Chapter 22 #2
Gia tucked damp hair behind her ear nervously.
“Um, I called my sister, Valerie. She’s packing her things and coming to Ember Hollow for a while. I want her far away from the Coven until the Council starts investigating.”
I nodded once immediately.
That was fine.
Hell.
Anything she wanted was fine.
As long as she stayed here.
Stayed with me.
“Gia,” I growled softly, reaching her at last.
My hands settled on her hips automatically, pulling her flush against me while I buried my face against her throat.
Fuck.
I loved her scent there.
Loved the way my mark rested against her skin.
Loved the little shiver that ran through her when I inhaled deeply.
“You smell like flowers and honey and my Bear,” I muttered against her neck.
She laughed quietly.
“Yeah? Well, you smell like smoke and bad decisions.”
“That right?”
“Mm hm.”
I kissed the mark gently.
The bond pulsed instantly between us.
Warm.
Deep.
Hungry.
Gia’s fingers slid into my hair carefully.
Not fearful.
Never fearful.
That realization still wrecked me.
“You scared me today,” she whispered.
The words hit harder than Edward’s claws ever had.
I tightened my grip instinctively.
“I know.”
“When he charged me…” Her breath caught slightly. “I felt you.”
I lifted my head slowly.
Her green eyes searched mine.
“There wasn’t even a second of hesitation,” she whispered.
“There never will be.”
The truth of it settled heavy between us.
I would burn the world before letting harm touch her.
Gia saw that.
Accepted it.
And Gods help me, that acceptance only made me more devoted to her.
Her fingers brushed the healing scratches on my shoulder carefully.
“These hurt?”
“No.”
“You’re terrible at being taken care of.”
“Probably.”
She smiled faintly.
“Good thing I’m stubborn then.”
The Bear practically preened.
Mine.
I leaned down and kissed her slowly.
But any trepidation soon gave way to need.
It wasn’t frantic like earlier.
But it was desperate, needy—fuck, how I needed her.
Our kiss grew deeper.
Intentional.
Purposeful.
It was the kind that said stay.
The kind that said home.
Gia melted against me with a soft sound that nearly unraveled my control again.
My hands slid beneath the oversized shirt she wore, palms smoothing slowly over warm skin.
Soft.
Mine.
The bond surged hotter.
Her heartbeat sped against my chest.
“Wreck,” she breathed softly when I kissed down her throat again.
I groaned quietly against her skin.
“Need to touch you,” I admitted roughly.
“You are touching me.”
“Not enough.”
Her cheeks pinked beautifully.
“You’re very intense for someone who spent ten minutes brooding on the porch.”
I froze.
“You heard?”
Gia laughed softly.
“Wreck, your emotions practically shake the trees now that we’re bonded.”
Fuck.
“That bad?”
“That obvious.”
I grunted while burying my face against her shoulder.
She stroked my hair gently.
“You know I’m here because I want to be, right?”
The words hit somewhere dangerously deep.
“You say that now.”
“I mean it always.”
I pulled back enough to look at her.
Really look at her.
And my Bear rumbled loudly.
No hesitation.
No uncertainty.
Just warmth.
Steady and real.
“I’ve never belonged anywhere the way I belong with you,” she whispered.
Something in my chest cracked wide open.
The Bear went utterly still.
“You shouldn’t say things like that unless you mean them,” I warned softly.
Gia stepped closer until there wasn’t space between us anymore.
“I love your mountain,” she said quietly.
My throat tightened.
“I love your ridiculous giant cabin.”
I swallowed hard.
“And I love you,” she whispered softly against my mouth. “Besides… this is the perfect place to raise our baby.”
Everything stopped.
The fire crackling in the hearth.
The storm whispering against the windows.
The very air in my lungs.
I stared at her like I’d misheard.
“What did you say? A baby?”
Gia’s cheeks flushed instantly.
“Well, I mean—unless I’m completely wrong and my body is just trying to kill me with weird cramps and emotional instability.”
The bond between us surged violently.
And then—I heard it.
Faint.
Fast.
Impossible.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
A tiny heartbeat.
My entire body locked up.
The Bear inside me went utterly still.
Not aggressive.
Not raging.
Awestruck.
“Oh, fuck,” I breathed.
Gia blinked at me nervously.
“What? What’s wrong?”
I cupped her face so carefully it almost hurt.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
Emotion clogged my throat so badly I could barely force the words out.
“Honey…” My voice broke. “You’re carrying my cub.”
Her eyes widened.
The scent of her emotions exploded through the room all at once—shock, joy, fear, wonder.
“Wait…are you happy? Really?”
I nodded once, unable to stop staring at her.
