“We’re just changing the sheets, darling,” he said.
I nodded, taking another drag of his scent, which was so rich I could almost taste it on my tongue. “What happens now? Are we staying here?”
“We’re leaving tomorrow to spend a few days on the water,” Henry said. “We’ll sleep on the yacht, sail during the day, and visit some smaller islands.”
I smiled against his skin. “That sounds perfect.”
After spending my life without ever seeing the ocean, I’d found a special freedom being on the sea.
118
LIAM
My pack was asleep around me, but my fluttering heart kept me awake. I couldn’t stop tracing my fingers along my bond mark, every touch causing sparks of excitement inside me as I felt my omega. It was like she was nestled within my very soul.
She stirred in my arms, her nose skimming along my throat as if seeking more of my scent. Her hand took a slow path as it moved up my body until her fingers ran through my hair.
My arms tightened, her skin so damn soft beneath them. I kissed the top of her head and murmured, “Go to sleep, sweetheart.”
“I love you, Liam.” Her words were a whisper in the dark, her breath skating across my skin.
My heart stuttered, still in awe that Westin was mine forever. “I’ve loved you from the beginning.”
She needed to sleep, but I couldn’t resist cupping her face, tilting her jaw so I could take her lips. She was all sweetness as she opened for me, her tongue dancing with mine. My lips grew hungrier as her taste grew impossibly sweeter until I was drowning in sugar and vanilla and strawberries.
I pulled back with a gasp. The room was filled with the most delicious scent I’d ever smelled. It was all fragrant strawberries and vanilla cake, and it made my mouth water.
And with it came a pull in my very soul that saidmate.
“Sweetheart, your scent,” I choked out.
Her lip trembled as she took a hesitant inhale. I pulled her close, my chest rising and falling with each heavenly breath. I knew it was possible for her scent to come back, but I hadn’t been expecting it.
My skin grew wet and I realized she was crying. My hands were hot against her skin as I wiped her tears away.
“I never thought I’d get it back.” She reached up to grasp my hand.
I felt the depth of her heartache and joy through the bond.
“Now we’ll forever know what I never needed proof of—you are mine. My sweet mate. My everything.”
She shuddered against my skin as her arms entangled around me, pulling me closer. “And you’re mine, forever.”
119
WESTIN
The boat cabin was dark when I woke, my guys’ steady breathing the only sound mixing with the lapping waves through our open hatch. Something was calling me towards the water like a gentle string tugging on my heart. I followed the feeling out of bed, making my way to the front of the boat. The sun was barely starting to peek over the horizon, the stars still twinkling in the lightening blue of the night sky.
I sat down on a cushion, the waves keeping me company.
We’d been on the water for a couple of days now, and I was thankful to have a few quiet minutes. So much had happened in the past few months. I’d gone from being completely alone in a cold, dark house to being on a yacht in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea with my pack. I traced my fingers over the new silvery marks on my skin.
My bonded mates.
Tears streamed down my face, and for once, I didn’t try to stop them. They contained all my heartache and grief—the depth of my pain from losing my parents, those dark months at the Designation Academy, the piercing loneliness I experienced as I hid myself away. But the tears also contained all my joy andgratitude—for the love I’d felt from my parents and Cat when they were still with me, my friends who stuck by me, and my guys who loved me more than words could say.
Sometimes life gives you so much less and so much more than you deserve.
