26. Val
Val
Darkness holds me for what feels like forever, though eventually I begin realizing it isn’t empty darkness at all.
It’s warm. Breathing. Familiar in a way that settles deep into my bones before conscious thought fully catches up.
Harley’s scent surrounds me thickly enough that instinct recognizes him immediately, my wolf stirring with soft restless contentment somewhere beneath the surface of my mind.
Mine.
The thought moves through me slowly, heavily, wrapped in warmth and relief and something else I haven’t felt properly in what feels like years.
Peace.
Then sensation begins returning in fragments.
The soft hum of machinery nearby. The faint antiseptic scent of the clinic.
A mattress beneath my body. Fingers tangled loosely with mine.
For one strange suspended moment I simply lie there absorbing all of it while memory slowly fights its way through the fog.
The capsule.
Pain.
Harley screaming my name.
After that, nothing.
“Open your eyes for me.”
Light explodes painfully through my right eye the second my lashes part, and I groan while swatting weakly toward the brightness assaulting me. “Stop it,” I croak.
“You stop it,” Shania snaps immediately, though there’s obvious relief threaded beneath the irritation in her voice. “Scaring the shit out of everybody like that. Your poor mate’s been beside himself the past couple of days.”
Days?
That word cuts through the lingering haze hard enough that I force myself upright onto my elbows immediately despite the weakness still dragging at my body.
The clinic room swims into focus around me slowly, pale walls and medical equipment sharpening piece by piece while confusion rolls heavily through me.
“Days?” My throat burns around the word. “Harley?”
“He just went to the bathroom. He’ll be—”
“Val!”
The clinic room door slams open hard enough to bounce against the wall behind it, and suddenly Harley’s there sprinting toward me with wide frantic eyes and relief pouring through the bond so violently it nearly steals my breath all over again.
“Oh thank God.”
He reaches me almost before I fully process his movement, climbing onto the edge of the bed and grabbing my face immediately while kissing me over and over in quick desperate brushes that taste like exhaustion and tears and overwhelming relief.
“I knew you were gonna be okay,” Harley says shakily between kisses. “I told them, I could still feel you. I could feel you, Val.”
Emotion swells painfully through my chest while I catch his chin gently and still him long enough to really look at him.
God.
He looks wrecked.
Dark shadows sit beneath his eyes like he hasn’t slept properly once since I collapsed, and there’s lingering tension beneath his skin that tells me he’s been holding himself together through sheer stubbornness alone.
Guilt twists sharply through me at the sight, but beneath the exhaustion there’s something else too.
The bond.
It hums stronger than it ever has before, open and alive and complete in ways it wasn’t previously.
I can feel him fully now. No more fragments or impressions.
I can feel everything. His relief crashes into me warm and bright while fear and love and exhaustion move alongside it openly enough that I almost stagger beneath the intensity of it.
“I can feel you too, Harley,” I whisper roughly.
Harley’s breath catches sharply.
Warmth floods immediately through the bond while I brush my thumb beneath one of the tears still clinging to his face.
“I can hear you. I can feel you.” My throat tightens painfully around the next words because I didn’t realize until this moment how incomplete I truly was before. “I can share everything with you now.”
Then, before I can second-guess myself, I open my mind fully.
Harley gasps.
Emotion rushes violently between us without barriers anymore.
Love and relief and longing pour through the bond hard enough that it nearly overwhelms me for one staggering second.
I know that Harley can feel me completely, the connection widening and deepening until there’s no uncertainty left between us about what we are.
Mate.
Mine.
Home.
Love.
“Val,” Harley whispers brokenly while tears spill freely down his face now. “I love you too. Don’t ever leave me like that again.” His voice shakes badly enough that my chest aches around it. “Even though I could still feel you, I missed you so much.”
The honesty in his voice wrecks me emotionally in ways I’m not prepared for.
“I missed you too, honey.” I press one soft kiss against his forehead before smiling faintly despite the lingering weakness in my body. “Now let’s see if we can convince Shania to let you take me home.”
Harley laughs weakly and immediately rounds on her with all the exhausted determination of someone who’s already decided he’s winning this argument. “Shania, I’m taking my mate back. Thank you for looking out for him.”
Shania mutters something deeply skeptical beneath her breath, but she doesn’t actually stop us either, which tells me enough about how worried everyone must’ve been these last few days.
The second Harley looks back at me again, warmth surges fiercely through the bond.
“Can you get up?”
I shift carefully toward the edge of the bed and freeze.
All of the pain is gone. Completely!
For several stunned seconds I simply sit there staring at my own leg while disbelief rolls through me hard enough that I barely hear anything else around us. The constant grinding ache I’ve lived with has vanished so completely the absence of it feels almost unreal.
My wolf moves restlessly beneath my skin then, eager and alive and so overwhelmingly happy that emotion catches sharply in my throat before I can stop it.
“Yes,” I say slowly. “I think I can.”
I stretch my leg cautiously, waiting instinctively for the familiar pain to strike.