At the female carrying a future I never once allowed myself to dream about.
Me.
A father.
A family.
Mine.
The hybrid Monster who’d been tossed out of the Forest Ridge Clan and called unworthy.
The motherless cub they chained and cast out.
And Gia—sweet, fierce, beautiful Gia—looked at me like I hung the damn moon.
For her? I would.
I’d find a way, and I would, I swear it.
Tears gathered in her eyes instantly.
“Oh, thank Goddess,” she whispered.
I kissed her before she could say anything else.
Hard.
Reverent.
Overwhelmed.
My hands framed her face while emotions slammed through me harder than any fight ever had.
Because nobody had ever chosen me before.
Not fully.
Not knowing exactly what I was.
But she did.
Every single time.
And now?
She carried my child.
Mine.
Ours.
Good Omega Mate.
Sweet Cub.
A future.
The Bear surged so hard beneath my skin it nearly knocked the breath from me.
Protect them.
Love them.
Keep them safe.
I kissed her deeper, slower this time, pouring every impossible feeling inside me into the way my mouth moved against hers.
Gia melted against me with a soft, broken sound that wrecked what little control I had left.
“Wreck,” she whispered against my lips, fingers trembling in my hair.
“I got you,” I promised roughly. “I swear I got you, Honey.”
She nodded quickly.
“I know.”
That trust nearly destroyed me.
I lifted her easily into my arms and carried her toward the bedroom while the storm rolled outside and firelight flickered across the walls.
The cabin smelled like pine and rain and mating heat and home.
And for the first time in my life?
Home wasn’t a place.
It was her.
I laid her carefully onto the bed like something precious.
Sacred.
The oversized shirt she wore slipped slowly off one shoulder, exposing the mark at her throat.
Mine.
My gaze dropped lower instinctively.
To the soft curve of her stomach beneath my palm.
Our baby.
Emotion hit so hard my chest physically hurt.
Gia saw it immediately.
“Hey,” she whispered softly, touching my face. “Talk to me.”
I swallowed hard.
“I never thought I’d have this.”
Her expression shattered beautifully.
“Wreck—”
“I never thought anyone would look at me and see something worth loving,” I admitted roughly. “Let alone trust me enough to build a family with.”
Gia’s eyes filled completely then.
“You giant idiot,” she whispered tearfully. “You’re everything.”
The bond flared hot and bright between us.
Love.
Not instinct.
Not biology.
Choice.
I kissed her again slowly, savoring her this time.
The softness of her lips.
The warmth of her skin.
The way her body opened for me without hesitation.
Every touch after that carried deeper meaning.
Worshipful.
Devoted.
Possibly obsessed.
Like we were building something sacred together in the middle of the wilderness.
“I won’t hurt you or the baby will I?’ I asked when we were both panting and naked on the bed.
She cupped my cheeks and pulled me down to her.
“You would never hurt us, Wreck. Not ever.”
And that was exactly what I needed to hear.
I pushed inside her tight, wet heat and groaned at the sense of rightness filling her sent spiraling through me.
The knot at the base of my cock swelled, but somehow it was gentler this time, it slid inside her sweet pussy and heightened our mutual pleasure until we were both incapable of speech.
I leaned down, sucking her plump breast into my mouth as I pumped my hips in shallow thrusts, grinding against her little clit.
Gia moaned and sucked on my neck, biting me with blunt teeth, and I swear my cock got harder.
The second she moaned my name and her pussy started to flutter—I was already moving, spinning us so I was on my back and she was riding me.
Fuck—the sight she made, rocking her hips, big tits swaying, green eyes glowing, and dark hair wild around her shoulders.
Gods, I loved this woman.
And I vowed to show her.
Every. Single. Day.
For the rest of my life.
Mine.
Afterward, the storm softened into a steady mountain rain while Gia lay sprawled against my chest beneath tangled blankets.
My hand rested protectively over her stomach without me even realizing it.
The Bear refused to move it.
Mine.
Both of them.
Gia traced lazy circles against my skin while I combed my fingers through her damp hair.
Neither of us spoke for a long while.
We just listened.
Rain.
Fire.
Heartbeats.
Three of them now.
Finally, I kissed the top of her head gently.
“I love you. Both of you,” I whispered.
Gia tipped her face up slightly.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
I smiled faintly against her forehead.
“Think I started loving you the second I smelled you in that fire.”
She laughed softly through lingering tears.
“That’s probably the most terrifying and the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
I grinned against her hair.
“Get used to it, Honey.”
And when she curled closer against me afterward, one hand settling over mine where it rested on her stomach—for the first time in my entire damn life—I felt at peace.