HERS

Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

BELLAMY ROSE

“Are you still sleep?” Kenzo's loving voice tickled my eardrums in a way that shouldn’t have been possible because he was no longer in bed with me.

“I have to be imagining things.” I refused to open my eyes. The sleep I was having was too good to wake up from. It had been the longest since I’d slept this good.

When I said Kenzo wore me out last night, I meant that.

He turned me every way but loose last night.

I thought when I closed my eyes after we bit each other that was it for the night.

I was sadly mistaken. Kenzo woke my ass right up for round two in the water, three in the entryway to the house, and four and five in our bed.

I had to beg Kenzo to let me rest after the fifth round.

I could barely keep up with Kenzo’s desire for me.

When I thought his dick couldn’t get hard again, he’d prove me wrong every time.

That man had stamina out of this world, and my poor pussy couldn’t take it, even if she really wanted to.

Kenzo made love to me so deep that I felt that shit in my soul.

He calmed every worry, fear, and anxiety I had.

Being one with Kenzo made me feel invincible.

The way Kenzo took his time making love to me allowed me to feel every ounce of love he had for me, and I tried my hardest to pour my love back into him.

I prayed he felt everything I was trying to express to him.

I was never the one to believe in all that fated mate stuff, but after everything that transpired between me and Kenzo, there was no other explanation for what we had.

I could say with full confidence that I loved him and he loved me back.

I truly didn’t want to be any other place than with Kenzo.

I wanted to wake up to him every day, give him all the cubs he wanted, and spend the rest of my life with Kenzo.

I would even face this Tsar shifter head-on as long as Kenzo was by my side.

I knew with him, all things were possible.

There wasn’t anything on this planet Kenzo wouldn’t do for me, and I was the same way about him.

Truly, he was my shifter. I had to thank Fate for making Kenzo for me.

“You aren’t imagining things. We’re mindspeaking with each other.” Kenzo’s voice gently rang through my mind.

“Excuse me?” My eyes were still closed as I tried to hold onto this sleep that was slowly slipping away.

“Now that we’re fully mated, we can mindspeak with each other.”

“Mindspeak?”

“Yes. We can talk to each other through our minds. No matter how far apart, we can always communicate. Kind of like how you called me when you were attacked that day in the forest.”

“I thought that was because I was in danger.”

“Nope. You can always speak to me, no matter what.”

“So, we’re fully mated? What does that mean?”

Kenzo had never gone into full detail about what happened once we were fully mated with each other. Now that we were, I was more curious about everything that came with being mated.

“We’re one. We’re connected mind, body and soul. If you’re hurt, I’ll know. Sad, I’ll be there to cheer you up. Everything about you, I’ll know.”

“Will I be like that with you?”

“Absolutely. There’s nothing we can hide from each other.”

“What if I’m mad and don’t want you in my head?”

Kenzo let out a hearty laugh before answering me. “You can’t turn off the mindspeaking, but you can ignore me.”

“Well, that doesn’t seem fair,” I grumbled while opening my eyes and looking up at the ceiling.

“Think about it like this. We can have all of our own secret conversations without anyone hearing them. Whenever I get the urge to tell you how much I wanna suck on that sweet, juicy pussy, I can without any interruptions.”

“I like that,” I purred back to him while thinking about all the nasty things Kenzo could say to me.

“Let me find out I turned you out,” Kenzo chuckled. “You gotta get up. Everyone is waiting on you.”

“I don’t have anything to wear.”

In the heat of passion last night, Kenzo ripped up all my clothes. He said he never wanted to see me wearing clothes again. It sounded good, but in reality, that wasn’t possible.

“Look in the chair by the window. There’s a dress for you.”

“Coming,” I quickly replied upon seeing the white dress thrown over the chair.

I climbed out of the warm bed that smelled like Kenzo’s toasted vanilla scent, tempted to take the covers with me.

If I could sniff his scent all day, I would have without a second thought.

I stretched to see if I felt any difference now that I was mated with Kenzo, but I didn’t physically feel anything.

However, there was a steady heartbeat ringing in my ears that wasn’t there before.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t annoying to hear the consistent heartbeat. It brought a sense of peace to me.

“Kenzo!” I called out to him when I remembered the dream I was having last night.

“You don’t have to yell. You can talk to me normally. The way we communicate through mindspeak is the same way we talk to each other in person.”

