“He’s told me about all the times you would be there for him when he changed back from his wolf form. I’m not complaining; I’m beyond grateful you’ve been there for him. I’m just curious, what was it about him?”
“He has a good heart.He revealed it to me from the moment we first met. It was what first drew me to him,”she replied in a soft tone.Maybe it wasn’t thefirstthing I’d noticed about him, more curious about the wolf than anything, but after getting to know him, it was what made me fall in love with him.
“Once I saw how affected he was by his transformation, it tugged on my soul. I, too, know what it is like to lose yourself and do things you wish you hadn’t. It’s a lonely feeling that makes you want to pull away. I didn’t like the idea of him facing it on his own. Not if I could help him through it.”
My thoughts shifted to the minotaur, Bryan. How easily I had reached into his mind, which was the one place he didn’t want me. The violation of it sat heavily in me, and a part of me wanted to slink away to hide, while the other part wanted to cling to the comfort I felt from my mate. I couldn’t begin to imagine what kind of state I would be in if I didn’t have Rudy here. The dragon, too.
“He’s no longer on his own,” Aurelia said, giving me another nudge with her head. “And neither are you. You two take care of each other.”
“We will.” The words were spoken instead of thought, making Rudy groan awake. When he saw the dragon resting at my side with her wing covering his arm, he let out a soft sigh.
“Hi, Ellie, I’m glad you’re here. We’re both okay, though.”
Ellie licked his hand in response. “Yes. You are. I will leave you to each other. Goodnight, friends.”At that, she disappeared again.
I turned to face Rudy and pushed a strand of hair out of his eyes. “She said she knows we’ll take care of each other.”
Rudy brushed his lips against mine and met my gaze. “We will. I willalwaystake care of you, however I can. There’s no doubt that you will do the same. I can feel it in my heart, in my body, and in my soul. My perfect mate.”
“I love you and your beautiful heart, Wolfie.” I gave him another light kiss.
With a glance up at the stars, I thought of how nice it would be to stay suspended in this moment forever. Naked, embracing, out in nature, and under the moon. It was a perfect moment, but one I knew had to come to an end, at least for now. Rudy’s friends had been deeply concerned about me, well, about us, while we were gone. It was only right to catch them up on everything. And then there was Bryan. Fuck, I needed to talk to him.
“I think we should head inside,” I said reluctantly.
Rudy’s eyes roamed over mine. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Thank you, though. This was…” I waved a hand over us, my body still twinging with pleasure. “Fuck, this was perfect. You were perfect. Exactly what Ineeded.”
“It was what I needed, too.” Rudy gave me a warm smile. It was more than the sex, though it was fucking amazing. It was being here with him, feeling our bodies and souls so tangled together, casting out the shadows. It was being held in his warm embrace and feeling like nothing else could touch me. It was the love between us.
Rudy nuzzled into my neck and breathed in my scent before letting out a sigh. He rolled away from me and stood up, holding his hand out to me. I took it, enjoying the sight of his bare body shining beneath the moon’s light. Damn! I really would never get tired of his body, or the way he looked me over, appraising my nakedness. Naked. Right.
Looking around, I took in the sight of my shredded clothes, right down to the lacy briefs he’d ripped off me like I’d been fantasizing. The reality of it was so much hotter than what I’d imagined. Except now they were in tatters; not a single piece of clothing was salvageable. A laugh popped out of me. “You’re a killer, Wolfie. Straight-up killer.”
When he followed my gaze, I could see his cheeks redden even in the moonlight, and felt a wave of mortification come from him. “Shit. I’m sorry.”
I walked up to him, tilting my chin up to look at him. “I’m not. Hottest fucking moment of my life. Only… I’d prefer not to walk back naked.”
Rudy sucked on his teeth. He picked up his large shirt and threw it at me. I pulled it on, laughing athow far it hung down my legs. Ridiculous, but at least I wouldn’t be all balls out. Rudy put on his boxers and jeans, which had managed to survive the ordeal. I stuffed all the remnants of my clothes into my messenger bag and slung it over my shoulder. We were quite the pair. Him in his baggy pants, me in a shirt I could drown in. It was completely laughable, and somehow, completely us.
Taking his hand, we walked back to the inn. I’d been hoping to have a moment to clean up and change before interacting with anyone, but they were all there in the lobby, waiting. I didn’t have to look to know Rudy’s cheeks were bright red. He tried to pull his hand out of mine, but I held it tight.
With my chin lifted high, I said with as much confidence as I could muster, “We’ll be right back.”
Zephyr snorted while the others tried to avert their eyes. I marched boldly past them in my T-shirt dress and headed straight to the courtesy closet. Knowing my clothes were in tatters in my bag, it finally occurred to mewhythe closet existed. I might not have shifted and lost my clothes, but my mate sure did a thorough job of them. A laugh bubbled up in my chest, and Rudy met my gaze as I pulled clothes off the racks. After all that effort to go shopping, I ended up back here anyway.
“This is going to be a weird life together, isn’t it?” I snorted.
Rudy shrugged. “I’m a werewolf, so yeah, probably. Is that… a bad thing?”
I shook my head with a grin and gave Rudy a hard kiss while handing him his shirt back. “No. I was never going to have a normal life anyway. With you, it’s the very best kind of weird, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
He gave me an adorable half-smile that made me want to kiss him again and again. Unfortunately, Rudy’s friends were waiting for us, so it wasn’t the right time, but the gorgeous, adorable, sexy, fierce beast was mine. All mine. We would have a lifetime of stolen moments together.
When we returned to the lobby, fully clothed, the others were sitting in a circle set around a small couch that was clearly left open for us. This was different. I’d met a few of them on an individual basis, but now I was here in the inner circle of Creature Comforts, feeling like an outsider.
Once we sat down, I felt all eyes on me. I was starting to feel like I was about to be interrogated. “Hey. I’m sure you all have questions, but do you think we should maybe do it somewhere more private? Rudy trusts you all, which means I do, too, but I’m not sure I want any random passerby hearing what I might say.”
