Chapter 18
Carter
Getting Devon back to the pack house was a blur of motion. Nolan and Alex flanked us like guards, me half carrying, half holding onto him like I couldn’t risk letting go.
Every step I took, my wolf snarled, mine, mine, mine.
Once inside my cabin, I shut the door hard enough the walls rattled. Only then did I allow myself to breathe. Devon sat on the couch, a hand pressed to his temple.
The cut wasn’t deep, but the sight of his blood still clawed at me. I crouched in front of him, brushing his hair back gently.
“Still okay?” My voice came out rougher than I intended.
Devon gave me a soft smile, tired but steady. “Still okay.”
Relief hit so hard I almost swayed. I caught myself on the arm of the couch and pressed my forehead to his knee, letting myself feel him alive and here.
But duty clawed at the edge of that fragile moment. Cooper. I had to tell him. I straightened, jaw tight, and pulled out my phone.
My thumb hovered over his contact longer than it should have.
I didn’t want to hear suspicion in his voice, didn’t want him doubting me. But hiding this would make it worse. So I hit dial.
Cooper answered on the first ring.
“Carter.” His tone was clipped, sharp with tension. “What’s happened? Is Devon safe? He’s supposed to text me when he left the compound.”
A flash of irritation surged through me. How quickly he assumed something would go wrong under my watch. But I swallowed it down.
“There’s been an incident. Two of my wolves, Eli and Jeremy, they took him. He’s back with me now. They won’t trouble us again,” I told him.
Silence crackled down the line, heavy as thunder.
Then Cooper said, “I want to see him. Put me on video.”
I glanced at Devon. He met my eyes, then nodded, calm as if he’d been expecting this.
I switched the call, angled the phone. “He’s right here,” I said.
Cooper’s face appeared, stern, worry etched deep. “Devon.”
“Hey,” Devon said softly, leaning toward the screen. “I’m okay, Coop. Really. Just a scratch.” He touched the bandage at his temple like proof.
Cooper didn’t look convinced. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
So we did, with Devon speaking first, voice even as he recounted being tied up, Eli’s threats. My hands fisted at my sides, claws threatening to break skin all over again.
When I couldn’t hold back, I broke in, detailing how we’d tracked them, what I’d done to end it. I didn’t soften the truth. Cooper deserved to know.
When I finished, Cooper exhaled heavily, scrubbing a hand down his face.
“I’d told you before. Devon’s stay was for one week only. I’d just sent word approving another week. But after this?” Cooper narrowed his eyes. “I’m not sure anymore.”
My stomach dropped, but before I could speak, Devon straightened, turning toward the screen.
“Alpha, I don’t give a damn about that right now.” His voice was iron, fierce in a way that made my wolf perk in admiration. “I chose to be here. And after today? I’m not going anywhere. I’ll decide when I leave.”
I stared at him, floored, my chest swelling. Devon looked at me then, and the world narrowed to just us.
I took the phone, lowering it a little, and reached for him, pulling him into my arms. His warmth pressed into me, his scent chasing the lingering stench of blood and fear from my lungs.
“I don’t want a week, Devon,” I whispered against his hair. “I want forever. Today—” My throat closed, thick with everything I’d almost lost. “Today I almost lost you. I won’t let that ever happen again. Not to you. Not to us.”
Devon leaned back just enough to search my face, his eyes wide, vulnerable, shining. “You mean that?”
“Yes.” No hesitation. No doubt. The truth surged out like it had been waiting all along. “I mean it with everything I am.”
I kissed him. It wasn’t gentle. It couldn’t be.
Days of restraint shattered, my wolf claiming what my words had already promised. Devon kissed me back just as fiercely, his hands fisting in my shirt, pulling me closer.
Heat burned through me, desperate and raw, but beneath it was something steadier, something unshakable. The sound of someone clearing their throat broke us apart.
I blinked down at the phone, realization slamming through me. Cooper’s face filled the screen, unimpressed but not angry. His lips twitched in something like a grimace.
“You two forgot to hang up,” Cooper grumbled.
Devon flushed, but I couldn’t bring myself to regret it. Not for a second.
Cooper sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I can’t get between mates. Not even if I wanted to. Devon, we’ll talk about this when you come back to Pecan Pines. For now, stay safe. Both of you.”
“Understood,” Devon said quietly.
