“Yeah?” Keith grinned.
“Don’t sound happy about my impending demise.” Brian sucked on his skin. “It’s not nice.”
“My mate thinks I’m sexy. How can I be anything but happy?”
“Of course you’re sexy. Anyone who sees you would say that.” Brian quickly straightened, put his palms on either side of Keith’s head, and met his gaze. “But you’re all mine so they have to stay away.”
Keith turned toward the women pretending not to be able to hear them. “My mate thinks I’m sexy and he wants me all to himself.” He smiled broadly. “Isn’t it great?”
“It’s great, Alpha,” Gloria said. “We’re happy for you. Also, that one’s moving so you probably want to wrap that up and focus.”
He frowned at the man now moaning on the ground. “Way to wreck the mood.” He looked at Brian. “Ready?”
“No,” he said, sounding frustrated. “But let’s get to it so we can finish work and go home.”
Keith turned back to his pack members. “By home, he means naked time. With me. His mate.”
They laughed and he grinned. Even with the unpleasant tasks awaiting them that evening and the challenges they’d face in the coming months cleaning up things in Green Field and combining their packs, Keith was overjoyed. He had spent his entire life feeling abandoned and believing fate had played a cruel trick on him. She had given him immeasurable power, but she had taken his father, his mother, and the man he had thought was his mate. And he hadn’t been able to save any of them. But now he knew differently. The person responsible for those harms was gone, dispatched by the most glorious blessing Mother Nature could bestow on him—his perfect mate.
Keith spread his arms wide, raised his face to the sky, closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply. He drew in the beauty of Mother Nature and then released it into his land and into his pack, immediately feeling the infectious mist of Rupert Jackson’s poisonous spirit dissipating. He could see the future laid out in front of him. Green Field would be whole and healthy. Joined with Purple Sky, the packs would prosper. And his mate would be beside him, their lives and paths intertwined and filled with joy.
Content, he opened his eyes and found Brian gazing at him, his expression awash in awe and affection. “I love you so very much, Alpha Keith Iredell.”
“I love you too, my mate.”
Epilogue
“Good morning.” Brian gazed at the beautiful man in his bed and, like it did every time he looked at Keith, his heart exploded. “How’d you sleep?”
“Mmm,” Keith mumbled as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. The blanket pooled at his waist and exposed his chest. He was all sharp edges and lean muscles. So gorgeous he took Brian’s breath away. “Like the dead, apparently, because you’re up before me.”
Brian was what he’d consider a normal sleeper. Eight hours every night. If he’d had a particularly physically taxing day, maybe a little longer, and if he was extraordinarily busy, maybe a little shorter, but always around eight hours. Healthy. Normal. And probably about twice as long as Keith slept. A year into their relationship, he still didn’t understand it.
“I made myself get up early today,” he confessed.
“Why?” Keith reached his arm out. “You’re too far away. I can’t touch you. And why are you dressed? Take off those clothes and c’mere.”
He shook his head. “I made you breakfast. If I get any closer to you, it’ll get cold.”
“So we’ll reheat it.” Keith curled his fingers toward himself, beckoning Brian over. “I’m hungry for you not food.”
Brian shook his head even as his feet took a step toward the bed and his arms stripped off his shirt. “You don’t eat enough.”
“I always eat with you.” Keith pressed his palms to the bed and leaned back, causing the blanket to shift and expose his V-lines.
Fuck he was hot. Another step toward the bed and this time he pushed his sweatpants down and stepped out of them. “Only because I make you.” They were together all the time, and when Brian sat for a meal, he still insisted that Keith join him.
“No underwear. Nice.” Keith grinned at him, his eyes sparkling. “Come a little closer and I can get a protein shot to start the day.”
Brian barked out a laugh. “Gross.”
“Is it?” He arched his eyebrows.
He gave up the pointless resistance, climbed onto the bed, and straddled his mate. “No. But I want you to eat real food.”
“After,” Keith murmured as he leaned forward. He brushed their lips together and then trailed kisses across Brian’s jaw as he curled one hand around the side of Brian’s neck and the other against his nape.
To the surprise of nobody, Rupert Jackson had been hoarding money and assets. They’d liquidated everything and used the funds to buy the river and build a bridge. The two packs now lived in harmony, with shifters moving back and forth for work and social gatherings. A healthy pack meant happy shifters and happy shifters meant matings and expanding families. Their packs were booming, babies were being born every week, and they were building to make sure they could sustain that growth.
