“Fine.” I grinned. “Then let’s take one together.”
Liam’s brows raised. He looked pleasantly surprised. “Alright.”
I set him down gently on the edge of the bathtub before running my thumb over his cheek. His hair and skin were dusted in a layer of ash. I chuckled.
“What?” he asked.
“You look silly,” I said, kissing his forehead.
“You’re gonna get soot in your mouth,” he grumbled, half-heartedly shooing me away.
“I don’t care.” I kissed his mouth and parted my lips to slide my tongue inside when I tasted something like charcoal. I drew back, groaning.
Liam laughed. “I told you.”
Grumbling, I reached behind him to turn the tap on. As the water warmed, I gingerly undressed him and set his clothes aside in the laundry hamper. I quickly did the same and took his hand, guiding him into the shower. The warm spray of the water felt amazing on my skin. I closed my eyes, letting it run down my body.
Suddenly I felt something else touching me. Peeking an eye open, I saw Liam pressed close to me, running his hands up my chest. His eyes were half-clouded with desire. I growled playfully.
“Right here?” I asked.
Liam hummed in soft agreement, too busy concentrating on what he was doing to answer. His gentle hands traced patterns in my skin as rivulets of water poured over us. I shuddered as he brushed his thumbs over my nipples.
With most of the ash now washed away, I moved the wet hair out of his face. He glanced up at me and licked his lips. Pushing himself onto his toes, he leaned on my chest and kissed me.
“You know,” he began after he broke away. “There was a legend in my clan about fated mates.”
The phrase stirred familiar memories in the back of my mind. I nodded. “I know it, too.”
Liam paused, staring into my eyes with fire burning in them. “Do you believe in it?”
“I didn’t,” I said. At first his face fell, but then I continued, “Until I met you.”
He smiled and pressed his forehead to my collarbone. The water flowed over us.
“My grandmother told me about you,” he said quietly.
“Hmm?”
Liam lifted his head. “She told me… when the forest fire happened. She told me to seek the golden bear who glows like the sun.”
“What does that mean?” I grunted.
Liam rolled his eyes. “It meansyou.”
I blinked. “Me?”
“Yup.” He traced the loose shape of a bear into my chest and sighed. “I wasn’t sure what she meant by that for a long time. But when I saw you standing there in the flames, you were… golden.” He reached up to run a hand through my hair, letting the wet strands clump in his fingers.
I grunted. “What if it’s a different bear? I’m not even blond.”
“It’s you,” he growled. Passion burned in his voice. “You can feel it, too, can’t you?”
I knew exactly what Liam was talking about. That low, throbbing instinct that had awakened when I first met him. At first I’d been afraid of it – I’d never felt it before, not even with Tristan – but once I embraced it, it became the most natural thing in the world.
“I can,” I muttered before leaning in to kiss him. His lips were soft and damp, his tongue hot and needy. He moaned into my mouth as I pressed him gently against the shower wall. Aching desire stormed below my stomach. The air filled with our husky primal growls.
This was the true awakening of the alpha and omega bear.
