Page 59 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

“I love you,” I said when he finished his grand parade of lovely things.

Leo looked a touch surprised, but then the corners of his eyes crinkled and he gave me the sweetest, sappiest smile.

“I love you, too.”

It was the perfect note to dig in on, and we did. We served each other and ourselves, chewing between long bouts of conversation. Entirely too soon, the sun began to set, which I didn’t even realize until I had trouble seeing Leo’s features beyond his piercing eyes and bright white teeth. After a couple of minutes of squinting, my mate chuckled before pulling a small camping lantern from the basket.

“I thought you might like this,” he said as he set it beside our blanket and flicked it on. It was dim enough that it wasn’t blinding or disruptive to the nature around us. We could still look up and watch the gradual arrival of the stars as the sky slowly dipped itself into ink, but I could also see Leo’s face whenever I wanted to… which was pretty much all the time.

Our conversation went anywhere and everywhere, meandering through past anecdotes, through his concerns for the newly recovered members of his pack, to my stories about working at the grocery store. It was surprisingly cathartic to be able to grouse about something so mundane. So banal. It seemed like Leo enjoyed the stories, which made sense since he’d never had a minimum-wage job. From what he’d told me his pack had gotten by on freelance labor gigs and pooled all their money to support each other. I couldn’t imagine it, but it sounded nice.

“Do you think you’ll ever go back?”

“Go back?” Leo echoed.

The two of us were lying on our backs, watching the stars overhead.

“To your pack’s old grounds. Your homes are all there, right?”

Although I’d never gotten a clear description, I got the impression Leo’s old stomping ground was somewhat like a trailer park, but with cabins, shacks, or ranch houses built by members of the pack over the past few generations. I knew they had running water and electricity, but they were largely cut off from contact with human civilization unless they traveled through the woods that surrounded them. It was hard to believe there were still places like that in America, but it did sound peaceful. And although I loved my cabin, there simply wasn’t enough room for a long-term situation. The tents, the trailers, the RVs… all of that was temporary. And if we were ever unlucky enough for my landlord to come around, he might kick me out.

“I’ve thought about it,” Leo said, and I could hear the deep introspection within his voice. “But I don’t know how much is left there for us. Sometimes I think it would be better to start over completely rather than chasing ghosts from our past.”

“What do you mean?”

“When the brothers cursed our pack, I’m pretty sure they torched our homes. It’s fuzzy… that whole night is, but I think if we returned home all we would find is ashes.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” In my mind, Leo’s original home was waiting for him to return. I had been bracing myself for the day he would leave me, but after everything that had happened, it was pretty clear he wasn’t going anywhere unless I was with him, so I’d begun to wonder if I would move right along with him. Seemed like all that worrying was for nothing.

“It’s all right. To be honest, I didn’t even think about it for a long time. I had an extremely hard time recalling anything solid about that night, and I don’t think it’s from the brothers’ magic. I think it’s from trauma. Now that things have calmed down, maybe I’ll get a chance to sort it out. I’ve talked to Ricky, and he remembers even less than I do. So, who knows?”

The pain in his voice had me rolling onto my side and staring at his profile. Sometimes I felt a bit overwhelmed by the intense magical world I had stumbled into, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but admire everything Leo had survived. Had worked through.

“You know wherever you go, I’d follow, right?”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, and I wondered if I had gone too deep too quickly. I watched his throat bob as he swallowed, and then he rolled over to face me.

“I know you mean exactly what you say, but sometimes it’s so hard to believe that I could possibly be so lucky.”

He reached up and cupped my cheek, and I pressed my face into his palm. I loved the rough callouses of his finger pads as they dragged against my skin, and I wished I could bottle up that feeling to use whenever I was down in the dumps. Knowing Leo was so incredibly powerful that he could rip me limb from limb without breaking a sweat, but he still chose to be so delicate, made my heart pound in a way I didn’t know was possible.

“I think I’m the lucky one,” I murmured, placing my hand on his chest. While his flannel covered the muscles I was so familiar with, I could still feel his heartbeat. The steadythump-thumpagainst my palm assured me that both he and I were alive. That we were together in the moment.

“I guess we’re just lucky together, then.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

We closed the distance between us, our lips fusing together. We’d had all sorts of lip locks in our relationship, from feral and wanton, to sweet and soft. But this was different. It was deeper. Urgent but unrushed. Like it was a confirmation of everything we’d already said. There was no thought, no second-guessing, just the two of us and the love we shared.

Our hands slid over fabric and flesh. Even after all the time we’d spent together, after everything we’d been through, his touch never failed to make goosebumps rise along my skin. I never thought someone could look at me the way he did, and every time it was the most welcome surprise. A thousand years could pass, and I would never find anyone else like my love. Not that I would want to, anyway. I knew who I was meant to be with, and he was right in front of me.

When his hand cupped my breast, I gasped into his mouth, alight with the sensation of it all. That simple sound unlocked a furor in him, because his hands slid up over my thighs and under my dress. I rolled onto my back to give him better access, and Leo followed me, positioning himself on his elbows above me. God, I didn’t think I would ever get tired of that sight. Of his face hovering above mine, pupils so large and dark his eyes were almost black, his canines slightly elongated. I loved that his desire for me wasn’t always civil. That it was as wild and untamed as the wolf inside him. I doubted there was much else that could make me feel as beautiful. As desired.

“I want you,” he growled as if he could read my mind.

“You have me,” I said before kissing him for all that I was worth. “You’ll always have me.”

The rumble that issued from his chest was downright intoxicating, and I didn’t fight its pull. I raised my hips to help Leo strip my dress from my body. I wasn’t exactly an exhibitionist, so never in a million years had I imagined something like this happening in the middle of the woods, yet it felt so right, almost inevitable in a way, as if our love was so potent, so raw, it couldn’t be contained in my cabin.

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