Chapter 21
POV: Amara?
I woke up warm, but not the way I had woken up beside Riven before.
It felt different. Softer. More pleasurable. A delicious mix of warmth, wetness, and comfort.
I felt his hands. His tongue.
I wasn’t even fully awake when a sharp circuit of pleasure shot between my thighs, his tongue at my clit, making me arch my back against the mattress and moan.
“Oh God.”
That was all I could whisper.
His blue eyes locked onto mine, and he stopped just long enough to smirk.
“Good morning, mate.”
Then he returned to his task.
“I can’t believe you’re waking me up like this,” I managed to say.
He paused again and looked at me.
“I could stop if you want.”
I stared at him.
“Don’t you dare.”
His smile widened.
“I’d love to wake you up like this for the rest of your life.”
Then he returned, adjusting his hold on my hips and teasing me, sucking and licking, until pleasure built higher and higher. When release finally crashed through me, I gasped beneath his touch, completely overwhelmed.
Only when I had settled back into the mattress could I breathe again.
He kissed his way back up to me.
When he finally looked into my eyes, he smiled.
“Are you going to be the death of me?”
I laughed.
“No. If we weren’t mates, then maybe I’d be the death of you. Now you’re my life, and I’m yours.”
He smiled at that.
A flash of the previous night crossed my mind. We had spent the entire night together, and honestly, after waiting fourteen years, Riven seemed determined to make up for lost time.
In a surprisingly bold move, I pushed him onto his back and switched positions, straddling him.
I could already feel his reaction beneath me.
The Alpha actually let me lead.
He let me choose the pace.
My hands settled on his shoulders as I moved, finding exactly the rhythm I wanted. His hands immediately found my hips, guiding me, steadying me.
I looked down into his eyes.
The devotion there was almost too much. The feeling built higher and higher until I could barely think. Then he shook his head.
“Enough.”
Before I could argue, he rolled us again, covering me with his body. He adjusted my position, pulling me closer as he kissed me deeply.
The intensity built fast after that.
When release finally hit, it swept through me completely.
He followed only moments later.
Then he kissed me, slow and lingering, and we collapsed together.
Tangled.
Breathless.
Completely lost in each other.
For a long time, neither of us moved.
The room was quiet except for the sound of our breathing.
I lay curled against Riven’s side, my cheek resting on his chest while his fingers lazily traced patterns over my arm. Every now and then, he would press a kiss into my hair as if he still couldn’t quite believe I was real.
As if he was checking.
As if I might disappear.
“You keep staring at me.”
His chest vibrated beneath my cheek.
“I know.”
I smiled without opening my eyes.
“That’s creepy.”
“I waited fourteen years. I earned the right to be creepy.”
That made me laugh. His arm tightened around my waist.
“I mean it.”
When I looked up, his blue eyes were soft.
“I spent fourteen years believing I might never have this.”
My chest squeezed.
“You have it now.”
“I do.”
The smile he gave me was so raw and happy that it almost hurt.
“I think I’m going to remind you every day for the rest of our lives.”
“That you’re creepy?”
“That you’re my mate.”
I rolled my eyes. He looked completely unrepentant. A while later, we finally dragged ourselves out of bed and got dressed. The moment we walked into the dining room, every conversation stopped.
I froze.
Riven looked amused.
Across the table, Joseph leaned back in his chair.
“There they are.”
Guinevere immediately started grinning. Lyra buried her face in her hands.
“No.”
“Oh, yes,” Joseph said. “We’re talking about this.”
“We absolutely are not,” Lyra replied.
“We absolutely are.”
I already wanted the floor to swallow me whole.
Riven looked perfectly relaxed.
Traitor.
Joseph pointed his fork at us.
“For the record, the entire west wing knows you found your mate.”
My face burst into flames.
“Joseph.”
“What?” he asked innocently. “The walls aren’t that thick.”
Guinevere nearly choked on her drink laughing. Even Lyra was losing the battle against her smile.
Riven, meanwhile, looked entirely too pleased with himself.
“To be fair,” he said calmly, pulling out a chair for me, “I waited fourteen years.”
“Oh no,” Lyra muttered.
“Oh yes,” Joseph said.
