“And to my darling mate,” he murmurs. “Words can never express how I feel about you. You’ve stood b
y my side through the darkness. You’ve been with me during the ups and the downs. I plan to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much you mean to me.”
He kisses me, then, in front of the pack, and once more, everyone cheers.
I’m struck again by just how damn lucky I am, only now, after a year in the pack, no one else seems to mind that Nash married a human. Now they seem happy their Alpha is happy, and that in itself is its own reward.
I still can’t wait until we’re alone, though.
I can’t wait to give Nash the good news.
The next year is going to bring even more changes, and this time, all of them are wonderful.
***
By the time Nash and I get back to our room after the celebration, we’re both exhausted, but happy. The rest of the party was wonderful. There were speeches and dancing. There were cheers and toasts and laughter. There was companionship.
We got to celebrate with our friends, with the pack. They might not have been my family at first, but they certainly are now. I can’t imagine living anywhere else but with them.
“Finally, I have you all to myself,” Nash whispers, pushing me against the wall. He kisses my neck and I groan as I lean my head back to give him more space. He knows exactly how to make me wet, exactly what I need.
I don’t even have to tell him. He just gets it.
I slide my hands up and down broad chest and allowing my fingers to wander around the edges of his muscles, feeling the hardness just beneath his shirt. His hair is still short, but it’s shaggier now. I run my hands through it, allowing myself to become absorbed in the way he feels.
Moments like this make everything else in life worth it. Moments like this make the darkness fade away. Moments like this make me feel like no matter what else happens, I have him. I have Nash.
And in moments like this, I realize that’s the only thing that matters.
He reaches for the red laces that hold my cloak in place, and he unlaces them. Slowly, he pushes my cloak off my shoulders. It pools around my feet on the ground.
“You’re beautiful, Red,” he whispers.
“I could say the same thing.”
“I’m beautiful?”
“You have no idea.”
“You just like when I turn into the big, bad wolf,” he nips at my ear when he says it.
“Wolfy,” I whisper, and smile. We press our foreheads together for a second, remembering when we first met each other in the forest. He stayed in his shifter form and I called him Wolfy because I didn’t know his name.
Now, sometimes when we’re alone, I’ll call him the first name I ever chose for him, and we’ll laugh about it.
Tonight, though, there’s no laughing.
Tonight we’re all business.
He kisses me again, passionately.
He kisses me like there’s no tomorrow, like no one has ever needed to kiss as badly as we need to right now.
He kisses me like I’m the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.
He kisses me like there’s never been anyone else for him.
“Have you been a naughty girl, Red?” Nash licks my cheek, running his tongue up to my ear, and he bites me once more.