Page 33 of Beyond the Grasslands

“I was thinking being with you in our shifted form might accidentally push the formal mating forward.” I loved that he laughed as he admitted his fears to me. They weren’t really fears in the normal sense. Thorin was afraid to disappoint me by not holding up his end of the deal to wait until the date I originally gave him. We were closer to getting there, but not close enough for him to be comfortable with a situation that might get away from him.

“Well, are you willing to risk it with me?” I asked.

“I’m willing to risk anything except losing you,” He admitted.

“Well, that’s not going to happen, no matter what, so let’s go for a run.”

“I love you, Nika.” Thorin’s words hit me just as the shift took over and my wolf threw a flirty little wink over her shoulder at him on her way out of the office, as if to say those words right back to him.

Chapter 15

The Claiming

NIKA

A fine powderylayer of snow blanketed the ground around us as we stood before Janella and Warren, our only two witnesses to the mating ceremony Thorin and I agreed on. When we both agreed to keep the ceremony small and intimate, I didn’t think either of us realized it would boil down to us and our two closest friends. It seemed perfect though. I trusted everyone in our little circle.

We had a party set for later in the evening with the rest of the pack. In the end, we decided to piggyback off of the Celebration of Dionysus. As the pack celebrated the birth of a different type of hybrid being, half God-half human, we would also announce that our mating had been completed and that I was officially the Luna of the Grasslands Pack. I had been acting Luna of the pack all along, so neither of us thought it would be that big of a deal to the pack.

“Are we supposed to say anything?” I asked as the four of us stood in the clearing together. Janella and Warren laughed.

“None of us are mated, but it’s my understanding that the bite is the important part, not the words people might say,” Warren explained. Thorin nodded his head and leaned in to me.His arms remained wrapped around my back as I stared up into his dark eyes.

“I love you, Thorin Greywolf, and promise to always treat you with the respect due the person I love most in this world.”

I could have sworn there was a sheen of moisture in Thorin’s eyes as he continued to stare down at me. “And I also promise to always treat you, Nika Mayweather, with the respect due to the person I love the most in this world - in this life and those we may live beyond.”

“You had to one-up me, I see.” I rolled my eyes as I teased him to keep from bawling like a baby. He pinched my ass and then leaned in further so our lips were only a breath away.

“It’s time to make things official, my love.”

I didn’t bother with agreeing verbally. Instead, I leaned forward and kissed my mate on his lips as my canines extended with the ache to claim him. When I pulled back we both smiled at one another before he dipped his head to the side of my neck that didn’t hold the remnants of his wolf’s bite. I moved to place a gentle kiss on the opposite side of his neck and then we each pulled the other closer as we bit down and committed to the moon-blessed union Selene had shown me was a possibility a year ago that very day.

The completed bond wrapped around us in a zinging warmth and energy that took my breath for a minute. I was able to catch my breath again momentarily before the floodgates opened and the link between Thorin and me formed fully. His elation was the first coherent thing I experienced and then the love he had for me filled me up to overflowing.

“Thorin,” I whispered in awe.

“Sweetheart, feeling the way you love me is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced.”

He verbalized what I couldn’t do at that moment. Tears flowed freely down my face as we clung to one another. Itwasn’t until I heard the light crunch of snow under boots that I remembered we hadn’t been out there alone. I glanced to the left to see that our friends had already started to walk away to give us a little space to bask in our newly formed bond.

“We really should have done this inside,” Thorin lamented as he glanced around.

“Why? It is beautiful out here.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think you want your bare ass to hit that cold snow when I plow into you, and sweetheart, I really don’t want to fight this need to be buried deep inside of you any longer.”

We had been intimate a lot over the past few months, but the one thing we hadn’t done was have sex. For some reason, it seemed right to wait on that until we fully committed to our bond. While I was glad we did, Thorin was right. The time for waiting was over and I wanted to experience every bit of our bond together, especially as we linked our bodies together.

“Isn’t there an old heat house nearby?” I asked.

“Have I mentioned lately that you’re absolutely perfect?” Thorin asked as he lifted me off my feet and carried me, with my legs wrapped around his middle, to the heat house that was a little further than my memory served, but definitely closer than the pack house had been.

The old heat house had been created for females who hadn’t found their mates yet, but needed a place to go through their heat cycle without attracting every single shifter in the pack to their doorstep. The heat houses were rarely used anymore, since a heat suppressant had been introduced to the shifter community. Lucky for us, the relic of an older, more difficult era for female shifters still remained and we were about to put it to good use.

“We’ll be late to the party,”I murmured as Thorin yanked my shirt up and over my head.

“They’ll understand when we make our announcement.”

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