Page 99 of Whisper Woods

“I know, son. Trust me, they’ve explained it. I just grew up differently in different times. I’ll adjust.” He sniffs loudly and shakes his head. “So, what’llyou be doing with yourself?”

“I have a new job here. It’s another thing on the impossible to explain list. But I want to travel. See the world. Specifically, with Rafe.”

Gods, it is too much. Especially with his parents looking on as they are. My heart thunders, and the desperate need to claim him right here is almost too much to bear.

“And who, my darling Seff,isRafe?” I tear myself away from the deep wells of emotion in Seff’s eyes to catch Seff’s mother’s smirking laughter.

“My future, Mum. Rafe’s my future.”

***

Three days. Three Godsforsaken days we had to wait after our phone call with his parents for the full moon.

Okay, maybe I’m being a little dramatic about the phone call. I’ve never met a lover's parents like that before—let alone one I intended to mate—so my nerves may have heightened the experience in my memory.

After Seff declared I was his future, we finished the phone call, promising to visit his parents as soon as we could. I have little doubt that his parents knew why we were so hasty in our goodbyes, which only added to my immense embarrassment. On the other hand, it had been far too long since I’d had Seff’s touch. We made up for it there on the clifftop, overlooking Tathys.

In the afterglow, I asked him to be my mate. To tie himself to me for therest of our lives. He agreed before I could get the words out in their entirety, tackling me to the grass and smothering me in snuffling, ticklish kisses until I was breathless with laughter.

After, we laid together and watched the clouds pass in the setting sun, his hand in mine while we planned our mating.

He was adamant he didn’t want to wait any longer than the next full moon—even when I offered to wait so we could have a formal ceremony with his friends and family and the Everfyr pack. Seff steadfastly declined, telling me he wanted to go back to where it all began that night in the Woods, just us.

Who am I to deny my sweet kushinavya anything in this world?

With the plans for our mating settled, all that was left was our future. We talked until the sky grew dark and the air cold. Stars sparkled in the sky, but we stayed where we were, while Seff told me every place on his extremely long list he wanted to visit. Of course, he reiterated repeatedly,onlyafter Tathys was settled and we were secure in our new positions here.

The undeniable joy in his fervent declarations moved something inside of me, moves me still. To see the parts of him that have been locked away and made small, uncaged and allowed the freedom to be as large, bright and brilliant as he truly is.

The day has been warm enough, but as our journey begins at dusk, a chill has fallen over the Woods. This late in the day, with the full moon already beginning to show in the sky, the Woods are empty. Creatures and beings alike have made their way to their homes, their mates, their sacred spaces.

While the Woods are empty, or seemingly so, they are not silent. The energy of the Woods is decidedly loud. Full of wild energy that infects the spirit, buzzing through our veins, calling to the most primitive parts of our spirits.

It is Wolf who joins me on the journey here, having pushed his way to the forefront to make the journey. He probably regrets his demands when we pass through the portal, the poor creature unsteady on his legs for a long while after. Even so, he never leaves my side.

As we near the clearing where Seff and I first stumbled upon each other, the shimmer of Wolf’s change begins. The soft fur brushing against my fingers transforms into warm, bare skin.

Seff unfolds himself from his crouched position, his glorious body on display in the golden light of the setting sun and the silver moon above. I drink him in, just as mesmerised as I was that first night.

That I get to spend the rest of my existence tied to this magnificent being is a blessing from the Gods I will forever work to be worthy of. I have known this man for only a collection of days, but it feels as though I’ve known him for a thousand lifetimes before this. Perhaps I have, and that is what has drawn us together so perfectly.

Maybe we’ve been mated before, and this is just us finding each other again in this life, as we’ll find each other again in the next. Tied together for not just our existence, but the universe’s. Two halves of one whole, forever bound to one another.

“So, like, how do we even do this?” Seff asks hesitantly, rubbing at the back of his neck and surveying our camp for the night, while I retrieve my bag from its astral pocket.

“Well, my sweet kushinavya,” I brush a kiss against his cheek and press the sleeping mat and blankets into his hands. “I am not an expert, but I believe that we just follow our instincts. They led us this far, have they not?”

I can hear Seff’s snorts from where he is laying out the blankets on the grass. I have already moved on to setting up our wards for the night. The last thing we need are any other beings stumbling upon us—we don’t need aperfectrecreation of our first meeting.

Once the wards are set and the fire is conjured, we sit on the blankets to eat our dinner. Brydon helped Eldrid pack the basket for us. Which explains that bottle of novelty, edible Munish lube tucked underneath the feast. At least they remembered the pastries from the fae bakery in town.

Nestled between Seff’s thick thighs, his chest a solid wall for my back, we feed each other, laughing in the growing dark. I’m so consumed by Seff—his full body laughter, the teasing spark in his eye and that vylushkiva dimple—I don’t notice the fog rolling in from the Woods, cocooning us in our own private world.

Reality fades from us entirely. Inside our hidden oasis, the energy slowly shifts. The laughter fades as our touches linger. I place a delicate pastry against Seff’s lips, letting my thumb graze against his lush lower lip. His tongue chases the juice of a berry that trails down my throat. Despite the cold beyond the fog encapsulating us, the heat becomes almost unbearable.

Seff is still naked from his change and so it only feels natural to unbutton my shirt. Even more natural for Seff to assist me, his lips sucking a hard bruise to my neck while nimble fingers work the buttons.

With each caress, each brush of our lips, the fog invades our senses until wecannot do anything but submit to the magical rite. Like a dream possessing us, we lose ourselves entirely. There is only me, and Seff, and the magic spilling out of us.

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