“No.” His voice turned fierce, his hands tightening on me. “I left because I was a coward. The bond should have made me stay. Should have made me fight for you. Should have made it impossible to walk away. Other wolves search their whole lives for what I threw away.”
“But you came back.”
“No.” He shook his head. “YOU came back. You found me, even dying. Even hating me. You came back when I didn’t deserve it.”
“We found each other,” I compromised.
“You brought me back. Our children brought me back.” He kissed me softly, reverently. “Most wolves never find their fated mate. Some search for decades. We’re blessed by the moon herself, and I nearly destroyed it with my fear.”
“Nearly,” I emphasized. “But not quite. We’re here now.”
“We’re here now,” he agreed.
I looked down at the ring on my right hand, the sapphire catching the soft light. His grandmother’s ring, meant for his mate. For me. I’d been wearing it on the wrong hand, holding back that last bit of commitment out of fear or spite or both.
Not anymore.
I deliberately moved the ring to my left hand, sliding it onto my ring finger where it belonged. Knox’s breath caught, his whole body going still under me.
“Ask me,” I said softly.
“Lina-”
“Ask me properly. Ask your mate to marry you.”
He shifted us carefully, moving me off his lap so he could slide from the bed and kneel beside it. Even naked, he looked every inch the Alpha, powerful and sure. But his hands trembled as he took mine.
“Basilinna Marie Winters,” he began, his voice rough with emotion. “Mother of my children, my fated mate, my heart, my soul, my everything. You’ve already given me more than I deserve. You’ve given me a family, a future, a reason to be better. Will you give me forever? Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” I pulled him up for a kiss that said everything words couldn’t. “Yes to all of it. To marriage, to mate bonds, to forever. Yes, Knox.”
He crushed me against him, kissing me with a desperation that made my toes curl. When he finally pulled back, we were both breathing hard.
“When?” he asked. “Tomorrow? Tonight? Now? I’ll wake up the whole pack if you want.”
I laughed at his eagerness. “Soon. After we deal with Mary and the conspiracy and your parents. I want to get married without death threats hanging over our heads.”
“Fair enough.” He settled back onto the bed, pulling me against him. “But soon. I’ve waited five years. I don’t want to wait much longer.”
“Soon,” I promised, curling into his warmth.
We fell asleep tangled together, my ring catching the moonlight through the small window, finally complete, finally whole, finally exactly where we belonged.
34
— • —
Knox
A bang on the door jolted us awake. I checked the time on my phone and groaned. Barely dawn. Who the hell showed up at someone’s house at this ungodly hour?
I threw on pants and crept upstairs, leaving Lina to burrow back under the covers. Noah’s house was quiet, the twins still asleep in my room where we’d left them. Through the living room window that hadn’t been damaged in the attack, I caught sight of a familiar black car parked in the driveway.
My blood turned to ice.
That car. That specific model, with the tinted windows and the subtle pack insignia on the license plate. Only two people in the world drove that exact vehicle.
I raced back downstairs, taking the steps three at a time.
