Chapter 13 #2
"You walked away from the fight at the Duluth game," she reminded me. "The crowd wanted blood. Your instincts wanted blood. But you looked at me, and you chose love. Elias Thorne didn't have an anchor. You do."
"You think love is enough to stop biology?" I asked skeptically.
"I think love changes biology," she said. "I think you and I… we're rewriting the code."
She pulled my head down.
"You aren't a time bomb, Rory. You're just a man who has been carrying a mountain for twelve years. Put it down. Just for tonight. Put it down."
I looked into her eyes. I saw the absolute, unwavering belief she had in me.
And for the first time, I believed it too.
I let out a sob—a raw, ugly sound—and collapsed onto my knees in front of her. I wrapped my arms around her hips, burying my face in her stomach.
I cried.
I cried for the ten-year-old boy trapped under a corpse. I cried for the years of loneliness. I cried for the fear that had ruled my life.
Zoe stood there, stroking my hair, whispering soft, nonsensical words of comfort. She didn't try to fix it. She just bore witness to it.
When the storm finally passed, I felt hollowed out. Cleaned.
I stayed on my knees, my cheek resting against the soft fabric of her sweater.
"I love you," I whispered into the wool.
I hadn't meant to say it. But it was the truth. It was the only truth left in the wreckage.
Zoe went still. Her hands paused in my hair.
"Say it again," she breathed.
I looked up at her. My eyes were red, my face swollen, but I didn't care.
"I love you, Zoe. I love you more than I hate the curse. I love you enough to risk it."
She dropped to her knees so she was level with me. Tears were shining in her eyes now, too.
"I love you, Rory Thorne. Monster, man, wolf… I love all of it."
She kissed me.
It wasn't a hungry kiss. It wasn't about lust. It was slow, soft, and tasted of salt and redemption. It was a seal. A vow.
"Make me feel something else," I whispered against her lips. "Please. I don't want to feel the past anymore. I want to feel you."
"Okay," she said. "Okay."
We moved to the bed.
We didn't undress frantically. It was a slow, reverent unveiling.
I took off her sweater. Her shirt. Her jeans. I kissed every inch of skin as it was revealed. I kissed the bruise on her hip from skating. I kissed the faint mark on her neck from our last night.
She undressed me. She didn't look away from my scars. She kissed the jagged line on my neck, lingering there, reclaiming the site of the trauma.
"This isn't where he hurt you anymore," she whispered against the scar. "This is where I love you."
When we finally came together, it was different.
There was no biting. No growling. No dominance.
I entered her slowly, looking into her eyes the entire time. I wanted to see her. I wanted to be seen.
"Rory," she sighed, wrapping her legs around me. "You feel… lighter."
"Because you took the weight," I murmured.
We moved in a slow, rocking rhythm. The hotel bed creaked, the wind howled outside, but inside the circle of her arms, it was quiet.
It was making love.
For the first time in my life, I wasn't fucking to forget. I wasn't fucking to claim. I was making love to the other half of my soul.
The climax, when it came, wasn't violent. It was a warm, golden wave that washed over both of us. I didn't knot her this time—I held back the Wolf just enough to keep it human, soft, intimate.
I collapsed next to her, pulling the duvet over us.
We lay there in the dark, limbs tangled, skin cooling.
"What do you want?" Zoe asked softly into the silence.
"Right now? Water."
She poked my ribs. "No. In the future. After Northridge. After hockey."
I stared at the ceiling. Before tonight, I hadn't had a future. I had only had a deadline.
"I don't know," I admitted. "I never let myself think past twenty-five."
"Think now."
I closed my eyes. An image formed.
"A cabin," I said. "Not like the one where… it happened. A new one. Somewhere with trees. But not isolated. Somewhere near a town with a good bakery."
"Because of the vanilla?" she teased.
"Yeah. And a rink. A backyard rink."
"For you?"
"For our kids," I whispered.
The words hung in the air. Our kids.
I waited for the panic to set in. The fear of the bloodline.
It didn't come.
Instead, I felt a strange, warm flutter in my chest.
"You want kids?" Zoe asked, propping herself up on one elbow to look at me.
"I swore I didn't. But… if they had your heart? If they had your stubbornness?" I reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah. I think I do. Little wolves on skates. Terrifying the neighbors."
Zoe smiled, but there was a shadow in her eyes. A flicker of worry.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing," she said quickly, laying her head back down on my chest. "Just… it sounds perfect. A cabin. A rink. Us."
"It’s a pipe dream," I said, kissing the top of her head. "I have to make the NHL first. I have to secure the bag."
"You will," she said sleepily. "You're the Enforcer."
She drifted off to sleep quickly, exhausted from the drive and the emotion.
I stayed awake for a while longer, listening to the wind.
I thought about the future. I thought about the cabin.
I thought about the fact that we had been having unprotected sex for weeks. Shifter fertility was high. Human fertility was a cycle.
I did the math in my head.
She’s late, the Wolf whispered.
I pushed the thought away. It was too soon. It was impossible.
But as I pulled Zoe closer, shielding her from the cold draft of the window, I couldn't shake the feeling that the universe was already laughing at my plans.
I had put down the mountain of the past, only to pick up the precarious glass globe of the future.
And I knew, with a sickening certainty, that someone was going to try to smash it.
I closed my eyes and prayed to a God I hadn't spoken to in twelve years.
Let us have this. Just let us have this.
But the wind outside just howled louder, sounding like a warning.