And yes, he smelled a little like smoke, but Maia was all right, and I wasn’t going to think about how much I fucking hated the scent of smoke on my mate—how I’d nearly lost him to fire.
We’d survived that one, and we’d survived this one.
Before he even hit the bottom step, I wrapped my arms around his hips and buried my nose in the curve of his neck. His silky hair tickled my cheek and I smiled as I pressed kisses against his skin just to remind myself that he was there.
With a soft hum, he pushed onto his toes and wrapped his arms around my neck.
“Good morning.” The greeting came out on a yawn and ended with a quiet laugh as I nuzzled into him. “You okay?”
Was I?
I’d very nearly kicked Grant’s ass, and everyone in our pack was all right, and—sure, Cash wouldn’t join us, but that wasn’t any different than it’d been before I knew how bad the old pack had gotten. I was just aware of it now, and it grated like sandpaper.
Still, something was missing, and I hadn’t realized what it was until I put words to it, trapped against the smooth curve of Dakota’s neck.
“Do you want to get married?”
Dakota laughed. “We’re mated. Isn’t that, like... just as serious.”
I nodded. It was.
“But we haven’t gotten to celebrate,” I whined into his shoulder. “Let’s plan our wedding.”
It was fast. He had so much to figure out and adjust to, and there was no rush for us to make our relationship legal on paper for a bunch of human courts.
I just wanted to. I wanted every part of him and I didn’t want to wait.
Whatever he needed to figure out, I’d make space for him to do that. If he wanted to go to Japan again, I’d be there as long as he wanted me. For magic—well, he had time and space and if he wanted to fling spells at me for practice, I’d let him. Whatever he needed. Whatever he wanted.
If he was there and safe and happy and mine, that was all that mattered to me.
All right, I didn’t expect him to be happy all the time, but I hoped to make him happy most of it.
And if Dakota could love and accept me, even when I failed, the rest wouldn’t matter so much.
He pulled back, a little pinch between his brows that wasn’t quite the elation I’d been looking for.
Of course, we hadn’t had coffee and it’d been a long day yesterday and he didn’t look displeased or anything.
“You’re not . . . worried anymore?”
“About?”
Dakota arched a brow at me.
“Oh! Grant?” I grinned, and my teeth felt especially sharp when I did.
Dakota was afraid that this was another way for me to stack the odds in case something terrible happened. It wasn’t theworst idea, to get married and give him some legal claim to my estate in the event that anything happened to me, but?—
“No.” I shook my head. “No. That asshole was so afraid to face me that he resorted to tricks to get out of a real fight. There’s no fucking way I’m letting him take our pack, our home.”
A smile spread on Dakota’s face, broad and slow. I felt the thrill that sparked in his chest at my confidence, and it bolstered me.
Swooping in, I kissed him, firm and quick and just a little wet. I couldn’t resist swiping my tongue across his beautiful smile.
“I just want to marry you,” I said, staring down into his dark brown eyes. “I want to show my mate off to the whole world. Spend the rest of my life making you smile like that. I want our pack to have something to celebrate when all this is over.”
Already, Dakota was nodding. His fingers carded through my hair at the nape of my neck, and it felt so damn good.
