Page 61 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

“Oh, my God!” I cried, reaching up, but when I gently enclosed my fingers around one of the buds, it lifted easily,no stem. So, they weren’t growing out of my scalp or anything horrific like that. They’d just… bloomed out of nothing.

Wow. I’d really only just begun to scratch the surface of my powers, hadn’t I?

“You’re beautiful,” Leo rumbled as he rolled his hips again. “A goddess. You’reperfect.” His words were more than enough to rev me up even more. His head dipped down to kiss me at the same time as his hand snaked between us to rub my clit.

That was all I needed to get over that final hump. I arched upward, crying out into the night sky. I was well aware that the sharper-eared of our group would be able to hear me, but I didn’t give a damn. I was awash with waves of pleasure that nearly lifted me off the ground and probably would have if Leo wasn’t on top of me.

Somewhere in the rush of my orgasm, I heard a primal sound tear its way out of Leo, and then I felt his warmth fill me, our sweat-slicked bodies crashing together as we rode out the deluge.

When we eventually came off from the high, I shivered. The night air was cool, and the sweat on my skin turned clammy. Leo rolled off me and pulled out another blanket, then wrapped me in it.

“You really thought of everything, didn’t you?” I mused, snuggling into his side once we arranged ourselves.

“I try. Thankfully, I’ve got some pretty great motivation.”

“Is that me?” I said through a yawn.

“Yeah, it’s you.”

We shared another kiss, then settled into our happiness. I didn’t care that we weren’t presentable or that anyone could come across us like this. For the moment, we were exactly how we needed to be.

15

LEO

“It’s your birthday.”

I frowned. “Pardon?”

“It’s your birthday,” Philip repeated. “Look here!”

He turned the laptop around, showing me the calendar. Sure enough, it was indeed my birthday. Huh, where had all the time gone?

“So it is,” I said before returning to my conversation with Frank on how to use the latest smartphones. Technology changed so fast in a short amount of time, and Frank was stuck on the fact that phones didn’t have headphone jacks anymore.

I had to admit, that was a pretty inconvenient tech decision.

Ven suddenly jumped to her feet. “What do you mean it’s your birthday?”

Before I could answer, America stuck her head out of the back door. “Wait, did I just hear that it’s your birthday?”

“Yeah, it is, but it’s not a big deal. Really. I’m just grateful to be alive and have all of us here.” I was being sincere. I’d never been big on birthdays, and with everything we’d gone through, the peace was enough for me. I really didn’t need anything else.

“Oh, bullshit,” Ven said. “When was the last time you even had a birthday anyway? You were stuck as your wolf for so long. None of you were supposed to ever have another birthday again, so we are going to celebrate, and we’re going to celebrate hard.”

“Really, I promise, I’m happy.” I sent my love a grateful smile, thinking that would be the last of it. I didn’t think my opinion was something I could be wrong about, but I was quickly corrected of that notion when everyone around me insisted we needed to celebrate. Birthdays were us laughing in the faces of the very warlocks who had tried to end us all.

They had point there.

And that was how I’d ended up being whisked off on a long run with Ricky and several others while everyone set up for one hell of a shindig. There would be no punches pulled because half the people setting it up were Latin. Although I hadn’t hung around many coyote shifters, I knew their celebrations were full of delicious food and often carried on until three in the morning. At least Ven lived deep enough in the country that we wouldn’t be getting any noise complaints.

I tried my best to convince them I didn’t need to celebrate, but it was all in vain, so I simply enjoyed the run. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d truly sprinted with my packmates in the wild. Running was a huge part of our culture, and it felt like it was one more thing we were reclaiming for ourselves.

I couldn’t say quite how long we ran, but it was long enough that I was pleasantly exhausted when we returned, my flank on the verge of overheating. It was also the longest I’d ever been in my wolf form since Ven had broken my curse. I had forgotten what it was like to justbemy wolf self rather than only taking that form to rush into battle. Now that things were calmer, I could take the time to do more leisurely things so my inner wolf and I could both stay healthy and on the same page.

“Man, that smells amazing,” Ricky said as we approached the opening in the woods around Ven’s land.

I had to agree with him. I’d always been a fan of barbacoa, tamales, empanadas, and the like, but I only ever had it when I traveled, and that rarely happened. My mouth watered as we approached the house, but even with all the smells and sounds, I still wasn’t quite expecting what awaited me.

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