Beyond the Dark (Red 3)

May you find your wolves

“You look lovely,” Nash greets me with a smile, and suddenly, I feel like I’m the only girl in the room. It doesn’t matter that there are wolves and humans alike surrounding us on all sides. The only thing that matters now, in this moment, is that we’re together.

It’s been a year.

It’s been an entire year since we swore to love each other, since we swore to take care of each other and Nash’s pack.

It’s been an entire year since my entire life crashed and Nash brought it back to life again.

It’s been a year.

And now I’m standing in the middle of our anniversary party, wondering what I did to deserve someone like him.

I’m wondering what I could have ever done to make a man like Nash fall for a girl like me.

It doesn’t make any sense when I think about it. He’s sweet, he’s kind. He’s everything I could have ever wanted and still, he fell for an imperfect human like me.

I’m no shifter, but then, Nash has never needed me to be. He’s always just wanted me to be me: myself. He’s always just wanted me to be the girl he fell in love with, the girl who made him laugh and smile when no one else could.

After his cousin died, he was broken. He was lost. After she died, he was just floating through life, barely surviving, but then we found each other and everything changed.

And now it’s been a year.

An entire year.

“Thank you,” I manage to say, even though there are a million other thoughts racing through my head. I want to tell him I can’t live without him. I want to tell him I’ve never felt so perfect. I want to tell him he makes me fly.

I want to tell him there’s never been anyone else who makes me feel the way he does.

I want to tell him about what the future holds for us, but it’s not time for that. Not just yet. First, we have to schmooze and laugh and make small talk and idle chatter with the people around us. First, we have a lot of socializing to do.

Later, when we’re alone, we can have some fun.

Later, I can give him the big news.

“Congratulations, you two,” Aunt Germaine breaks into my thoughts as she wraps Nash and me into a big group hug. “I always knew you had it in you.”

Nash quirks an eyebrow, but I just laugh. His aunt gave me a hell of a time before our mating ceremony, but there were other factors at play. Now, Aunt Germaine views me as part of the pack and I get the feeling she can’t imagine life without me.

I know Nash can’t. Right now, we’re both just glad we have each other. Things haven’t always been easy leading the pack together, but we’re a team. We’ll always be a team. We focus on getting through one day at a time, knowing the other one is always going to have our back.