Page 142 of Red's Beast

“I’m sorry about the pain. Ma gave me some stuff to rub into your muscles, and I hope it helps. Grandmother is at her cottage with my parents and brother. Everyone in the village is a mess right now because they felt you almost die.”

I chuckle. “No one can kill me that easily, I guess. So, what about Corbin and Emmeline?”

He rolls his eyes as he leans back. “Emmeline is going to that realm called Dark Sun. She has promised once she is there, she can never leave because she feels her magic waning. Apparently, it’s their combined magic and now that she’s gone, it won’t work or it won’t be enough to return. Corbin is in the alpha house packing up his stuff.”

“Why?” I ask, wondering what happened after I almost died.

"Well, there is no agreement between the two of you, so he's moving out of the alpha house to make room for the new alphas. It's no longer his. Plus, he is the last of Natalia’s line. It’s up to you now on where he goes. He is letting you out of the deal that you two made, especially since we already marked each other. I guess he knew there was nothing he could do.”

I sigh as I think it over. Right now, I don’t have it in me to make a decision of that magnitude. After all he had put me through, it is just too much to think about. “Not right now. I can decide all of that once I’m better and moving around. I’d rather lie here with you and enjoy what time we have together.”

He smiles. “Me too. Hence, everyone is leaving us alone today and we’ll have our official ceremony on the next full moon.”

As I stare at the ceiling, I’m not even sure what day it is. He laughs as he realizes I’m lying there wondering about the day.

“The full moon is in a week, if that’s okay with you. I personally can’t wait that long, but since it is our tradition, I guess I will have to. After everything, I don’t feel like invoking the wrath of whoever and dooming our mating.”

My body is sore, but not the worst I have ever felt. A week almost feels too long to wait, but it is tradition, and I don’t want to jinx what we have, either. “Fine, a week it is.”

He leans forward, capturing my mouth with his, his hand trailing down my side. It reminds me of the times he scraped histeeth down the back of my neck and sent shivers down my spine, but this time, he is right here.

Oddly, I feel it even now, though his teeth are nowhere near the back of my neck.

It’s the bond, Lily.

There’s his voice, filling my mind again. Oh, how I have missed it.I love you, my big bad wolf.

I return the teeth scraping feeling now that I know how to do it and he shivers.

He chuckles under his breath, breaking the kiss. “Stop thinking about it and doing that or I won’t be able to wait a week. I’m already yours and you are mine, so this is torture.”

I laugh as I stroke his face and peck his lips lightly again. “But it’s so much fun to torment you like you did to me. You are such a tease.”

Lucian leans back and glances toward the door. “That full moon better hurry up, but we have a lot to keep us busy until then.”

“We do? Like what?”

He laughs. “Well, there’s the alpha ceremony and speaking with your pack. Grandmother is helping with that right now, but after today we need to go out of the room.”

Oh great. I have to see people.

“Do I really have to see people? Can we just not seal our bond behind closed doors and call it a night? I don’t even want to run with the pack. It sounds silly now that I say it out loud, but after all I’ve been through and they stood by, watching it happen without interfering, I don’t know that I want them at our ceremony. Honestly, we’re already marked, so I think we should just seal it.”

Lucian nuzzles my cheek with his nose, his hand still rubbing up and down my side. “As much as I hate to admit it, I feel the same way. They screamed at me, called me a beast, and feared me. I honestly don’t know how things are going to work now that I’ll be by your side as your mate.”

“You mean as an alpha.”

“Alphas,” he corrects. “There is no alpha and luna business. If I’m an alpha, then so are you.”

“But you’d make a darling luna, beasty.”

He huffs out a breath and rolls on top of me, but once I wheeze, he pulls his weight back a little. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. Stop teasing me, woman. You know, there is nothing dainty about me or anything that suggests I’m a luna.”

I giggle at the look he’s giving me, then take him in. This is only the second time I’ve seen him in his human form. “You’re goingto make this even harder. I don’t want to wait either. You’re so tall and handsome.”

His smile fades as a serious expression surfaces. “Stop it. We need to have our official ceremony so it’s not jinxed.”

“Who even started that? Do you know?”

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