She lay there, a pensive look on her face. Then she huffed out a breath and tilted her eyes to look into mine.
“Is it really different this time?”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Youknowwhat I mean, Levi.”
I did. It was evident in the look she gave me—a combination of worry, hope, and fear. She was still thinking about Naphele.
“How can we truly be together if you’ll have all these thoughts about Naphele at the back of your mind?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but she started speaking again before I could.
“You said you’ve given up on finding her, at least you did until I left, and I get why you’d go back to looking. There’snothing upsetting about that. You’d been left by the woman you thought loved you. I’m talking about now. In the future. Even if it’s only subconsciously, how can youfullylove me with that always stewing in your head?
“I want you,” she said, putting a hand to my cheek, “but I can’t come second, and I can’t make you choose. You’ve got to do that on your own, and I don’t know if you can.”
I put my hand over hers. “Will I always love Naphele? Yes. She was my mate, and I had a whole life with her,” I said. “Will she be on my mind sometimes? Of course, but you are the one I want to be with. I’m not looking for her anymore,” I said, and the truth in my words surprised me. “Maybe Naphele is coming back, maybe she’s not. Hell, maybe she doesn’t even want to. We’ll figure out who killed her, and maybe then her spirit can be at peace. If nothing else, that will give me closure.
“What I know is that I have you. I have you here, right now, and I don’t want to lose you again. You have no idea how awful it was without you. It was like someone had hollowed out a piece of me. I wasn’t whole, and now, with you, I am.”
Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. I couldn’t let her go again, could never let her think she was anything less than my first priority.
“You mean it,” she said, a statement, not a question.
“I do,” I whispered. “I’ve seen what hell life is without you, and I never want to go back to that again.”
She wiped her eyes. “Okay,” she said and a sound—half laugh, half sob—fell from her lips as she pulled me close and kissed me.
This kiss was gentle, a brushing of lips and a mixing of breath, a binding and unspoken agreement that we belonged to each other. When she finally pulled away, she gave a tiny shiver.
“Can we get dressed?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah.” I looked over at the shirt I’d ripped off her. “Sorry about that,” I said, nodding to it.
She laughed, rolling her eyes as she tugged her pants up. “It was worth it. It was so fucking hot.”
I still wore my flannel shirt, and since I had a T-shirt on underneath it, I gave it to June. It engulfed her, the sleeves hanging three inches past her fingertips, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“Oh, it’s so warm.” She wrapped her arms around herself, the sleeves flapping slightly.
We sat back down, and I wrapped my arms around her as we gazed out at the valley below.
“What do we do now?” June asked. “About Anders and Eugenia?”
I snorted in disgust. “They can have each other, for all I care. Enjoy being miserable shits together for the rest of their lives.”
“Not that,” June said. “I’m still technically his mate.Pairedmate, sure, at least until the ceremony tomorrow anyway. I’ll need to officially reject him.”
“Then that’s what you do,” I said with a shrug. “I’ll be with you.”
“Okay,” she said, nodding to herself, but I could hear the hesitation in her voice.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“The same thing that’s always wrong.” She sighed. “I’m worried about what happens after. Will Anders banish me? What about my grandparents, and my friend Beatrice? I don’t want to lose them forever because that douchebag wants to have his cake and eat it too. I’m right back to where I started.”
There was a chance things could go badly. His pack would be scandalized at the revelation that he’d cheated on his chosen mate, sure, but he was the alpha. They’d fall in line unless he did something even worse. In my time in town, I hadn’t reallyrun across anyone who seemed the type to challenge him for leadership. I also worried that he might make things tough for June or her family. Anders was vindictive, and that made me a little uneasy. I’d do everything in my power to make sure that didn’t happen. I had faith we could figure it all out.
