“I think that was Evan telling me he doesn’t like me.”
“Oh, Evan doesn’t like anybody but Caleb,” he mutters. “I was referring to the remark about Caleb and bed.” Liamscratches his jaw. “It almost felt like Evan was flirting with Caleb.”
“You think?”
Liam shrugs. “It felt like that. But Caleb was married to a woman before. Remember? She died a few years back, but they were really happy together.”
I laugh gruffly. “Well, as you well know, that doesn’t always mean anything. Look at us.”
Liam grimaces. “Good point.”
Later, I sit on a log with Liam beside me, his arm around my shoulders. The warmth of the fire on my face, the cold at my back, the smoke curling up into the stars. Liam’s scent wraps around me, familiar and grounding. Through the bond, I feel his contentment humming against my ribs like a second heartbeat.
I think of Ben, and guilt flickers through me. I probably could have been happy with him, but I’d never have loved him like I do Liam. I don’t regret that I broke things off with him, but I hurt him, and I do regret that. He’d taken the news better than I’d expected, which almost made it worse. He said he hoped Liam knew how lucky he was. I told him I was sorry, and I meant it. Ben had been good to me when I needed someone, and I’ll always be grateful for that.
I look at the faces around the fire. Connor and Dana sharing a blanket. Jack flirting with a blond girl who’s enjoying the attention. Viv leaning against Marco’s shoulder, his arm around her. Nora bouncing her sleepy toddler. These wolves share something that runs deeper than friendship or even family. It’s in their blood, their bones, their wolves. A thread that connects them across generations, binding them to this mountain and to each other. Pack.
And now, because of Liam, I’m part of it.
I give a gruff, almost disbelieving laugh.
Liam presses his lips to my temple. “What are you thinking?”
I lean into him, watching the sparks drift upward into the dark sky. “I was thinking that I spent my whole life believing I was meant to be alone. That something was wrong with me because I never fit anywhere.” I swallow. “I don’t think that anymore.”
His arm tightens around me. “Good. Because you fit here, Jude.”
“But I wouldn’t if you didn’t love me.” I meet his warm gaze. “I fit with you, and so I fit with them. It’s kind of like a puzzle.”
He doesn’t argue, which I appreciate. I’m right. Liam is why I’ve found my pack. Liam is why I belong. Why I’m now loved. Why I’m now happy.
“Can we go home, Liam?” I ask softly, content, but suddenly drained. “I want to go home.”
He smiles. “Of course.”
We say our goodbyes and Viv gives me more hugs and more reassurances. We’re quiet on the drive home, and when we get in bed, we hold each other tight. I’m so grateful that I get to be loved by Liam. I don’t know why I was chosen to have a mate, but I’ll be eternally grateful for it.
We kiss and that always leads to sex. By the time Liam mounts me from behind, I’m begging for his cock. He takes me deep and slow, rocking into me and whispering my name. I moan and hump the bed, eyes stinging with unshed tears. I’m so grateful for this man. So grateful for his love. For the bond.
When I come, he comes too, his warm seed filling me, calming me. We clean up and he holds me, kissing my hair and stroking my back. My heart aches with all the emotions swirling inside of me. It’s all very foreign but beautiful. Liam has given me everything I ever wanted, even though I’d have never admitted I craved it.
I came to Golden Peak expecting to put in a few years and then move on to someplace else. I never expected to find love. I definitely never expected to have a mate bond or a pack.
I look down at Liam as he sleeps soundly beside me, and my heart aches. He has one heavy arm possessively across my waist, and his breath is warm against my shoulder. Through the window, the moon hangs full and bright above the pines, casting platinum light across his face.
Something in my wolf stirs at the sight of him bathed in the moonlight. A pulse of gratitude rises inside of me. It travels through my blood, through the bond humming in my chest, and reaches upward toward that ancient light that has watched over wolves since the first one ever ran.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” I whisper. “Thank you forhim.”
I don’t know if the moon hears me. I don’t know if anything does. Until Liam, I never had faith in anything. But my wolf has no such doubt. It simply knows, the same way it knew Liam was my mate before my human side caught up. My wolf doesn’t believe it’s howling into the void. It believes the gratitude goes somewhere. That there’s something out there, nameless, older than language, woven into the moon and the mountain and the blood, that cares about wolves and our bonds.
And maybe for the first time, I believe that too.
Epilogue
Liam
When Jude and I walk through my parents’ front door Christmas Day, the entire home smells of roasted ham, cinnamon and cloves, potatoes, and fresh bread. Mom has been cooking since yesterday. I know this because she called me three times to ask whether Jude preferred pecan or pumpkin pie, whole-berry cranberries or jellied, sourdough rolls or Hawaiian. She’s very concerned that his first real Christmas with us goes well. The fact she cares so much about Jude already means everything to me.
