EMBER
The forest is a blur of shadow and silver light as I dart through the underbrush, my paws kicking up sprays of dirt.
Behind me, I hear the thunder of footfalls closing in.
I’m no longer bleeding, but the old virginal blood still lingers on my coat.
They grow closer. My heart leaps, but not in fear, in recognition.
A sharp nip at my back foot makes me yelp, stumbling a pace before driving forward harder. I glance over my shoulder, and there he is, white fur gleaming like a ghost in the moonlight. Muzzle stained red like mine. We’ve both fought to make it here, beside each other. His eyes are fixed only on me.
I swerve to the left. He follows. I cut back right.
He mirrors me perfectly, like we’ve been running in tandem our whole lives, like a pack.
I slow enough for him to catch my flank, his shoulder brushing mine in a fleeting electric touch.
My breath stutters. He growls low in his chest, the sound vibrating through me.
Another nip at my ankle. This one lingers, fangs grazing me.
I whirl mid-stride and he slams into me with all the force of his massive body. The momentum drives me back until my spine collides with the rough bark of a tree. His forepaws bracket my shoulders as his muzzle hovers inches from mine.
“You let me catch you,” he rumbles, shifting and now towering over me in human form, his chest heaving, eyes blazing an impossible blue.
I shift, too, breathless, my human back against the tree. “Maybe.”
His eyes narrow, glacial fire boring into me. “Why?”
The truth claws its way up my throat. “I wanted you last year, but I couldn’t.
My brother is all I have, Thorn. I couldn’t leave him.
” He remains silent, listening as I continue, “With our parents gone, it’s been me and him.
I couldn’t leave him all by himself.” My throat tightens.
“Maybe I wasn’t ready to leave him either… ”
His jaw flexes, but he remains silent.
“You just left last time. You didn’t let me explain,” I continue after a pause.
“After the Challenge, you were hurt and there was a whole line of wolves behind you in the shadows. I had to step back, I had to win the Chase. But I didn’t choose you because I…
I wasn’t ready to be a mate.” I shrug. “Let alone an Alpha’s mate. ”
“And now?”
I swallow, forcing myself to hold his gaze. “Now it’s all I can think about. Plus, Roman told me I deserve to be happy. He’ll join the Guard in six months. I was hoping…you’d grant me the time with him until then.”
His palm presses flat against the tree beside my head, caging me in. “And if I refuse?”
A smirk curls my lips despite the hammering of my heart. “Then I’ll just have to beat you again.”
A low, dangerous laugh escapes him. “I let you win.”
“In your dreams, fleabag.”
His grin is wicked, but his voice softens. “Your name should be Fire, not Ember. You burn hotter than any flame I’ve ever known.”
My knees threaten to buckle as he pulls back, his eyes sparking with mischief. Then he shifts in a flash of white fur and takes off through the trees.
“Thorn!” I curse, shifting fast, paws pounding as I chase after him. Our strides fall in sync, shoulders brushing, growls threading the night. Then the vibrant red leaves of the Sacred Tree rise before us, bathed in silver moonlight.
At the last heartbeat, he slows. I dart past him, bursting into the circle first, my chest heaving as I run over to the tree.
I shift. “I beat you again!” I gloat, shifting back, throwing my hands up in mock victory.
He’s in human form, standing with his arms folded, when I turn around. His smirk is sin itself, following me in careful small steps. “Then make your choice.”
I freeze. He isn’t chasing me anymore. He isn’t claiming me. He’s giving me the choice.
The weight of the moment crashes into me.
Slowly, I step toward him. The air between us thrums like lightning. My hand presses to his chest, feeling the thundering of his heart. His eyes blaze, but he doesn’t move. He’s waiting.
I rise onto my toes, close the last inches of space, and press my lips to his.
The world falls away.
The bark of the Sacred Tree digs into my back as Thorn’s body presses into me, heat and hunger radiating like wildfire. His warm hand cups my jaw, his thumb brushing my lip, as his mouth claims mine — hard, consuming — like he’s been waiting a lifetime.
I moan into his mouth, my fingers tangling in his white hair, tugging him closer, closer, until there is nothing but him, the tree, and the endless fire licking through my veins.
His lips drag down my neck, sharp teeth scraping at my sensitive skin.
