“Kitten.”
She took a shaky breath. “I’ve never had a place to belong. Not really. Not ever. I thought maybe if I worked hard enough, proved myself useful enough, somewhere would finally feel like home.” Her voice cracked on the last word. “But it never did. No matter how many hours I logged or how many problems I solved, I always felt like I was just… visiting. Waiting for someone to realize I didn’t fit and ask me to leave.”
“And now?”
“Now I have you.” She said it simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Because it was. “I found you, and suddenly all those years of waiting made sense. Like I was holding a place open without knowing what I was saving it for.”
He made a sound low in his throat—half growl, half something much more vulnerable.
“The pack might not accept me right away,” she continued. “Elder Howard will probably make my life difficult. I’ll miss the server room, and the city, and being able to order Thai food at two in the morning. But Adrian…” She leaned forward until their foreheads touched. “I would rather have one real home than a thousand places where I’m just useful.”
“You’re more than useful.”
“I know.” She smiled against his lips. “I’m also incredibly annoying. And stubborn. And apparently incapable of going to bed at a reasonable hour.”
“I noticed.”
“And I have every intention of continuing to work so you’re going to have to carry me to bed a lot. I hope you realize that.”
“I can live with that.”
His mouth found hers again, and this time there was nothing careful about it. He kissed her like she was oxygen and he was drowning, one hand sliding into her tangled hair while the other pressed against the small of her back, pulling her closer.
She melted into him, her mind finally, blissfully quiet.
When they broke apart, both breathing hard, she looked into those golden-brown eyes and said the words she’d been hovering on her tongue for days.
“I love you.”
He went completely still.
“I love you,” she repeated, stronger this time. “Not because you’re the Alpha, or because you’re gorgeous, or because you saved me from awkward confrontations with Elder Howard—though that last one is a significant bonus.”
“Kitten—”
“I love you. The stubborn, overprotective, annoyingly traditional man who carries me to bed when I refuse to sleep and growls at anyone who looks at me wrong. The one who shared his office so he could watch over me. The one who’s been so worried about whether I’d be happy that he barely slept all night.”
His hand tightened on her hip. “How did you?—”
“Your eyes are bloodshot, your muscles are tense in exactly the pattern they get when you’ve been awake too long, and you keep looking at me like I might evaporate.” She traced the dark shadows under his eyes. “I may not be a werewolf, but I can read data. And you’re practically screaming exhaustion.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” he admitted roughly. “I kept thinking about what Derek said.”
“What did Derek say?”
“That wanting to belong and actually belonging aren’t the same thing.” He pressed his forehead to hers again. “That I should think about what I’m asking you to give up.”
“Derek talks too much.”
“He’s not wrong.”
“He’s not right either.” She pulled back enough to meet his eyes properly. “You’re not asking me to give anything up. You’re offering me something I’ve been searching for my entire life.” She took his hand and pressed it flat against her chest, over her racing heart. “This is yours. It has been since you caught me in that hallway smelling like shower gel and panic.”
“You smelled like lavender and honey,” he corrected softly. “And something sweet I couldn’t identify. Still can’t.”
“It’s hope, probably.” She laughed, a little wetly. “Haven’t had much occasion to feel it before now.”
His expression shifted—still intense, but warmer now, the shadows beginning to recede from his eyes.
