by T. S. Joyce
“Oh, my God, Tobias!” she cried, tears falling in earnest now as she clapped her hands over her mouth.
“It’s not a princess cut—”
“I don’t care—”
“And it’s nothing fancy—”
“That’s okay!”
“But it’s a real diamond.” Tobias swallowed hard and lifted his gaze to hers. With a long steadying breath, he whispered, “Vera Masterson, fox or human, it makes no matter to me. I’m in this. And I know we’ve already claimed each other, but I want more. I want you to be Vera Silver. Will you marry me?”
Sobbing, she nodded and threw her arms around his neck. She’d thought he would reject her if she admitted she was scared, but he’d gone and shocked her completely by digging his heels in and committing to her more. “Yes.”
“Yes?” he asked, his voice muffled against her neck.
“Yes, I’ll marry you!”
Tobias stood in one smooth motion with her still clinging to him. Feet dangling off the ground, she laughed as he pressed kisses up her neck. She hugged him tighter than she’d ever embraced anyone in her life.
Stunned, she said, “Tobias, you’re really mine.”
A rumbling chuckle vibrated against her chest. “I bit your tit and fought a wereporcupine for you, woman. You were always mine. Here, stop wiggling around and let me get the ring on you so we can make it official.” Tobias set her on her feet and slid the ring onto her finger. It was a little loose, but a piece of string wrapped around the bottom, and it would fit like a dream.
She let it sparkle in the lantern light as she grinned. “When did you get this?”
“I had to pick up some supplies from Anchorage, and I shopped for it while I was there. I had plans to do this smoother, though. More romantic.”
“Tobias,” she said, sliding her hands around his shoulders, “you couldn’t have proposed any better than you did. That meant the world to me.”
He let off a shaky breath and said, “Good. And you can do whatever you want for the wedding. Bejeweled gown and curly hair or whatever it is you said you wanted.”
“And a karaoke machine.”
“Whatever that is, we’ll get it. And you won’t be living in this shed forever. I’ll get us a place that’s safe and warm.”
“And ours.”
“Yeah.” His lips lifted in a slow, stunning smile. “Ours. I’ve never had a place to come back to after deliveries. It’s something I’ve thought about a lot these last couple of weeks. Coming back to Link’s place where I knew you were was really nice, but it’ll be even better if it is our home.”
“Home,” she whispered, feeling so full of happiness she was probably glowing like a bug light.
“But not yet,” he said, pushing a strand of her hair out of her face. “First we have to get you in control of your Changes and in control of your animal when you are shifted. She’s a biter, and you can Turn people. We have work to do while we’re here in the woods your animal is comfortable in, but I know you can do this. And when you do, we’ll go find a place of our own.”
“Okay,” she said, feeling more confident than she had in…well…ever. Now she had motivation. She had incentive to work hard and fix the broken parts of herself because, if she was strong enough, she would be rewarded with a life she never could’ve imagined.
Tobias was a freaking man-genius!
Not only that, but he hadn’t made her pay her side of the bargain before he’d chosen her completely. He had no idea if her medicine would work on him, yet here he was tethering them together forever. For the rest of her life, she would never have to question if he’d only done this for the cure. Tobias Silver, her fiancé, was the best man she’d ever met, and he was hers.
She really wasn’t alone in all this. Twisting her ring, she smiled up at him. “I like you.”
Tobias lifted his chin slowly. “Say what you mean. You’re too bold for half-truths.”
“I think I love you.”
A slow smile took his face, but still, he waited.
“I know love you,” she whispered, heat fanning through her cheeks.
Tobias waited for a long time, eyes on her, looking satisfied. At last, he pulled the thick blankets off the small cot and spread them out on the floor. “Come here,” he said low, holding out his hand, palm up. “I want to feel your skin.”
And she understood because, right now, it felt necessary to her, too. Their time apart could’ve been damaging. It could’ve put cracks in their foundation and shifted them away from each other like tectonic plates. Instead, Tobias had made sure she came back to this world secure and safe. He made sure she knew she was adored and important, despite her brokenness.
Slowly, she pulled off her nightgown and kicked out of her warm socks, then slid her palm against his and allowed him to tug her to the pallet he’d made. Tobias pulled his shirt off, but left his jeans on, then lay beside her and wrapped her up in his strong embrace. He let off a happy-sounding growl when she nestled closer and kissed his chest.
“I imagined this,” he murmured. “Imagined you here, human again, touching me. I hated it when you were away.”
She had to try harder. It wasn’t just her who was hurt by the lost time. Tobias had waited for her every day to turn back into the woman he cared for.
He swallowed audibly and kissed the top of her head, then murmured, “It’s like this for Elyse, and it’ll be like this for Lena this winter. I waited two weeks, feeling like the best part of me was missing, but they will wait six months.”
“They won’t,” she promised. “I’ll take care of them. I won’t let their mates go to sleep on them.”
“Your confidence almost makes me believe it.”
With a frown, she eased back and captured his gaze. “Do you trust me?”
Tobias dipped his chin once.
“Good. Then hear me, Tobias Silver. I swear on the ring that you gave me I won’t let you or your family down. None of you will hibernate this winter.”