I whipped around at the sound of Kenzo’s voice echoing in the room to see him leaning against the door frame with one arm raised and his body resting against the raised arm with a smirk on his handsome face.

Out of instinct, I moved to cover my naked body. “You scared the shit out of me,” I scolded Kenzo while frowning at him.

“What you covering up for when we’ve seen every inch of you?” Kenzo asked as he pushed himself off the wall to walk over to me. He pulled my body into his once he was close enough to me. Kissing me sweetly, Kenzo left me in a momentary daze. “I missed you.”

“Am I crazy because I missed you too?” I asked while getting lost in his fiery gaze. I really missed Kenzo. Granted, he hadn’t been away from me long, but anytime he wasn’t next to me felt like he’d been gone for an eternity.

“Nope. Sounds like you’re in your right mind,” Kenzo chuckled while leaning down to kiss me again with his hands firmly gripping my ass. “What were you calling me for?” Kenzo asked after breaking our kiss, and sadness filled me.

“Oh, yeah. I was dreaming about a bear who looked just like the one you turned into and a white wolf cuddling. What does that mean?”

“That was my bear and your wolf. She’s breathtaking, by the way. Bonding together too. When your wolf revealed herself to us, we were amazed. Never in a million years did we think she would be as magnificent as she is. I can’t wait until she’s confident enough to come out on her own.”

“That scares me. Shifting. What is it like?” I asked while laying my head on Kenzo’s chest. Hearing his heart calmed my worries.

Kenzo rubbed my back and rested his head on top of mine. “Uhh, it’s interesting. The first time can be scary, but once you get used to shifting, it becomes second nature.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Not that bad. It can if you don’t shift for a long time.”

“Time, time, time. You two will have an eternity to be with each other. We must leave soon.” I could hear Tiny’s voice, but beccause of how I was positioned in Kenzo’s arms, I I couldn’t see her face. There was an anxiousness to her voice that usually wasn’t there.

“We’re coming,” Kenzo answered for us.

_______________________

After we got dressed and greeted the others, Tiny ushered all of us out of the house.

I was really curious about what her deal was.

Tiny was a lot of things, but nervous, anxious, or jittery weren’t any of them.

She’d been acting off since she came in to get Kenzo and me.

I asked Kenzo if he noticed it, and he confirmed I wasn’t tripping.

I prayed Tiny wasn’t trying to do anything sneaky.

We’d only been walking for ten or fifteen minutes, and everyone seemed to be in good spirits.

Halo congratulated me on completing my mating bond.

When I asked her how she knew, she pointed out my markings where Kenzo bit me and mentioned the mixing of our scents.

At first, I was kind of embarrassed, but Halo assured me I had nothing to be embarrassed about.

“Here,” Tiny called out before stopping in front of two dark wooden doors that looked like skyscrapers. The doors were connected to walls just as high that stretched as far as the eye could see in both directions.

“How the hell didn’t we see this before?” Cree asked in amazement while gazing up at the doors.

“The mind cannot perceive the unimaginable when it is clouded by the worries of the world,” Tiny answered absentmindedly as she looked around for something.

“What are you looking for?” Halo asked what I was thinking.

Just as Tiny opened her mouth to speak, a gust of wind passed, knocking us all down.

A loud roar echoed loudly, making us cover our ears.

Tears of pain rolled down my face from the pain ringing in my ears.

Only Tiny stood unaffected. She was standing looking up at a giant figure in a fearless manner.

“Enough!!!” Tiny’s voice echoed over the screeching that was coming from the giant figure.

Another gust of wind picked up, and I watched in amazement as the hulking figure shrank down to a smaller size, though it was still bigger than most, easily standing over seven feet.

The man had the body of a human, a very sculpted muscular man with the head of a lion.

His skin was made up of stripes like a tiger going down his right side while he had cheetah spots going down his left size.

“Cahlian. We come in peace. Fate has sent us here,” Tiny spoke fearlessly; however, her body language seemed to say the exact opposite.

“Peace is never present when you are around.” The lion headed man’s voice thundered loudly. The look he gave Tiny was that of a scorned lover, and it piqued my interest.

“Now isn’t the time. Fate has ca—”

“The time is never right because all you care about is Fate.” He ice-grilled Tiny while stalking around her body.

