Chapter 29
My body soared across the sky, effortlessly shifting before I landed on four legs over the clearing below. Without hesitation, my swift stride took over, and I rushed into the Origin Forest.
I wasn’t going to lie, part of me thought my wings would lift me toward the sun-setting horizon. Yet, as the breeze rustled the white fur along my form each time my paws stroked the damp earth, it felt right.
Welcome back, Starlight…
No response came from her like it once had, but a content emotion filled my chest, and I knew she was there with me.
The trees blurred at either side of me while I headed for the lower hill, remembering the path of my first run with Hannes. A moment later, the ethereal, crystallized lake came into view, and my pace slowed until I strutted to a stop along its shore.
I loved the way the snow-peaked mountains and sky-reaching trees reflected onto its surface.
The innate magic of this place engulfed me in a sweet caress, making my entire being hum with power.
Even the winter snowdrops exuded loving peace.
Nature itself seemed to be in perfect harmony here, something I had never felt, and its energy mixed with mine, bringing instant relief to my aching soul.
A long, releasing breath filled my lungs when I sat on the shoreline and glanced at my reflection for what felt like forever, taking in the peace this place freely offered.
I knew without a shadow of a doubt what I needed to do. My entire life I’d never been this certain of anything... I had to do this, regardless of everyone’s fears, or the repercussions my decision might have.
This wasn’t about my ego.
Not that I wasn’t the most remarkable, extraordinary, and unique being ever born. Let’s be honest.
A chuckle rumbled through my chest, and I allowed myself to enjoy it.
“You can come out now,” I announced after shifting back into a woman, instantly hearing the Beast grunt from behind the nearby trees.
I crossed my arms over my chest, my eyebrow threateningly arching when he stomped his way out of the forest, mumbling something unintelligible.
“How could you even sense me?” Hannes asked, walking toward me. “I’m a master of stealth.”
Okay, so maybe the ego didn’t just come from my Vampiress side. It turned out Wolf Shifters weren’t that humble either.
“Oh, yeah,” I snorted. “A seven-foot-tall werewolf, who scares the fauna shitless, and pretty much makes the forest itself stop breathing with his presence, it’s definitely the personification of stealth.”
His muzzle twitched in amusement as he walked closer.
Also, I really needed him to teach me how to speak out loud in my wolf form. That was freaking cool.
“I mean, you do kind of blend in with the snowy landscape, I’ll give you that.”
He remained silent, his gaze intensifying with each stride. To my surprise, he wrapped his arms around me the instant he stopped before me, bringing me into his warm, Beasty embrace.
I needed the hug more than I cared to admit, so I sank into him, resting my cheek on his soft, furry chest and enjoying the sound of his heart beating against my ear. Strong. Steady. Sexy as hell even as the Beast.
Hannes’s fingers played with my strands, caressing them all the way down to my waist as silence embraced us, soothing the anxiousness still hidden deep within me.
And yeah, I was naked as a brand-spanking-new-baby because not all my clothes were spelled for shifting yet, but I didn’t even care. The Beast’s hug was like being wrapped in a giant, fuzzy, comforting blanket, and I was happily melting in it.
“I’m always going to be there for you no matter what,” Hannes suddenly whispered against my ear, his strong arms tightening around my waist and back.
He had no idea how much this simple gesture meant to me.
“Because you chose me too, Mr. Beasty?”
He chuckled at that, and I grinned, loving the way his chest rumbled against me.
“We all did. Beast, Man, and Wolf. One doesn’t exist without the other… and none of us exist without you.”
My heart quivered, Natasha’s emotion reaching me. I wanted to say so much to him. I wanted to scream it, but I didn’t even know where to start.
Was that Natasha’s emotion I was feeling? Totally. Maybe even Starlight’s…
Mine? Definitely not. I didn’t do emotions… Did I?
A heavy breath sank his chest, and my cheek with it. It felt like that had been my chance to swoon him too, and he knew it. As though he understood why I hadn’t, the Beast let go of me, putting distance between us.
My body shivered, suddenly cold with the absence of his embrace—regardless of my shifter nature. I wanted to pull him back to me but the look in his eyes stopped me.
“I guess this was my mistake,” Hannes murmured, glancing into my eyes.
“I wanted you so badly that I thought one day you’d love me too…
I’m sorry, I never stopped to consider there was a reason the Moon Goddess didn’t choose me.