Riven sat beside me and draped an arm over the back of my chair.
“I waited fourteen years,” he repeated. “I’m really not sorry.”
I covered my face.
“Please stop talking.”
“No.”
Guinevere laughed so hard she nearly fell out of her chair. For the first time since arriving in Oak Pack, I wasn’t nervous.
I wasn’t in pain.
I wasn’t afraid.
I was surrounded by people who felt like family.
And when I glanced beside me and found Raven already looking at me, I realized something else.
I was home.
EPILOGUE
Six Months Later
The first thing I learned about being Luna was that absolutely nobody listened when I told them I could carry things myself. The second thing I learned was that being mated to Riven made the problem ten times worse.
“I’m carrying a folder.”
Riven looked up from his desk.
“A heavy folder.”
“It’s paper.”
“Very dangerous paper.”
I rolled my eyes.
Six months.
Six entire months, and he was still acting as if I might disappear if he looked away for too long.
Not that I minded.
Most of the time.
The office that had once terrified me had become one of my favorite places in the pack house. Sunlight streamed through the large windows overlooking the forest. Reports covered half the desk, maps covered the other half, and Riven sat behind it all looking every bit the Alpha he was.
Powerful.
Confident.
Respected.
Absolutely ridiculous.
I dropped the folder onto his desk.
“The new silver reports.”
His eyes immediately moved away from the paperwork and toward me.
I pointed at the folder.
“The reports.”
His gaze remained on me.
“Amara.”
“Riven.”
His mouth twitched.
Then he reached out, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me directly into his lap.
I yelped.
“Riven!”
“What?”
“You have work.”
“I am working.”
I looked around his office.
“How exactly?”
“You are the head of the silver operations.”
His arms tightened around my waist.
“You are technically work.”
I laughed despite myself.
Six months ago, I had arrived in Oak Pack as a visiting specialist.
Now I ran half their mining operation.
The filtration systems had been redesigned. Safety incidents had dropped dramatically. Production was higher than it had ever been.
The pack kept trying to praise me for it.
I still wasn’t used to that.
“You know,” I said, resting my head against his shoulder, “sometimes I think you’re only keeping me around because I’m useful.”
He stared at me.
Then he looked genuinely offended.
“Amara.”
I grinned.
His hands settled against my hips.
“If you retired tomorrow, I’d still keep you.”
“Oh, how generous.”
“I know.”
I laughed again.
The office door suddenly burst open.
Neither of us even had time to react.
Joseph froze.
I froze.
Riven didn’t move at all.
Joseph sighed dramatically.
“For the love of the Moon Goddess.”
“Hello, Joseph,” Riven said calmly.
Joseph pointed at us.
“You have chairs.”
“We do.”
“I can see them.”
Riven nodded.
“They are empty.”
“They are.”
Joseph looked as though he was questioning every life choice that had brought him to this moment.
I buried my face against Riven’s shoulder, already laughing.
“You are the Alpha.”
“Correct.”
“You are supposed to act professionally.”
“I am acting professionally.”
“You are literally holding your Luna in your lap during a strategy meeting.”
Riven glanced down at me.
Then back at Joseph.
“And?”
Joseph made a sound that closely resembled physical pain.
“Lyra owes me twenty dollars.”
That immediately caught my attention.
“What?”
Joseph pointed at Riven.
“I told her this would happen.”
“Which part?”
“All of it.”
I started laughing harder.
Riven looked entirely unbothered.
Joseph shook his head.
“I remember when you were intimidating.”
“I still am.”
“No.”
Joseph pointed at me.
“Now you’re domesticated.”
Riven actually smiled.
A real one.
The kind that only a handful of people ever got to see. Joseph stopped talking. For a second, the room became quiet.
Because everyone knew what that smile meant.
Fourteen years.
Fourteen years of waiting.
Fourteen years of loneliness.
Fourteen years of believing he might never find his mate.
And now he had.
Riven’s arm tightened around my waist. I leaned against him.
Home.
That was what this felt like.
Not the pack house.
Not the office.
Not Oak territory.
Him.
Home was Riven.
And judging by the way he looked at me, I was home for him too.
Forever.