A low groan vibrated in Asher’s chest as he moved closer to her and brought his wrist up to his mouth. With eyes flashing bright and hot, his pupils as thin as razors, he sank his fangs into the corded muscles and tendons and opened his vein for her.
“Drink,” he said tenderly. “Be mine forever.”
“Asher,” she whispered, lowering her head to accept his gift—and his bond. “I have been yours all along.”
He dropped his head back on a hissed curse as she took the first sip. His blood rushed hot and tingling across her tongue.
Each swallow was a revelation, sending heat and power roaring into her with the force of a tidal wave.
She moaned and took some more, her thirst uncoiling, awakening something inside her that she never even knew existed.
It washim. . . Asher.
She felt him in her senses, in her marrow, in every shimmering, unfurling particle of her being.
She felt his love braiding together with hers as their bond took hold.
Asher eased her back down onto the bed beneath him and entered her while she fed, her hungry mouth still latched on to his wrist.
She couldn’t get enough of him, this incredible Breed male.
Her man.
Her love.
Her eternal mate.
EPILOGUE
Four weeks later
Asher hammered the last nail into place and stood back with a grunt of satisfaction.
“What do you think, guys?”
Five young boys stood in a semicircle in the wood shop, assessing the newly finished bunkbed they’d all worked on together. Max, the oldest of the dark-haired twins, mirrored Asher’s stance, with his hands cocked on his hips and his hammer dangling from the loop on his belt.
“Looks good and strong to me.”
His brother Billy nodded in enthusiastic agreement. “I like it.”
Another nod from Juan, who stood between Tyler and the newest kid to move out to the ranch, a shy twelve-year-old named Kevin.
Asher met the kid’s uncertain gaze. “You think this’ll work for you, Kev?”
“Yeah,” he murmured, trying to hide his smile.
Rather than run the ranch as a shelter, he and Naomi had decided to make it a true home. Guardianship papers were in process with the state for Penny and the four boys, and if Kevin decided to stick around, they would soon be adding him to the official family roster too.
While it could normally take months, if not years, for adoption cases to clear the courts, Asher and Naomi had a little help on their side in the form of a certain JUSTIS officer who’d since become a friend. Rachel Reynolds had not only swept the investigation of Slater’s death under the rug, but had also made sure none of the surveillance footage taken at Moda that night survived.
As for Slater’s money, Naomi had donated it to a family shelter in the city—including the million-plus casino prize she inherited from Michael as the only beneficiary listed in his will. His house was razed and the lot would soon be repurposed into a neighborhood park.
Asher smiled at the boys and clapped Max on the shoulder. “Think we should go get Naomi and Penny so they can check out our work?”
“Sure,” Max said. “Then will you show me how to carve detail work like you’re doing with that piece over there?”
Asher nodded, glancing at the new project he’d been working on solo for the past couple weeks. It was covered with a sheet to keep Naomi from getting nosy about the gift he was making for her, but he’d already shared the secret with the boys.
