He smiled up at me. “I did.” He slid his hands around my neck, pulling me close. “My magic seems to work better with you.”
Smugness radiated through me, and Axel laughed.
“You like that, huh?”
“I do.” I moved to lie alongside him, taking his hand in mine. “Do you think it’s because of this?” I traced the edge of the dark swirls on his arm.
Axel shrugged but twined his fingers with mine. “Maybe. But I think it’s always worked better with you.” His hand went to his throat, fingers tracing the edge of my bite mark. My heart clenched at the sight of it. “Do you feel any different?”
Did I?
I hadn’t expected to, hadn’t thought anything had changed, but now he’d asked, I let myself reallyfeel.
There was a warmth behind my ribs, a steady thrum that I’d attributed to the afterglow of what we’d done, but it hadn’t faded. I rubbed my chest in wonder as that thrum increased when Axel frowned, worry creasing his brow.
I’d felt that.
I’d felthim.
“Axel—” The words stuck in my throat, but I needed to say this. Needed to share with him the amazing gift he’d given me. “I canfeelyou.” I grabbed his hand and placed it over my heart. “Here.”
“Chlah’al.” Axel’s gaze was as tear-filled as mine as the enormity of it sank in.
“Thank you,” I murmured, tugging him close. “I never thought I’d have this. Thatwe’dhave this.”
Axel blinked, a tear rolling down his cheek, but his expression was anything but sad as he cupped my jaw. “It’s always been you. It just took me a while to see it.” His smile was blinding as he inched close enough to kiss me. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”Now and forever.
“Now and forever,” he echoed back.
I wrapped my arms around him, sighing as the thrum in my chest settled into a soft, easy rhythm. It wasn’t a true shifter soulbond.
It was something better.
It was unique and it was ours.
And that was all I’d ever wanted.
EPILOGUE
One month later.
Talis
I stoodin the kitchen doorway of the main pack house, watching Axel with Gabriel. They were discussing magic, or maybe the fae language, I wasn’t paying all that much attention because my gaze kept drifting to the mark that sat just above his collarbone.
My mark.
The skin had healed overnight, but left behind was a silvery scar that I couldn’t seem to keep my hands off. Or my mouth for that matter. Not that Axel minded, many a quick kiss to that spot had led to something drawn-out and filthy.
I sensed Rys coming our way, and when he stopped beside me, I whispered, “Do you ever get tired of looking at it?”
He followed my gaze easily enough and snorted. “No. Never.” Then his voice dropped lower, taking on a rough edge. “Every day when I see my mark on him, it reminds me how lucky I am, not only to have found my soulmate, but that we got a second chance to do this right.” His smile turned soft, intimate, the one I’d only seen on his face when he looked at Gabriel.
Probably similar to the one I had for Axel.
His words weren’t all that far off from how I felt too. It hadn’t taken ten years for Axel and me to sort ourselves out, but it felt like it. And there was a period of time when I’d thought it would never happen.
