessed. Her gaze swept over the people present.
It wasn’t what he wished he could have given her. No girl dreams of marrying their soulmate in a bureaucratic office. She should have walked down the aisle to a small symphony, carrying flowers and
surrounded by bridesmaids. This was… underwhelming.
But, Thalia didn’t seem to mind. She beamed with absolute happiness, defiant to her core. He’d watched her send the photo of their marriage license to her father with a sadistic grin and had never felt so proud of her. She was his wild creature and his life would never be quiet so long as she was by his side.
Rhylan laughed. “Have you given any thought to my offer? We could stay here in Fangway. The whole pack could.”
She swallowed. “I have a counter offer.”
Rhylan stilled.
“Oh, don’t worry. It’s not that bad. As it is, I have absolutely zero marketable skills. I was raised to be a breeding cow.”
The words entered the world, souring the air around them. Rhylan grimaced, the taste of flat soda biting along his throat. His wife made a face and tried to push the taste from her mouth. Rhylan looked stricken as he tried to find the right thing to say. How could he heal old wounds like that? He didn’t know the first thing about patching up the mind. Before he could do anything, she shook her head.
“Hear me out. I’m not asking to leave Fangway. Honestly, I like Jax and Sydney. I like having a pack of wolves to run with. What I want is an education. There’s a community college in…”
Rhylan cut her off. His lips split into a smile. “Yes. Whatever you want. Yes.”
“Wait. Really? You didn’t even let me finish.”
Rhylan shrugged. “Does it matter? You want to better yourself and I want to support anything you do.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Good, because I was going to suggest a few business classes so I could open a food truck.”
He let out a roar of a laugh. “That was not what I expected at all, but if that’s what you want I’m not going to stop you.”
She reached onto the tips of her toes and claimed his mouth. The laugh was lost in their kiss, but the smile was not. His arm snaked around her. Pulling her close, he deepened the kiss. The wolf was pleased, their future unfolding perfectly. Not only had they found their mate and promised her a secure future, but she’d promised them a happy one.
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