Chapter Eight
Blythe
Adeep groan comes from beside my head, under my ear almost, and as soon as the fog clears, I freeze.
What the hell am I laying on? Who the hell am I laying on?
Not wanting to move too fast, because I don’t want to wake up a sleeping axe murderer, I try to slowly slide my body out from underneath the arm wrapped around my waist. I don’t get far fast, but I have to keep moving.
I somehow, without putting too much pressure on the man chest I’m on top of, I manage to maneuver two inches to my right before my whole body is moving and I am pined underneath the handsomest man I have ever seen in my life, yet somehow have never met before this very moment.
My first instinct wins and I open my mouth to scream, but I am muffled by a hand in a flash and the only sound that comes out is all the air from my legs going out my nose.
“It’s okay, Blythe,” the man above me says softly. “It’s just me. No axe murderers here. I wouldn’t let one get close enough to swing.”
That voice. Why do I know that voice. The deep timber is one I have only heard in my dreams before, never in real life, so how is it now coming from this man?
“Hmm hm hmmm?” I ask him. Who are you?
“Oh shoot, sorry.” The hand muzzle and body cover lift off, but that doesn’t stop him from moving my body again. This time I end up sitting up straight, back against the headboard, and he is sitting cross-legged in front of me with the comforter over his lap.
“Are you naked under there?” I have no control over my eyes as they volley between his and his lap.
“Let me start from the beginning. That way hopefully we can get down to the important stuff.” He winks and my lady bits tingle.
HE WINKS AND MY LADY BITS TINGLE. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?
“Blythe Madeline Daley, it has been about fifteen years since we have seen each other,” Fifteen years!
Who is this man? “but two seconds after I looked into your eyes, I knew exactly who you were.
I just hate that you had to see me stuck in my shifted form and I couldn't talk to you like this right away.”
Fifteen years… shifted form… he couldn’t talk… Oh. My. God.
“You weren’t a dog. You were a wolf.”
“Yes, baby.”
Baby? Wait. What?
Wolf shifter… Fifteen years… He knows my full name… It. Can’t. Be.
Black hair? Check. Brown eyes with a ring of gold around the iris? Check. A deep red port wine stain birthmark on the front of his right shoulder? Check.
“Shane?” I try to say his name, but my throat pinches the words off. I cough a few times, then try again. “Shane Elias Anders? Is that really you?”
“In the flesh, love. Human flesh this time,” he says with a small, almost embarrassed smile, while holding his arms out wide like he’s trying to prove he’s really him and here.
Our eyes lock, his arms come down, and the moment he grabs my hands in his, everything I remember about this man floods through me live a movie screen behind my eyes.
“Last I heard you were stuck in your wolf shifter form. I know we haven’t been face to face, or even in the same room, since the day of your mom and brother’s funeral, but my mom still has friends in your pack.
I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you the second you came out from hiding in that tree.
Oh my god, Shane. I’ve missed you so much. ”
“Have you really?”
I nod my head as tears prick at the corner of my eyes. He still has my hands clasped in his, so I don’t even bother trying to stop or wipe them away. “Shane. I hate that we went away. I cried for weeks.”
“Oh baby, no.” And I’m moving again. This time sitting in his lap, straddling his waist, the comforter bunched between us. “I’m here now. We are. Me and Ash. We missed you too, love.”
His whispered words float over my lips, bringing back the memory of our first kiss. I was twelve, he was thirteen. We were both old enough to know what we were doing, but too young to do anything more. We were each other’s first kiss.
“How are you here right now? Why are you here?”
“I don’t really know. I just followed the sweet scent of sugar and vanilla, and found you at the end of it. You walked out the door, caramel coffee in your hand, and knew you were who I have been searching for for almost twelve years.”
“Twelve years?”
“Mmmhmmm.”
“But it’s been fifteen since we’ve seen each other.”
“I turned eighteen twelve years ago, love.”
“Eighteen… but that’s when—Shane, are you trying to tell me that I am your and Ash’s mate?”
“Ash and I knew you were ours the second our eyes locked. You broke the witch’s curse.
I’m still trying to figure out how that happened, but I couldn't be more grateful. I swear that I will tell you every day for the rest of our lives how much I appreciate you for breaking me free, while also telling you how much I love you and reminding you how lucky I am that I found you again.”
“But…” wait. More memories about him being cursed rush back, and probably the most important flashes in my mind on a bright, neon sign.
I find his eyes again, mine blown open wide.
“You need to claim your mate by your birthday… which is tomorrow. Oh my god. Am I really your fated mate? Did I really break your curse?”
“You did,” he replies with a nod. “If I would have know all those years ago that you would be my mate, I never would have let my father keep your family away from the pack.”
“No, no, no.” I pull my hands free and clasp his soft cheeks in my hands. “Losing half of his heart was too much for him. I hope I never have to experience that, but I understand it. My mom reminded him too much of what he lost and he cooped the only way he knew at the time.”
“He’s going to have to pull up his big Alpha britches now,” he whispers with a small laugh as he kisses my nose. “Because now that we have you in our arms, I am never letting you leave our side.”
“Was it you who smelled like cherries and pipe tobacco?”
“Is that what we smell like?”
“I smelled it on my sweatshirt sleeve the first night I came inside,” a light bulb goes off. “Oh my goodness, Shane! I left you outside for two whole nights! How will you ever forgive me?” I hug him tight and bury my face in his neck and cry. The tears really are flowing now.
His arms band around my shoulders, pulling me tight so there in no space between our chests, as he growls in my ear.
“Let me mark you. Let me knot you. Let me make you our mate, so that when the moon is at it’s brightest tonight, the curse will truly be broken and I can take you home to be my Luna. ”
“But I’m a human.” I pull back just enough to look up and meet his eyes. “You want me as your Luna?”
“The Goddess brought me to us, Blythe.” My body shivers as he traces my back and his hands slide up to hold my face so our eyer stay locked.
“Ash and I have been searching for you since the day we turned eighteen. We can’t turn back the clock, but we can give you everything the destinies are offering us.
Please say you’ll be our Luna. Please? We will love you forever. ”
“You love me?”
“Of course we do. You were our first kiss and now we want you to be our last and forever.”
“I love you too, Shane.” I lift up on my knees and press my lips to his ear. “And I love you too, Ash. I know you’re in there but I can’t wait to feel you inside of me.”
“Oh, love,” his words are more growl than actual words. “You have no idea what you’ve unleashed.”
“Then show me.”
“We won’t stop until you scream our names and are too hoarse to keep going.”
“Make me your mate.”
“Mate.”