Page 17 of Promise & Artem

“Well,” she said with a smile that made his whole body feel warm. “I wanted to find you first, and then see about becoming the healer to your group. Which I guess is the hyenas?”

“It’s just me and my dad who are minotaurs, but yes, we’re part of the hyena baro.”

“I met your parents when Charlotte and Isolde took me on a tour of the campground. They’re really nice.”

“I’m glad you got a chance to see the campground and meet my parents and sister, too.”

His hands were sweating and his knees were weak, and his minotaur was bellowing so loudly in his head that he thought he’d go deaf from it. He couldn’t help but reach for her with trembling hands and pull her close. As he buried his face in the crux of her neck his whole body jolted with joy at finally finding her. He inhaled her honey scent and everything inside him quieted for the first time in years. He could feel the aggression already leeching away from him as his beast recognized fully that they’d finally found their truemate and they could relax.

No more threat of turning into a monster with no hope for reprieve.

No more need to fight to stave off the aggression.

Pulling her even closer, his beast hummed as she wrapped her arms around him and returned the tight hold. He could feel her trembling too.

“I’m so glad I found you, Artem,” she whispered. “I feel like I’ve been looking for you forever, but this is the first time I left home to search.”

“I can’t believe you’re here. I can’t believe you’re real.”

She leaned away slightly and smiled, her eyes fully amber and the honey scent of her morphing to smell like the woods in the fall. “I’m here and I’m real. And I’m yours.”

He crushed her against him, their lips meeting for the first wild and sweet kiss. She was temptation in the flesh, more beautiful than he’d dared to imagine his mate might be. As the kiss deepened, the woods came alive around them as if in celebration, and his beast let out a happy bellow.

They’d found her.

Finally.

Their truemate’s name was Promise.

Promise couldn’t believe she’d found her truemate the day after she arrived at the campground! And not only had she found him, but he was sexy as hell. Dark hair shaved on the sides and a little long on top, a rugged jaw covered with a day’s worth of stubble, and dark brown eyes like melted chocolate.

And he could freaking kiss!

She’d never been held so tenderly and kissed so expertly, but damn was she putty in his calloused hands.

Her wolf was turning somersaults and prancing like a show pony in her head.

She remembered the dream, and she slipped her hands under his shirt and up his broad back. He stiffened as she reached what she was looking for: the scar she’d seen in her dream.

“It’s you,” she said, breaking the kiss.

“Your mate?” he asked, his thumb stroking lightly over her jaw. His eyes were a beautiful scarlet red, and she suspected it was the color of his beast’s eyes. She wondered if hers were amber.

“No, I dreamed about you.”

“When?”

“Last night. Or it was really early this morning. It was a weird dream, but I saw a male with a scar on his back. I wanted to see if my dream really was some kind of prophecy. Wolves don’t have mating dreams.”

“Minotaurs do.”

“That explains it. My sister suggested that when I told her about my dream today.”

“Tell me about your dream,” he said.

She looked around, remembering they were outside, in broad view of anyone who might come by. Not that she cared if people saw her fondling her mate, but she wanted to get somewhere comfortable so they could talk.

“Have you eaten breakfast? I can make us something to eat and we can talk.”

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