Tobias leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, gently at first, then harder when she let off a soft moan. He liked her noisy. She could tell because his control slipped any time she made a sound of pleasure. He pushed his tongue past her lips, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him in closer. She could never get enough of this connection with him. He nipped her lip and trailed biting kisses down her jaw and to her neck, and when he rolled on top of her and looked down at her, she could see it. He wouldn’t give up the word “love” easily, but damn, that man could make her feel it. His hair was shorter on the sides. He must have gotten a haircut while she was Changed. It was still longer on top, though, falling forward in front of his eyes. The green there had darkened to caramel brown. Hello, bear.
Up on locked, flexed arms, he offered her a small, sexy smile before he lowered himself and kissed her again. Vera ran her hands over the taut curves of his shoulders and triceps, then ran her nails down his back and gasped when he rolled his hips against hers in response.
“Pants in the way,” she panted, trying to shove them down his hips.
“Woman, stop,” he murmured through a smile. “I’m trying to take this slow with you.”
“Don’t want slow.” A growl rippled through her, and she clapped her hands over her mouth.
Tobias’s eyes danced as he stared down at her. Gently, he pulled her hands away from her mouth. “Let her out, Vera. I love it when you growl.”
Let her out? Okay. Vera closed her eyes and opened her mind to the animal, just enough so she could see what was happening between her and Tobias. She should feel this, the bond she shared with her mate. This wasn’t just bringing gifts and making each other feel safe. This was loving each other, and her fox had never known love. Not from her and not from her maker, Jonathan. It was scary to relax enough to let her animal in. What if she forced a Change and took her body? But when she felt the fox, it wasn’t like that at all. She was…stunned.
Tobias brushed his finger just
under her eye. “Those eyes,” he whispered, looking awed. “Gold like a sunset on the water.”
Vera’s eyes rimmed with tears at the rightness of this moment. Tobias’s bear was here, and so was her animal, and this was what it was supposed to be like. She wasn’t just a human anymore. She’d fought it for so long and had suppressed the scary side of herself, but right now, she accepted all of it. What had happened to her, what she had become. If she’d stayed human, she would still be working in some lab somewhere with an easy, bland life instead of here with Tobias, feeling all these emotions and this depth of happiness. Her joy was more potent because she knew how truly awful things could be.
The fox had given her Tobias.
There was no more accidental snarling as her fox sat inside of her, a quiet observer to Tobias’s affection.
He smoothed her hair, and when he cupped her cheek, Vera squeezed her eyes closed and nuzzled against his palm.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured.
And for the first time in a long time, she felt beautiful. How could she not with her mate looking at her like this. Even fox-eyed, he was accepting all of her. The new her, not the her that had died the day Jonathan bit her for the first time.
She lifted up and kissed him as a single tear fled the corner of her eye. And when he pushed his tongue against hers this time, a soft humming sound she didn’t recognize rumbled from her chest. And the only feeling she got from her animal was happiness. A first.
Tobias pressed his hand between her breasts and froze as she hummed on, a distracted smile on his face as he watched her with deep approval etched into his striking features. Leaning down, he kissed her where his hand had been and trailed his lips down to her belly button. Vera inhaled sharply as he grazed his teeth against her hip. She remembered the pain from his claiming mark, but that was over and done, and now, Tobias used that sexy, gentle bite of his to tease. To work her into an inferno and make her beg.
Gripping his hair, she pushed him down between her thighs and arched her back when his lips moved against her sex.
Her ring glinted in the lantern light as she ran her fingers through his hair, and she closed her eyes at the overwhelming happiness that filled her. When Tobias dipped his tongue inside of her, she moaned and spread her knees wider for him. Hooking his arms around her thighs, he pulled her closer as a growl rattled his throat. With each push of his tongue, the pressure between her legs built and tingled until it felt so good she lost her words completely. Please. That was what she meant to say, but instead, only a whimper came from her.
Tobias sucked gently on her clit, then dipped his tongue back inside her, and she was gone. Falling, falling, the lantern was too bright, and she squeezed her eyes closed as an orgasm pulsed through her. She was too sensitive now, but when Tobias thrust into her again, the next throbbing sensation was even better. Her body trembled and twitched by the time he pulled away and ran biting kisses down her inner thigh to her knee.
“Tobias, Tobias,” she whispered in a reverent chant as her aftershocks pulsed on.
Lifting up slowly on all fours, Tobias unsnapped the button of his jeans and pulled at his zipper. The slow metallic sound shot a lightning bolt of excitement through her. He wasn’t through with her. When he was bare before her, she was intimidated once again by how long and thick his erection was. But this time wasn’t like the first time she’d seen him on Perl. She wasn’t nervous anymore. Now, she just wanted him to be inside of her, connected to her, making her feel safe in that uncanny way of his. He was hers. And suddenly, it hit her what he’d said when she’d first met him. He’d admitted his likes in the bedroom but hadn’t once acted on it with her.
With a satiated smile, she turned over and offered him her back.
“What are you doing?” he asked, his tone amused.
“You took care of me, and now I’ll take care of you.”
Tobias slowly ran his hand down her spine until she arched. “I thought this position wasn’t your favorite.”
