Chapter 31 #2
Once we’re in the bathroom, I sit her gently on the bench within the shower, turning on only one of the showerheads, so she doesn’t get wet before the water is warm. Only then do I start to get undressed myself and join her.
The second I’m done and close enough again, I pull her into me. She fits against my chest like she always has, like she was made to rest in this exact space, her head tucked beneath my chin, her breath warm against my chest.
The bond between us hums softly, no longer sharp or strained, just there. Steady and healing.
Mine.
“We’re okay,” I murmur into her hair, pressing a kiss there without thinking.
Her fingers curl into my sides, her body pressing closer as the steam of the water begins to rise around us.
“We’re more than that,” she says softly.
Something in my chest tightens at that, almost too much to hold.
I tip her chin just enough to look at me, my thumb brushing along her cheek where dirt and exhaustion still linger. There’s something different in her eyes now. Not just relief.
Survival.
And it hits me all over again just how close I came to losing her.
My forehead rests against hers, centering myself before I let anything else take over. I need this woman in ways I’ve never known. I need her touch, her love, her…everything.
Except I won’t take from her. Not tonight. I can’t.
A small smile tugs at her mouth. “You know our bond is rather transparent.”
I hold her tighter, if that’s even possible. “Ignore me.”
“But I don’t want to.”
“Tonight is about you,” I remind her.
“Then kiss me.”
My hesitation lasts only a fraction of a second before my lips find hers because the bond also tells me that my mate needs me just as much as I do her.
There’s nothing urgent or desperate in the action.
Just certainty.
A slow, steady claiming of a moment we almost didn’t get.
Because for the first time since stepping into that arena, I’m not thinking about what could go wrong. I’m not bracing for loss. I’m not preparing to fight.
I’m just here.
With her.
My hand slides into her hair, holding her to me. No longer because I’m afraid she’ll be taken from me, but because she’s mine, solid and warm and real in my arms, and I don’t have to question it anymore.
Her breath catches softly against my mouth, and that sound alone is enough to undo whatever restraint I thought I still had left.
I deepen the kiss as I reach down to catch her thighs, lifting her until she wraps her legs around my waist, her body aligning with mine like it was always meant to.
Her hands slide up my chest, her skin warm and alive against mine, as the last of the tension that we’ve both been carrying finally dissolves, replaced with something we can’t get from anywhere else.
And I know right then that rest isn’t what my mate needs.
Because, right now, this…
Just her, me, us…
It’s all we’ll ever need.
Morning comes faster than I want it to, but only because I don’t want to let go of the quiet that we’ve captured in the solitude of our bedroom.
Rowan’s still curled against me when I open my eyes, her body warm and loose in a way I haven’t felt from her in longer than I care to admit.
The tension that’s lived in her lately—something I’ve grown used to feeling through the bond, whether I realized it or not—has finally eased, leaving behind something softer and steadier.
Her breathing is even, her hand resting against my chest like it’s always belonged there.
The bond between us feels different now. Not louder or heavier, but…certain. Because of that, I don’t move right away.
I let myself exist in this moment, my hand tracing slow, absent patterns along her back as if committing the reality of her to memory all over again. She’s here. She’s safe. We made it through something that should have broken us, and instead, we’re still standing.
A quiet knock at the door breaks through the stillness, soft but deliberate, and I close my eyes briefly as I let out a slow breath through my nose.
Rowan stirs against me, her hold tightening around my hip. “Don’t,” she murmurs, her voice rough with sleep and just enough stubbornness to make me want to ignore Elias entirely, who I can sense is on the other side of that door.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” I tell her, pressing a kiss into her hair as I keep my arm around her.
The knock comes again, quieter this time, but no less firm.
If he’s here, it’s important and not something for me to ignore through the pack link.
The rightness of that thought makes my chest rumble.
“What is it?” Rowan asks, more awake in an instant.
“Not sure yet,” I tell her, tucking the blankets tighter around her. “But I’ll find out.”
I get out of bed and toss on pajama pants before I go to the door, cracking it open to see Elias. “What?”
He at least has the decency to look apologetic.
“They’re here.”
Unfortunately, that could be a number of people, so I ask, “Who exactly?”
“The rest of the wolf council,” he says. “They want to see both of you if you’re available.”
Rowan, now covered in a robe, joins me then, her eyes still heavy with sleep, but awareness is settling in fast.
“We’ll see them,” she says without needing any other information. “Give us five minutes to get dressed.”
“You don’t have to—” I start, already prepared to shut this down if she so much as wavers.
“Yes, we do,” she says gently, cutting me off before I can finish.
I study her for a moment, taking in the way she holds herself. She’s still recovering from the fight—I can feel that through the bond—but she’s not struggling. Not pushing past something she shouldn’t. She wants to see this through and move forward.
And I know how much that matters to her, which is why I agree so easily.
I nod once, then look back to Elias. “Let them know we’ll be down soon.”
He dips his head and disappears as quietly as he arrived, and I close the door behind him.
Rowan’s already moving to the closet by the time I’ve turned around, and I follow suit, matching her momentum.
Before our five minutes have passed, we’re already moving downstairs. Elias is waiting at the base of the stairs and leads us outside, where the rest of the council members are waiting for us.
Once we step beyond the front door, the air feels different. Not lighter, exactly, but clearer. As if something heavy has been stripped away, leaving behind space that hasn’t quite figured out what it’s supposed to hold yet.
But I don’t concern myself with that for long.
The other alphas are already gathered when we step out.
The five of them are arranged in a loose line that feels more intentional than formal.
Taren stands at the front, steady and unyielding as ever, with Bram, Dax, Kael, and Brynn flanking her in a way that feels less like a show of power and more like a return to something that’s been out of balance for too long.
Rowan’s hand brushes mine as we step forward, and I twist my fingers around hers.