I ended the call before Cooper could say anything else. The room felt immediately lighter.
Devon shifted slightly against me, tilting his head back to look at me. His lips were swollen from our kiss. He looked beautiful in a way that tore the air right out of my lungs.
I reached up and brushed my thumb across his temple, careful of the cut.
“You need to lie down. Let me take care of you,” I told him.
His mouth curved. “That’s usually my line.”
I huffed a quiet laugh, tension easing just a fraction.
I guided him toward the bedroom, my hand splayed at the small of his back.
The wolf in me still bristled with the need to keep him close, to shield him, to mark every inch of him as mine.
But I kept my pace slow, steady. He’d been tied up not an hour ago, blood on his face, and I refused to let my wolf’s possessiveness push too hard.
When we reached the bed, I tugged the covers back and sat him down. Devon gave me a look like he wanted to argue, then sighed and let me fuss.
Devon stretched out slowly, leaning back into the pillows. I sat at the edge of the mattress, studying him.
“You’re really not hurt anywhere else?” I asked, unable to keep the edge from my voice.
Devon shook his head. “Carter, I’m okay. I promise.”
I exhaled through my nose, but my chest still felt too tight. I kicked off my boots, shed my shirt, and slid in beside him, pulling him against me.
The moment his body molded into mine, something inside me unclenched. His warmth seeped into me, calming the last frantic edges of my wolf.
We lay there in silence at first. I listened to his breathing, steady against my ribs.
My fingers found their way to his hair, combing gently. He let out a quiet sigh, tilting his head into my touch.
“You scared the hell out of me,” I murmured finally. My throat closed. I had to swallow before I could finish. “I’ve lost people before. But you…” I shook my head. “I can’t.”
Devon’s hand slid across my chest, resting over my heart. “You didn’t lose me,” he whispered. “I’m right here.”
I pressed my lips to his forehead, then lingered there, breathing him in. His scent, warm and grounding, wrapped around me like home.
He shifted again, lifting his face. Our eyes met in the dim light.
Then he leaned up and kissed me, slow and unhurried, nothing like the frantic clash from earlier. This was softer. Deeper. It was a promise in itself.
I cupped his face, thumb brushing his cheek, and kissed him back.
Every press of our mouths seemed to steady me more. My wolf purred, content at last, whispering over and over, mate.
When we finally broke apart, Devon’s forehead rested against mine. “You meant what you said? About forever?”
“Yes.” The word was simple, but it carried the weight of everything I had. “I meant it. I don’t care how messy it gets, or what Cooper says, or what anyone else thinks. You’re mine. And I’m not letting go.”
His eyes softened, shining in the low light. He kissed me again, lighter this time, then nestled into my chest.
“Good,” Devon murmured. “Because I don’t want to let go either.”
I led him my bed, our bed now. I wrapped my arm securely around him, his hand absently drawing patterns against my skin.
The tension in me finally gave way to a bone-deep exhaustion.
Devon tilted his head up, brushing his lips against mine again. The kiss deepened, heat sparking between us until I felt it burn through every layer of restraint I had left.
His fingers curled in my hair, mine gripped his hip, and soon the quiet wasn’t so quiet anymore. We didn’t rush. There was no need.
Tonight wasn’t about claiming or proving. It was about reassurance, about needing to feel each other close, skin to skin.
Touches grew surer, kisses turned urgent. My wolf rumbled with satisfaction, every brush of Devon’s body against mine a reminder that he was alive, safe, here.
When I finally eased him beneath me, his eyes met mine, steady and trusting, full of something that cracked me wide open.
I bent to kiss him again, pouring everything I couldn’t say into the press of our mouths, and then there was no more holding back.
The world narrowed to the rhythm of our bodies, the quiet sighs and whispered names, the heat of him wrapped around me.
It was fierce and tender all at once, something deeper than I’d ever known. When we finally came apart, it wasn’t just exhaustion that settled over me. It was belonging.
After, we curled together beneath the sheets, our breaths slowly syncing. I tucked him against my chest, my chin resting in his hair, and felt his heartbeat steady with mine.
I tightened my hold, pressing another kiss to his hair.
“Sleep,” I whispered.
Devon’s breathing evened out, my wolf settled fully, the world outside fading until it was just us. Just Devon and me, in this bed, in this moment that felt like the start of everything.