She tossed him a challenging look over her shoulder. “Then change my mind.”
The smile fell from his lips, and his eyes darkened to the color of pitch. He wrapped an arm under her hips and lifted her. This was it. She gritted her teeth, preparing for pain, but when Tobias slid into her gently, there was no hurt. Only pleasure. Above her, he propped on one locked arm, his hand splayed on the blanket beside her, and with his other hand, he pressed onto her clit as he pushed into her. This wasn’t what she’d expected, and her fox was nearly purring at this kind of attention. Wide eyed, she lifted up on her hands and knees to give him better access to her body.
“Fffuck,” Tobias whispered in a shaking voice as he slid into her again.
He rested his chest against the length of her back, and she arched to him, just to feel him better.
Panting at how fast the pressure was building between her legs, she pushed against his hand with her own and rocked with him, slowly at first, but faster with every thrust. His powerful body worked over her, contracting and relaxing as he drove her closer to release.
And right when the pleasure became consuming, his teeth brushed her skin where he’d bit her the day he’d claimed her. He held her flesh between his teeth, hard enough to make her feel the sting, but soft enough he didn’t break the skin. And that sexy growl was back in his throat as he thrust into her faster.
Vera clutched the blanket in her fist as she cried out. He slammed into her so hard, her orgasm came unexpectedly as she screamed his name. Tobias’s teeth left her, and he pulled out.
“Mine,” he gritted out in a gravelly, inhuman voice.
She looked over her shoulder as her body pulsed on. Tobias had himself in hand, stroking fast until he shot warm jets of seed onto her back. Holy fuck, Tobias was hot when he was territorial. He was claiming her in some animalistic way that would’ve confused her if Fox wasn’t so damned satisfied right now. He’d bitten her out of necessity on Perl, but this was him laying claim to her body again.
Warmth trickled down her ribs as he emptied himself onto her sensitive skin with a groan.
She grinned triumphantly as she swayed with him, enjoying every lingering aftershock.
Tobias’s breath steadied as he pressed his finger deep into her, pushing forward gently with his hips and then back.
He built her up again with slow strokes, and when he slid a second finger in and pushed against her sensitive apex, she climaxed again with a soft throbbing sensation.
“Holy shit,” she breathed, shocked that sex could be like this. Multiple orgasms? Was that even a thing? She waffled between pride in her mate and pride in herself, and inside, her animal was practically howling with pleasure.
Tobias bit the back of her leg gently, then cleaned her back with the corner of the blanket.
“You’re sleeping on that side,” she teased, but Tobias was still quiet. With a frown, she sat back and studied his face. It was closed down, and a chill blasted through her body where she’d been so warm moments ago. “Did I do something wrong?”
His lip twitched, and he shook his head, his gaze on the floor. “No, I did. I lost control.”
“So?”
His dark eyes jerked to hers, then away. “I didn’t hurt you?”
“Hell no. I liked that. A lot. Come here you silly man.” She pulled him down next to her. “I’ve changed my mind now. That is my new favorite.”
Tobias wrapped her up snug against his chest and draped his leg protectively over hers. “I haven’t ever let myself go like that with a woman.”
“Well good, and stop mentioning other women or my fox will go all stalker on their asses. You’re mine, too. Ours.” She frowned in confusion. “Do I say ours?”
Tobias chuckled. “If you want. Your fox might always feel apart from you.” It was quiet for a long time as she enjoyed just being with him, newly engaged, bedded well, and warm against him. But at last, he admitted, “I did research.”
She eased back and graced hi
m with a suspicious look. “What kind of research?”
“I wasn’t just doing deliveries when you were an animal.”
“I know you went after Jonathan, too. I remember that part.”
Tobias swallowed hard. “I wasn’t just avenging you either. I felt so helpless when you didn’t Change back. It was a new feeling. I’ve always been so sure of everything. Eat, sleep, work to earn money for food, take enforcer jobs, hibernate. Repeat every year. There was no variance ever. And then you came, and everything was different. Everything I’d known was different. I wanted to help you. I wanted to fix you, but I couldn’t.”
“What did you learn with your research?”
“That you don’t need fixing, Vera. You’re fine, just disconnected from the animal part of yourself, and who can blame you? You weren’t born like this. You and your animal were both forced into the same body. I visited a family of fox shifters.”
“You did?” She lifted up on locked arms and stared down at him in shock.
“Yeah. Byron was born a fox, and he Turned his mate. She struggled just like you are, and now she’s okay.”
“She’s a normal shifter now?”
“No. I don’t know, maybe. She and her fox are two different personalities, and it was something they just had to get used to. But she’s leading a normal-ish life, and they even have a baby now.”
“Really?”
Tobias rested his head on his hand, elbow on the blanket. “Really. A little boy. All smiles. I got to hold him.” Tobias reached up and brushed his thumb across her bottom lip. “You’re going to be okay, Vera.”
She huffed a stunned breath and kissed his hand. It actually felt like things would be okay. Eventually. She felt her fox now, quiet inside of her, observing everything, and she hadn’t pushed to steal her body. Not even once. And now this success story of Byron and his mate?