Nothing.
My wolf ripples beneath my skin again, impatient and excited and gloriously awake after so long trapped beneath shame and grief. The scar remains stretched pale across my thigh, but even that looks faded now compared to before.
“It doesn’t hurt.”
Harley’s entire expression softens instantly at the wonder in my voice.
God.
After all of the pain I’ve endured, the sheer absence of it nearly feels intoxicating.
I swing my legs over the side of the bed and stand carefully, naked and entirely uncaring about it for probably the first time in years.
My balance holds perfectly. No weakness drags at my left side.
No limp twists through my stride. There’s only strength humming steadily beneath my skin while my wolf practically vibrates with excitement inside me.
“I’ll let Marcus and Nathan know,” Shania calls while Harley immediately moves closer against my side like he physically can’t help himself anymore.
“Show me,” Harley demands suddenly.
I blink down at him. “What?”
“Let me see you shift.”
My wolf yips happily at the request, but hesitation still flickers briefly through me anyway. Months of fear and frustration don’t vanish instantly just because the pain’s gone. Some small wounded part of me still expects failure somehow.
“Are you sure, Harley?” I ask quietly. “I can wait until later.”
Harley rolls his eyes immediately and huffs softly. “I don’t think so.” Warm certainty brushes through the bond while he reaches for my hand. “I’m not afraid of you, Val. Not in any form.” His smile softens afterward. “And you’ve gotta be dying to do it.”
God.
I really am.
“I just want a second,” I admit quietly.
“Take as long as you need.”
But the truth is I can’t wait another minute.
The shift comes easier than breathing.
One second I’m standing there holding Harley’s hand, and the next my wolf surges free with overwhelming joy. The world sharpens beautifully around me. Sound and scent crash back into place with stunning clarity while relief floods through every part of me so strongly I almost stagger beneath it.
My wolf presses immediately against Harley’s legs with a low whine of happiness.
“You’re gorgeous,” Harley whispers.
Warm affection surges fiercely through me.
Harley crouches slowly in front of me before running careful fingers through the fur at my nape, and pleasure shoots straight through me hard enough that my eyes close automatically.
God.
I missed this.
I missed my wolf.
Harley scratches gently behind one ear and my back foot immediately starts thumping against the floor before I can stop it.
“Aw,” Harley laughs softly. “That’s too adorable.”
Some distant fragment of my pride wants to object violently to the word adorable.
Unfortunately, coherent thought disappears entirely the second Harley starts scratching my other ear too.
My tail thumps harder.
“Yeah,” Harley murmurs smugly. “I think I know how to make you happy.”
I snort and angle him a deeply unimpressed look that only makes him laugh harder.
“Okay, okay,” Harley says quickly while raising both hands in surrender. “I’ll find other ways to make you happy too.”
His gaze drags slowly over me then, warmth and desire sliding immediately through the bond afterward.
“If you shift back now,” he adds softly, “we can go make each other very, very happy.”
Like I need time to consider that offer.
My wolf retreats willingly this time instead of hiding, and seconds later I’m human again standing directly in front of Harley completely naked and very interested in getting him alone somewhere immediately.
Harley’s gaze drops at once.
Heat flashes hard through the bond.
“Yep,” he says weakly. “Definitely healed.”
I laugh softly beneath my breath before wrapping one arm around his shoulders and guiding him toward the clinic door. “Let’s get going.” Then another thought occurs to me. “Actually, are you sure we should let Shania tell Marcus? Maybe we should do it ourselves.”
Harley snuggles closer automatically against my side. “No, because they’re holed up with Adam and Todd.” Amusement flickers warmly through the bond. “Which is fine, but Drake, the psycho wolf, escaped again.”
My expression hardens immediately. “What?”
Harley sighs softly. “Apparently he’s got some weird charisma thing going on that makes certain wolves lose all common sense.”
“Matty again?”
“Nope. Someone named Justus this time.” Harley shakes his head tiredly. “Drake left his two twinks behind though. They don’t know anything useful. Seems he turned them just like he did Ryder.”
The reminder of Ryder twists uneasily through me.
“How’s he handling everything?”
Harley bursts out laughing immediately.
The sound alone answers the question.
“Yeah,” Harley says once he catches his breath again. “About like you’d expect.” His fingers curl more tightly against my side while warmth hums steadily through the bond between us. “I really love this mental connection thing, by the way. It makes me feel so much closer to you.”
Emotion swells warmly through my chest.
“Yes,” I murmur softly. “It does.”
And for the first time in years, I finally feel complete again.
I have my wolf.
I have my mate.
Life feels impossibly sharp and bright and precious suddenly, and gratitude settles heavily through me for every moment I still get to have.
I lower my head and press one slow kiss into Harley’s hair. “I love you, Harley,” I tell him quietly. “I just wanted to say it out loud too.”
Harley looks up at me with a smile bright enough to light entire cities.
“Yeah, Val,” he whispers warmly. “I love you too.”