My thighs clench. His hardness presses against me.
“Say it,” he growls, his voice a low rumble that vibrates through my chest.
“You,” I pant, arching against him. “I choose you.”
The sound that rips from his throat is half snarl, half plea, and then his mouth trails lower, his teeth nipping at the collarbone, his tongue soothing the sting of the cool air kissing my bare skin. My hands clutch his shoulders as he lifts me, my legs wrapping tight around his waist.
“Mine,” he says again, eyes blazing, wolf just beneath the surface.
“Yes,” I whisper. “Yours.”
He pauses before me as if confirming I’m not going to change my mind again. I nod. Slowly, he eases himself inside of me. Pain mixed with pleasure ripples through me, with each thrust giving me more of himself. I’ve never felt so…full.
“You’re doing so good taking me.”
I whimper.
Then he pulls out, the loss of him makes me groan until he surges into me in one fierce thrust, my cry muffled against his shoulder.
The Sacred Tree trembles with the force of us slamming into it and red branches sway above us.
I clutch at him, nails burrowing into his back, every movement driving me higher, rawer, until the world narrows to the relentless rhythm of him inside me.
“Thorn—” my voice breaks, desperate, needing.
“Yes, mate. Are you okay? Do you like that?” he grits, forehead pressed to mine, sweat and heat mingling.
Desperately nodding, somehow I utter, “Gods yes.”
“The gods are only watching. This is all me.” He moves harder, faster, every thrust claiming me deeper, the coil inside me snapping tight, tighter.
His hand slides between us, fingers circling, pushing me over the edge until I shatter in his arms with a cry.
My body clamps down on him, milking him, pulling him deeper.
That’s when I feel it, his knot swelling, stretching, locking us together. I gasp, writhing as the glorious pressure blooms, his teeth sinking into my neck in a claiming bite that has me screaming again, pleasure so sharp it hurts.
“Mine,” he growls against my skin, teeth in my neck, knot anchoring him deep inside me. “Forever mine.”
“Yes. Yes, forever,” I moan. His finger still circling. I’m full from neck to groin of him touching every deepest, darkest piece of me.
We’re still moving, rocking against the Sacred Tree.
Red leaves shaking above us. Caught between bliss and primal need until he finally roars, spilling himself inside me.
His knot swells tighter, so tight it presses me impossibly fuller until I, too, am overwhelmed again.
My release more powerful than the first. Thorn pumps me full, arms caging me against the bark, both of us trembling with release.
We’re stuck together, panting, shuddering, his forehead presses to mine when he retracts his teeth and kisses my neck until the bite heals. His breath fans across my lips as he whispers, softer this time, “Mate. My mate.”
My fingers swipe white hair behind his ear, his forehead is beading with sweat. I kiss his lips still red with my blood (and possibly others). “And you’re mine.”
He groans. The knot inside me trembles. I shiver. Gods, it sends a shot of pleasure through the center of me.
Footsteps, then voices, echo behind us growing closer, louder.
I jolt, panic flaring, but Thorn only smirks, still buried inside me. Still locked tight. “Let them see my mate and me.” He kisses down my neck.
“Oh, gods.” I blush crimson. But a thrill runs through me at his words. The wolf inside me silently howls at the thought.
The first of the crowd breaks into the clearing, cheers rising. The priest clears his throat delicately, and then Cullen firmly guides Roman away, murmuring something about an interesting tree over on the other side.
My face burns, but Thorn doesn’t flinch, doesn’t pull away, holding me steady as the crowd grows, then his knot slowly begins to soften.
Only when he finally slips free do my shaky legs threaten to give out.
He grounds me, his hand on my hip, his bite mark raw on my neck, never to truly heal. Always to be a symbol of possession.
The reality hits me, I have finally mated. I’m mated.
I belong to Thorn now.
“So, what happens now?” I whisper, voice trembling. There’s been so much talk about mating and the trials, we’ve never talked about what happens after.
He presses his lips to my temple, his words a vow. “Grab your brother. We’re going home.”
“We?”
“We.” He nods. “I won’t be apart from you ever again. Your family is my family.”
Home. The words sink deep, warm, and terrifying all at once.
I have a family again.
We’re going home.