Page 67 of A Beta Protects

I feel her tension ramp up. “But what?”

“This needs to be something you want, Kira. This has to be something that will make you happy. If this isn’t what you want, I will take you wherever you want to go, and you can start over with a hell of a lot more than just the clothes on your back. You would never have to see me again a day in your life if you wanted it. Okay?”

She nods. “Okay.”

And I draw her into a hug. I bit her when I shouldn’t, but if she wants to walk away, if she wants to leave, no matter what it means for me, I will never try to force her into a future that she doesn’t want.

“But if you want to stay, I will love you like no one has ever loved you before. I will make you smile every single day for the rest of your life, Kira.”

She squeezes me. “Dom?”

I squeeze her back. “Yeah?”

“I want to be your wife.”

I freeze.

“What did you say?” I breathe.

“I love you and I want to be your wife.”

I pull away, look her in the eye, and she smiles. Then I kiss her, and I don’t stop kissing her until I’m inside her again and she is shattering around me.

It’s the middle of the night when I leave Kira sleeping and head downstairs.

Galen is in the kitchen, sitting at the dining table with a beer in front of him. “There’s an ice cold one in the refrigerator.”

"I couldn't help but overhear you and Kira,” he says as I grab a beer and join him.

“It’s a big house, and wolves have big ears. Perhaps as big as dogs.” I twist the lid open and toss the cap on the table.

“You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?” he sighs.

“Your attempt to convince me to tell Kira I’m a shifter by likening us to dogs?” I snort. “Never, my friend. Never.”

He shakes his head. “And Sierra… you don’t want to know how hard she’s been laughing. Every time she looks at me, she just starts laughing. What the hell was I thinking?”

He’s lifting his bottle to his lips when I speak. “You were thinking about being a good friend.”

His bottle stops and he studies me for a beat, then slowly nods. “Does that mean you’ll never mention it again?”

“No.” I take a gulp and we sit in the dimly lit kitchen silently nursing our beers.

I marvel that Kira is up in my bed, that she’s staying after I told her everything, even the things I should have told her before. She’s going to be my wife and I’m going to be her husband. It’s not the shifter way of bonding, but I want to bond with Kira any and every way there is.

“Shawn isn’t answering any of our calls,” he says.

And that is why I’m down here and not upstairs sleeping with my mate. It’s a situation we both need to deal with before it blows up in our faces. “Because he knows.”

I thought he was unconscious, but he saw us shift. Now we need to decide what to do because Shawn knows our secret, and he’s not talking to us, which makes him a liability.

“I don’t want to kill him,” I admit.

The only reason Kira is still alive is because he called to tell us about Ivar’s missing truck, and got himself shot trying to save her.

He saved my mate’s life. That is not a killing offence.

“Neither do I.” Galen takes another swig from his beer as he stares straight ahead. “But something needs to happen before he forces us into action.”

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