Also, I really needed him to teach me how to speak out loud in my wolf form. That was freaking cool.
“I mean, you do kind of blend in with the snowy landscape, I’ll give you that.”
He remained silent, his gaze intensifying with each stride. To my surprise, he wrapped his arms around me the instant he stopped before me, bringing me into his warm, Beasty embrace.
I needed the hug more than I cared to admit, so I sank into him, resting my cheek on his soft, furry chest and enjoying the sound of his heart beating against my ear. Strong. Steady. Sexy as hell even as the Beast.
Hannes’s fingers played with my strands, caressing them all the way down to my waist as silence embraced us, soothing the anxiousness still hidden deep within me.
And yeah, I was naked as a brand-spanking-new-baby because not all my clothes were spelled for shifting yet, but I didn’t even care. The Beast’s hug was like being wrapped in a giant, fuzzy, comforting blanket, and I was happily melting in it.
“I’m always going to be there for you no matter what,” Hannes suddenly whispered against my ear, his strong arms tightening around my waist and back.
He had no idea how much this simple gesture meant to me.
“Because you chose me too, Mr. Beasty?”
He chuckled at that, and I grinned, loving the way his chest rumbled against me.
“We all did. Beast, Man, and Wolf. One doesn’t exist without the other… and none of us exist without you.”
My heart quivered, Natasha’s emotion reaching me. I wanted to say so much to him. I wanted to scream it, but I didn’t even know where to start.
Was that Natasha’s emotion I was feeling? Totally. Maybe even Starlight’s…
Mine? Definitely not. I didn’t do emotions… Did I?
A heavy breath sank his chest, and my cheek with it. It felt like that had been my chance to swoon him too, and he knew it. As though he understood why I hadn’t, the Beast let go of me, putting distance between us.
My body shivered, suddenly cold with the absence of his embrace—regardless of my shifter nature. I wanted to pull him back to me but the look in his eyes stopped me.
“I guess this was my mistake,” Hannes murmured, glancing into my eyes. “I wanted you so badly that I thought one day you’d love me too… I’m sorry, I never stopped to consider there was a reason the Moon Goddess didn’t choose me. She let me be in your life, but perhaps you were never meant to love me back… I’ll give you the time you need.”
Tuning on his heel, he began to walk back into the tree line.
The freezing cold suddenly captured my heart too, chilling my entire body.
“You love me?” I called after the Beast, my throat burning with each word.
His steps halted, and Hannes faced me, shifting back into a man. “I fell in love with you the moment you had the nerve to call me a soft little pup.”
My heart began to race with his confession, and I blinked, remembering the moment he caught me in his arms. “At the beach,” I whispered. “After I fell from the sky.”
“Like a deadly, feisty, and very stubborn angel.” Offering me a gentle smile, he left.
“Wait!” I called after him. “You couldn’t have possibly known I was stubborn back then. I was practically unconscious.”
He snorted at that, but his steps didn’t stop.
Damn it! Was he really going to make me do this?
Asshole.
“I want you, okay!” I threw my arms in the air. “And not just because you are impossibly hot, with your somehow half-wealthy prince, half-rugged sexy lumberjack self, and your flannel shirts, and the grumpy Beast. And definitely not just because of that happy-go-lucky smile that makes my heart skip a beat every single fucking time!”
I groaned.
“Your smile can melt the panties off any woman, did you know that? Even as the Beast!” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. “I probably shouldn’t have told you that because you might use it on someone else, and then I will have to kill the poor, unsuspecting bitch.”
