Chapter Fourteen
Jude
All during the day, Ripley found ways to touch me. Little ways. A brush of the hand on my back. A graze of his fingers along my forearm. As we were reading books from my home library shelves, he didn’t sit on the chair by the fire. Instead, he sat next to me, his thigh pressed against mine.
I didn’t get more than five pages read the whole afternoon.
Not with his scent enveloping me and the fire inside me hotter and raging more than the one in the fireplace ever had and probably ever would.
There were no promises made.
No guarantee that he would stay after the snow melted away.
But we had this moment. I forced myself to be okay with having him here—now.
His stomach gurgled, and his eyes looked up from his book. From what I could tell, he had gotten less than a dozen pages read as well. “You didn’t hear that?”
“I didn’t?” I giggled. “Sounded like an upset frog in there.” Without thinking twice, I reached over and patted his abdomen but withdrew it quickly. “I was thinking sloppy joes and potato wedges for dinner. Does that sound okay?”
Ripley grunted. “Would you let me help this time?”
Cooking next to him? How could I say no? “Of course. Let me get some buns into the oven.”
My face heated realizing how easily I would allow this alpha to put a bun in my oven and all that entailed, but I walked quickly to the kitchen. If I was caught with this blazing blush, I would blame it on the fire or the warm cabin.
Once the dough was resting, I told Ripley that I was going to do some laundry. He threw some of his own in with mine, and that simple act would be cherished in my heart.
That night, we sat at the table and shared a simple meal and then had coffee with some of the almond cake from the other night.
Rip leaned back, patting his belly. “That was delicious. Again. My clothes come out of the are going to be snug on me.”
“Should we go on a run?” I asked.
“In this snow?”
“Yeah. We can dig our way out of the back door and into the forest out back. The snow won’t be as deep through there. I…my wolf would very much like to meet yours.”
He chuckled. “And mine would very much like to meet yours as well. He…he would like to meet his mate.”
I gasped and stepped back from him, dumbfounded by his reveal. I’d known since he got here that he was my fated mate, but to hear him say it, confirmed everything. “How long have you known?” I asked as tears welled in my eyes.
“Since arriving? Since you served me the first of many delicious meals? Since your scent hit me straight in the gut and my wolf howled, begging me to embrace you?”
Blowing out a breath, I let the tears fall freely. “Why didn’t you say something?”
Ripley took a step toward me. “Because I was stubborn. Because I was too caught up in my guilt and misery to admit that my mate was standing in front of me.”
“What’s changed?”
My animal whined inside me. He knew all this time and kept himself from me. The knowledge was hard to bear.
“I haven’t talked about my brother to anyone since shortly after it all happened.
I’ve holed myself up in this cage of mourning.
But when you asked me about why I wasn’t taking care of myself…
I told you everything and it was as easy as breathing.
That’s when I couldn’t deny it anymore. I can only be myself and share those shadows with someone I trust completely.
And that’s you. You’re my omega, Jude. Will you shift with me? Allow this bond to grow?”
He reached out for my hand and I took it in mine.
“Of course. I would love to.”
Ripley shifted first, saying that his alpha wanted nothing more than to show off for his mate. I crouched down after he did, taking in his form. The wolf’s fur was snow white, identical to mine, and I told him so. “You and I are almost exactly alike. My fur is pure white as well.”
My alpha pushed his wet nose against my face, inhaling, encouraging me to shift as well.
In our wolf forms, we pounced and ran through the snow, sometimes jumping into deeper tufts and other times sliding in patches of ice.
We traversed around trees and chased each other like pups, having fun, being carefree.
When we were done, things had evolved between us. Our bond was indeed strengthened through our animals. They didn’t give any second thought to human emotions and social constructs. They knew who their mates were and nothing would come between us anymore.
“That was incredible,” Ripley said, nuzzling my neck with his nose.
“Incredible. Yes. Should we go inside? It’s freezing out here.”
“Oh?” His eyes lit up and he smiled at me. My heart melted seeing him smile—happy, and not so weighed down by things that he couldn’t change and that were in the past. “I think I know a way of warming you up.”
“A fire?” I asked, turning to kiss his cheek as he walked us back into the house. He pressed my back against the wall and began kissing my neck.
“No. Not a fire.”
Huh. There was definitely a fire inside me. I’d waited so long to be mated and even though he’d only been here a few days, I was desperate for everything he would give me.
“What, then?”
He growled and grabbed me up, hefting me over his shoulder. “I’ll show you.”