She let me be in your life, but perhaps you were never meant to love me back… I’ll give you the time you need.”
Tuning on his heel, he began to walk back into the tree line.
The freezing cold suddenly captured my heart too, chilling my entire body.
“You love me?” I called after the Beast, my throat burning with each word.
His steps halted, and Hannes faced me, shifting back into a man. “I fell in love with you the moment you had the nerve to call me a soft little pup.”
My heart began to race with his confession, and I blinked, remembering the moment he caught me in his arms. “At the beach,” I whispered. “After I fell from the sky.”
“Like a deadly, feisty, and very stubborn angel.” Offering me a gentle smile, he left.
“Wait!” I called after him. “You couldn’t have possibly known I was stubborn back then. I was practically unconscious.”
He snorted at that, but his steps didn’t stop.
Damn it! Was he really going to make me do this?
Asshole.
“I want you, okay!” I threw my arms in the air.
“And not just because you are impossibly hot, with your somehow half-wealthy prince, half-rugged sexy lumberjack self, and your flannel shirts, and the grumpy Beast. And definitely not just because of that happy-go-lucky smile that makes my heart skip a beat every single fucking time!”
I groaned.
“Your smile can melt the panties off any woman, did you know that? Even as the Beast!” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. “I probably shouldn’t have told you that because you might use it on someone else, and then I will have to kill the poor, unsuspecting bitch.”
Hannes’s head slowly pocked out from behind the trees, and he looked at me, probably thinking, This woman totally lost it.
Maybe I had lost it, but that brilliant, impossibly adorable, and sexy grin stretched his mouth, nonetheless.
“You are mine, you asshole!” I declared, pointing an accusatory finger at him.
“But you knew that already, didn’t you? Every single side of me wants you, and I know you can feel that.
Not that you’d need to feel it, Starlight was very vocal about that,” I muttered to myself.
“I want you, as a man, a wolf, and even as the Beast. And yes, I know how freaky and weird that is, but that’s the truth, and there is nothing I can do about it. ”
Hannes fully stepped out of the forest, staring at me while his panty-melting smile beamed on his delicious lips. It made his ocean-blue eyes come alive in the growing dusk.
The fire left me and my entire being tingled with his eyes on me, because it felt like he was finally truly seeing me.
“You were always mine,” I confessed, certain of what I knew in my heart to be true.
“My mom came to you knowing that, but you chose me before she could even tell you. You heard how dangerous being with me would be, yet you chose me anyway… and that’s why I love you.
You risked everything for me, even a life anyone would dream of, and you had never even met me. ”
Scorching emotion burned through my throat with the power of those words because it was all true.
Hannes began to strut toward me, his intensifying gaze capturing me and making every inch of me tremble with his unhurried but deliberate approach. Ripped muscles tensed and released along his arms, his tight abs, and his massive thighs with every certain step that brought him closer to me.
Tears rushed to my eyes when his imposing presence finally reached me, and he stood tall before me, in his massive and deliciously naked form. Reaching for my waist, Hannes pulled me against him slowly, until we were skin-to-skin.
The breath caught in my throat when I felt him close again, the feeling sending a rush of sweet relief through me. My eyes fell closed when his other hand lifted to my face, a couple of tears escaping me as he rested his thumb on my jaw, and his fingertips began to stroke my neck.
“You are mine, Hannes ReinheitWolfe,” I breathed, and opened my eyes, to find his possessive gaze boring into mine. “Whether you think the Moon Goddess chose you, or not, I don’t care. I choose you. Do you hear me? I love you…”
His irises suddenly glowed with the wolf, and his thumb lifted my chin before his mouth descended on mine—hungrily, passionately, claiming me in a way my other mates hadn’t.
This was different.
Hannes was different right now.
My nipples hardened the second he pressed my back to the tree behind us, pushing his body against mine. They rubbed against his broad chest, and I was suddenly very aware of the way our naked bodies nestled against each other.
Hannes instantly hardened against my belly, and fire ignited inside my being, sending raging need straight into my core to pool between my thighs.
My arms wrapped around his neck while scorching flames flared within me with every sweep of his tongue against mine. Hannes’s large hands cupped my breasts, squeezing them firmly before moving on to the rest of me, caressing all of my body at once—my breasts, my back, my ass.