Page 18 of Summertime Secret
Bessi stops, rounding in front of me. I stop too, wondering if she is confused or upset. But then her tongue comes out the side of her mouth as her wolf smiles big. I would laugh if I could. In this form, I let out a little rumble.
“I love you, mate. I want to claim you tonight. As my wild and as a woman.”
Moving closer, I nod my head, nuzzling her neck again. My mate, without fully understanding it as the sign of submission, of trust, of love it is, bows her head to me, baring her neck. Bending, I press my snout to her fur before I take a deep breath.
Rounding behind her, I push her to the ground gently. We’ve run for a few miles, but we’re bounding with energy. With need. I need to mate her. Need to complete the binding that will promise I am never without her. That I am never alone again.
Bessi moves to a sort of kneel, understanding what I am doing. Moving behind her, I glance up at the moon as it shines down on us. Mounting her slowly, I bend my head to sink my teeth into her neck. Bessi cries out as I push inside her from behind, taking her.
“Yes,” I roar as her blood fills my mouth, pleasure making it sweet. As she often does when we make love, she starts to shimmer. It’s a kind of beauty I had no idea existed.
My mate is beautiful in her wild.
Rutting into her from behind, our mewls of pleasure loud in the quiet, I never let go of her neck. I pin her beneath me as I take her, claim her, fuck her. It is wild and frantic, her blood spilling from my mouth as we howl in pleasure together.
It is over quick, both of us panting as the bond between us thrums loud, bright, clear. I can feel her pleasure. I can taste her desire. I can smell her submission and her acceptance. This is what we both want, this is the magic she was looking for that night she came out to that clearing, drawn to me without knowing why.
Bessi is my mate, my love, the single most important creature in the world to me.
For the rest of our lives, I will please her, provide for her, and protect her. We will have pups together, and she will be a wonderful mother. Bessi will make the best Luna. And because of her, I will be a strong, determined Alpha.
“I love you,” I pant as we collapse in the undergrowth, our bodies tangled together.
“I love you,” she whispers back, cuddling back against me as I hold her.
We’ve come out of our shift, breaths heaving, bodies trembling. Lying in the damp grass and wildflowers, it is the most intimate moment I have ever shared with anyone. In the darkness, I swear you can see our spirits merging together, joining as one being.
Being at Camp Midnight Storm set me free all those years ago. This place taught me to be a good man and a strong shifter. Now it has given me a reason for living. It has given me my mate, my Luna, and the confidence that am going to be a good Alpha to our new pack.
Because I found myself at this camp just as I found my mate, and my future.
Epilogue
Bessi
One Year Later...
Watching the campers frolic and swim on the shores of Camp Midnight Storm is the best way to spend a hot, sticky afternoon. Lying on the sand, I laugh as I watch Skunk chasing a cute new bear shifter he has had his eye on since the start of camp. I think they’re mates, but he has been shy about it whenever I mention her.
Seeing him grow into the confident, strong, proud bear shifter he has become has been so rewarding. He was a no brainer to be the first member of our pack. He is a great enforcer, and he loves it here in Moon Haven with us. We all live on the Whispering Pines, in cabins spread over several hundred acres of pack owned land.
We started building this dream place before camp even ended last summer. Skunk was thrilled to be asked to stay with us and single handedly finished two of the cabins we’ve built on the land. Since we began the pack, we’ve added just two members. Twin brothers Jacob and Jeremih, two wolf shifters.
Laughing as I watch them dunking each other in the water, I welcome the warm, motherly glow that burns inside my chest. These boys, they’re my family. I love them as a mother would. The twins came to town lost last winter, seeking refuge from rogue wolves who had been chasing them for months. They have more than shifter abilities, something that was new to us.
My brother-in-law--the warlock--Gareth, explained that some of the supernatural’s of this world have multiple abilities. They’re considered special or strange, and often get cast out dueto these powers. The twins can both read minds which made them outcasts from the pack they were born into.
“Other packs seek them out. To use them for these abilities. They often spend their lives as nomads. It is good they came here, to you. Your pack is a perfect fit for them, I think.”
My husband agreed with the warlock, and we held a ceremony just after the holidays for them to join the pack. It was one of several ceremonies we held with our new pack. The first was, of course, our wedding. We went back to the clearing where we first met to exchange our vows.
Both of my sisters were there of course, as well as Gareth, Skunk, and a few campers. Just the people who mattered to us. Beneath a full moon, we said the vows we had written to express our love to each other. We then spoke some Gaelic words, ones other shifters often use in their wedding ceremonies.
It was beautiful. We all danced and ate and drank beneath the moon until the sun came up. We shifted as a pack for the first time, Luci and Cari watching in awe. To join us on a run through the woods, Luci’s husband wove his own magic, making them wolves for the night just so we could celebrate together.
“Think it is time for a visit from your sisters, sunshine.”
Blinking in the sunshine, I hold my hand up to block out the sun as a shadow looms over me. My heart double times in my chest as it always does. My mate. My husband. My lover. Edon stares down at me with love shining in his gray eyes, a smile at his face.