Chapter Twenty-Three Dylan
I had to make this choice now, and I would always choose Silas.
The mistake I made before was what put us here in the first place, and it was time to remedy that.
With little thinking, I rushed toward Silas and leaped into his arms while still tugging on the bond.
Silas reacted the way I thought he would.
He didn’t expect this, but the bond kicked in, making him wrap his arms around me just in time for me to smash my lips against his.
The bond flared to life at my touch.
A feverish need broke inside of me, and I kissed Silas like my life depended on it.
Because it did. At first, I thought he was going to push me off of him and go back to wanting me dead.
Silas went still, but kept his arms in place so I wouldn’t fall.
My heart was in my throat as I waited for him to make a move.
Any move. Either to kill me or fall into this kiss with me.
It felt like everything stood still.
The warmth in my chest spread, feeling the contact of his skin made my wolf surge to the surface and whine for me to complete the bond.
That was my intention, but I needed Silas to want it first. I couldn’t mark someone against their will.
Even the wolf realized the want of the bond wasn’t there yet, making her whine more.
I opened my mouth and tried to deepen the kiss, but Silas was still stiff.
Fuck. He may push me off and try to kill me. This may not work. I could be in trouble here.
No. Don’t think like that. He has to come back to us. He has to!
I threaded my hands through his hair, and I heard him groan. My heart raced at the possibility of him wanting this. His fingers gripped into my ass and I nearly choked on a sob when I felt his lips moving against mine. He moaned into my mouth, and I felt the wall come crashing down in the bond.
There was something mixed in the bond, but I felt his wolf’s power pulse through it, and my wolf did the same.
They were cleansing the bond of whatever Lupe had done to my mate.
He broke the kiss and looked into my eyes.
There was confusion still in those emerald eyes, but I could see the clarity coming through.
His eyes welled with tears for a moment before he pressed his forehead against mine.
“You fought for me,” he whispered to me, barely audible.
He was talking to himself. Silas was living through what had transpired here today, and his arms tightened around me.
“It’s okay.”
“ No ,” he growled. “It’s not fucking okay. I almost killed you.”
“I’m not that easy to kill.”
He breathed out a laugh but claimed my mouth again in a fiery kiss.
I could feel his desperation to have me, his need to know I was okay, and his want of everything to be normal in that kiss.
This bump in the road was over. I did the impossible and broke through the hold Lupe had on him.
Things were going to be a little weird when explaining all of this, but I didn’t care.
My mate was back.
And I sure as fuck wasn’t letting him go again.
There was a moment where his grip hurt, and I broke the kiss to suck air between my teeth when I felt his claws dig in.
Silas’s fear went through the bond, like this would all be taken from him again if he let go.
With a step back, I felt him try to pull me against him again.
His eyes were glowing with his wolf, and his body shook as I looked him over.
“Run, Dylan.”
I felt a shiver go down my spine and my blood running cold through my body.
I didn’t know why he would tell me to run.
There wasn’t a trace of Lupe’s influence in the bonds.
The green in his eyes returned just long enough for me to notice before they glowed again.
Silas was fighting his wolf for control, and I knew this minor war wasn’t over yet.
“I can barely control him, Dylan. Run. I can’t let him hurt you.”
A laugh escaped my throat, and I stepped toward him. He took a step back, but I didn’t stop the movement until I was close enough to feel the natural warmth of his werewolf body. Placing my hand on his chest, I smiled up at him.
“He won’t hurt me. You won’t either.”
He shook his head and took a step back. “I don’t feel in control, Dylan. It feels like he wants to hurt you and mark you all at the same time. If I let him get what he wants, I don’t know that that will be me.”
Mark me? Good. That meant his wolf was trying to fight through this and knew marking me would help push out the last of the spell or whatever Lupe did. That told me everything I needed to know right now.
It was time to claim Silas as my mate.
Yet again, I ran to Silas and jumped onto him, wrapping my arms around him tightly.
The moon shined above us, and I felt the magic pouring into me as my canines descended as he kept me in place.
I didn’t know if Silas knew what my plan was, but I didn’t care.
If his wolf wanted this, and I could feel he wanted it to, then it was time for this to happen.
Before Silas could disagree with my intent and throw me off him, I plunged my canines into the sensitive spot on his neck.
At first, I felt the battle inside of Silas between him and his wolf.
It was like he said. There was still a little of what Lupe did to him running through his body, but it was more than that.
The wolf within Silas raged and wanted it gone.
The urgency to be with me wasn’t what Silas thought it was.
The wolf understood the need to complete the bond so it would break the last piece of the hold Lupe had on him. It wasn’t him wanting to hurt me.
It was the wolf wanting this bond.
Silas was mistaking it for what it had wanted before this. That last piece of influence made him fear what could happen, but it didn’t matter anymore.
Silas was mine.
The bond thrummed with power, and a gasp came out of my mouth as I felt the magic and power stitching our souls together.
This felt so different from the other two bonds, and the feeling of being complete sank into me.
The way my body shook from the amount of power flowing through me as the magic worked to fix everything that we broke by rejecting each other.
I sighed when it all settled, and the magic stayed inside the bond to make it complete.
Silas’s relief went through the bond first, and then the need to complete the bond came next.
It was calling out to us to finish what we started, and I pushed my agreement through the bond and into Silas.
When I realized my mark had been made, I moved my legs down his body to stand again.
I thought he would not allow it for a moment as he tightened his hold, but then let my legs drop.
The way his hands moved up my body sent a ripple of need through me. I needed him to complete the bond before I exploded as the warmth I felt before went through me and traveled to my core. The fire I felt across my skin as his hand went to the back of my neck made me growl and he smiled.
“So needy,” he said, his tone carrying amusement.
My eyes didn’t leave his, and the energy between us crackled as his hand urged me to bear my neck to him.
This was usually a sign of submission in our kind, and a way for the alpha to see respect from his mate.
Now that I could feel how he wanted this bond, I had no problem showing him this respect.
As he lowered his mouth to my neck, the corners of my mouth lifted.
“I still expect that letter.”
I felt his smile against my neck as he laid a sensual kiss on that sensitive spot.
My body shivered under his touch, feeling the need growing in him to complete the bond in every way it demanded.
A low growl emitted from me as I pressed for him to sink his canines into me.
This tortured wait was going to drive me insane if he didn’t do it already.
Then I felt the piercing of his canines.
There was a second of pain, and then the bond thrummed to life again.
It practically vibrated as the power and magic grew inside of it again.
My body shook again and I could feel his body doing the same as he pressed me against him.
My hands traveled across the rigid planes of his muscles, and I moved them up his back.
His hardened length pressed into me, filling me with an additional need as my fingers gripped into his back.
The moan that escaped him only urged the need for him more as the energy settled into the bonds.
He was mine.
I was his.
Just as it should have been all those weeks ago.
He removed his canines and licked at the wound to seal it.
A sigh came out of me as he kissed along my neck.
The three bonds of my mates entangled inside of me, and I knew the other two could feel the completion of the bonds now.
They would come here now that the floodgates were open, but there was something I needed to do first.
The green in Silas’s eyes was the perfect shade of green, no glow of his wolf, and no fog of the spell. There was so much I wanted to say right now, and the apologies for putting us through all of this sat on my tongue. Silas smiled, and my heart raced at the sight of it.
“Mine,” he said with a growl.
I smiled back. “Yours.”
His hand was still on the back of my neck, and I practically vibrated with the need to complete this bond in the last way. Silas’s fingers tightened just a second before he dragged my mouth to his. I moaned against his mouth as the frenzied need returned.