“Please… I don’t want to fight you. Fate wouldn’t be pleased,” Tiny responded with a straight face.

“You’d lose. It wouldn’t be a fight.” He looked down at Tiny’s small frame that looked even smaller next to him. He snarled at Tiny, and a cloud of smoke blew out of his nose. “You and your shifters can pass… for now,” he grunted, and then a gust of wind blew up, and he disappeared.

A loud drum began playing as the two giant doors opened. A thick fog seeped out the doors, the wider they opened. It was impossible to see through the thick fog. I glanced over at Kenzo, and he was just as puzzled as I was.

“We supposed to go in there after that big-ass lion mutha fucka just swooshed in here damn near stepping on us? Fuck no. I’ma wait out here.” Cree shook his head at Tiny like she was crazy.

Tiny turned, glaring at Cree. Raising her hand, she lifted Cree off his feet.

“Unt uhn. Tiny, what you doing? Put me down,” Cree begged while looking around with regret on his face.

“You talk too much,” Tiny calmly replied. Then she threw her hand forward and sent Cree flying headfirst through the fog-covered doors. “Now does anyone have anything else to say or are we going to walk through the doors willingly?” Tiny asked in a threatening tone.

“No, ma'am. We're going now,” Hendrix answered quickly while grabbing Millan’s hand and leading them through the doors next.

Tiny nodded while floating behind them as the last of us followed behind her.

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but once we made it inside the doors, they slammed shut.

The fog slowly cleared, revealing a small town.

Cree was sitting on the ground, his face balled up as he shot daggers at Tiny’s back.

A crowd was beginning to form at the entrance.

Faces of all sorts were staring at us like we were aliens while they whispered to one another.

“What now?” Kenzo asked no one in particular.

“Halo?” A younger, light brown-skinned man yelled as he broke through the crowd of shifters.

“Dad!” Halo yelled before running toward the man full speed. She leapt into his arms, and he spun her around. “Oh, my goodness. I can’t believe it’s really you,” Halo cried in happiness once he sat her down on her feet. “Cree, get over here!” she screamed at Cree, who was already halfway to her.

“Do you know how long I’ve waited for this day? Mikiyah, come here. This is my pup from my past life.” Halo’s dad excitedly turned, pulling a beautiful lightly toasted woman forward. “Halo, this is my mate, Mikiyah.”

“Hi. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Mikiyah said while shaking Halo’s hand.

“Likewise. This is my mate Creeland, but you can call him Cree,” Halo gleefully responded.

“Who opened the doors of the Sanctuary of Life?” a loud voice yelled as the crowd of shifters parted, allowing a man to walk through.

“Alonzo?” I asked with squinted eyes while trying to make out his face. When I tried to walk forward, I was halted by Kenzo’s grasp on my hand. I looked back at him with a small frown.

At first, I was annoyed with him stopping me from going forward.

However, I began feeling his insecurities, and I understood Kenzo’s worries.

Thinking back to how I felt when seeing that bird bitch on Kenzo made me realize I needed to protect my mate’s feelings during this process.

Tightening my grip on Kenzo’s hand, I looked back at him with a reassuring smile. Then I tugged him along with me.

“Ho- Bellamy, is that really you?” Alonzo asked as he got close enough for me to fully make out his face.

“It is!” I said while taking in the new and improved version of Alonzo. Gone was the skinny man I remembered. Muscles filled out his entire body. He’d grown a long, thick beard that made him look older, wiser, and more handsome than before. Time had been good to my friend.

“Thank Fate, you are alive. Come! You and your friends, come to my house. We have a lot to catch up on.”

I looked back at Kenzo, and he nodded at me, signaling that it was okay for me to follow Alonzo.

“Hello, Brother.” Tiny winked at Alonzo, and he returned her smile.

“Go back into your homes. These shifters are sent by Fate; we have nothing to fear,” Alonzo commanded the crowd, and they began to disperse, making it easier for us to follow him.

“Hey! We’re going to go with my dad,” Halo called out, sounding like an excited schoolgirl, and I couldn’t help but share her excitement.

“Brice, you can bring them to my hut when they’re ready,” Alonzo commanded Brice.

“Yes, Alpha,” Brice responded with a slight nod.

We followed behind Alonzo in silence. Everyone seemed to be in deep thought. I was just excited to see he was still alive. Everything else was irrelevant.