Chapter Eight
Abel
“What do you mean you have to leave?” My voice cracked with the question. I thought we had been having an okay time. Sure, there was some tension, but that was to be expected considering our history and the fact that we hadn’t seen each other in years. We were doing the best we could.
And now he wanted to leave?
Denali put his fists on his hips and dipped his head.
He shook it, a wave of sadness coming from him.
Maybe it was the proximity or the fact that I was in love with him and he was my mate, but our bond had grown.
It was somehow twice as thick as it had been when we were younger.
I hadn’t thought that possible. When he left, he took half of me with him.
He shrugged.
I swallowed around the growing boulder in my throat. Tears threatened to pour out. This was like when he left all over again but hurt twice as bad. Cut three times as deep. “I thought we were doing okay.”
“My bear isn’t having okay, and it’s exhausting fighting him. I can’t be here with you like this.”
“We can’t be friends anymore?” This time, I let the tears flow.
“No.” He sighed, and the sides of his neck grew red. “It hurts too much. I want to. I want you in my life, but my bear is demanding—”
I stepped toward him, but he lifted his hands, warding me off. I ignored the action. “Denali, what are you saying? What does your bear want?”
Those deep brown eyes stared into me. In front of me wasn’t the young man I’d once been friends with.
In his stead was a man. An alpha. Power and strength poured off him.
We’d grown up, so it was time we faced some things.
“My bear is demanding I mate you, Abel. He sees you and your wolf as our mates. He sees you as my mate. He always has.”
My chest released the tension I’d held since I arrived here, and maybe since that Christmas Eve so long ago. “I know.”
Squinting, he took a step toward me now. I would not stop him. “What do you mean, you know?”
“My wolf is telling me you’re my mate. You always have been, Denali.”
My confession hung between us, a life-changing statement. My heart nearly beat out of my chest, hearing the truth spoken out loud.
“But you said you didn’t scent me. You don’t scent me as your mate. Since we shifted, you always smelled like chocolate and peppermint bark, and now, you’re telling me I’m your mate but no scent?”
“I still don’t scent you like that. You smell like you. You smell like my best friend and like the alpha that I’ve been in love with for most of my life. No cinnamon rolls or honey buns or whatever candle or river, but you smell like you.”
Denali scrubbed his hands over his face. “Then, how do you know I’m your mate? Please. Tell me everything. This is killing me, thinking of losing you again.”
“That’s the thing.” I put my hands on his chest. He closed his eyes and his breaths stilled under my touch. “You’re not going to lose me because I belong to you. My wolf is telling me that I’m yours. That your bear is my mate.”
“And the scent?” he whispered.
“Fuck the scent. Denali, I’m yours. I’ve always been yours. I can’t imagine ever wanting or needing someone as much as I want or need you. And we’re going to let this go? Why? Because of scent? I smell like your mate, right?”
He nodded but still hadn’t opened his eyes. “Yes.”
“So are you still going to leave me? Are you going to leave me again?” That lump was back in my throat.
“Never.” Denali opened his eyes and reached for me. I was in his arms. His warmth seeped in, mingling with mine. This was it. The happily ever after I’d dreamed of but had once slipped from my fingers.
“You’re mine,” he murmured. “I knew it. All this time we wasted.”
I chuckled, leaning in to kiss his neck. “You’re wasting more time right now, alpha.”
That was the first time I’d called him that. We always knew growing up that he was an alpha and I was an omega, but calling him that, well, it meant things had changed. Thank the goddess.
“There’s more,” Denali said, pulling back. “Before we…I love you, Abel.”
Giggling, I let all the tension ease from me. All the tightness I’d held over the years. All the frustration and pain and longing. I let it all go.
“I love you, Denali. Always have.”
He paled then. “What will…where will we live? What? How does this work?”
“First things first, alpha. I need two things from you.”
“And what would those be?” The atmosphere snapped and popped around us. He wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Your knot,” I said. “And then your mark.”
“I never thought this day would come.”
“Kiss me, alpha.”
He leaned in and touched his lips to mine.
His were full and soft, the touch chaste, almost innocent at first. I threaded my fingers into the back of his hair and pulled him in closer.
I tilted my head to the side and closed my mouth over his, dipping into his warmth with my tongue.
He groaned, and a growl rumbled from his chest. His hands roamed my body until they reached my ass and squeezed, pressing our groins together.
“At this rate, I’m going to burst in three seconds,” Denali groaned.
“Not on my watch, alpha. Take me to bed. Stay with me. Let’s make new memories.”
He paused, pulling back to look me in the eyes. “I’m so sorry. I’m so damned sorry I ran away when you needed me most.”
Fresh tears rolled down my face. “Don’t do it again, okay? I can’t survive losing you a second time.”
“I won’t, Abel. I swear I’ll never leave you again. Well, maybe temporarily. I mean, life happens, but…”
“Denali?”
“Yes, mate?”
I swooned at his words, and my wolf howled inside me. The moment I’d been waiting for all my life had arrived.
“Stop talking and take me to bed.”