Page 26 of Curvy Girl and the Mountain Man Wolf
"Of everything," he admits. "Of frightening you. Of you rejecting what I am. Of you taking Lily and running as far from me as possible once you knew the truth."
I consider this, thinking about how careful he's been around us, how he's maintained physical distance until now. "Is that why you avoided being so close? Why you always kept some space between us?"
He nods. "If I touched you, I wasn't sure I could stop. The need to claim a mate is... powerful. Almost impossible to resist once physical contact is initiated."
"And now?" I ask, tilting my head to look up at him. "What happens now?"
Kane's expression grows serious. "That depends on you. On what you want."
"What about what you want?"
A smile—the first real, unguarded smile I've seen from him—transforms his face. "I want you to stay," he says simply. "Both of you. I want to build a life with you, to be a father to Lily, to show you both everything this mountain has to offer. But I know that's asking a lot. You have plans in Cedar Falls, a job waiting, a new life already mapped out."
I think about the tiny apartment above the bookstore, the teaching assistant position, the fresh start I'd planned for Lily and me. It had seemed like the perfect solution two days ago: a quiet town, a stable job, a new beginning.
But now, looking at Kane, thinking about what we could build together, that plan seems pale in comparison. Incomplete.
"We could still make it work," I say, ideas forming as I speak. "Cedar Falls is only thirty miles from here. I could take the job, we could keep the apartment for now but split our time between there and here. Lily would be in school during the week, but we could come up here on weekends, holidays."
Kane's eyes light up with hope. "You'd do that? Try to make this work?"
"I would," I tell him, certainty growing with each word. "I don't want to walk away from this, from you. It won't be simple, and we'll have a lot to figure out, especially with Lily. But I want to try."
"Lily," Kane repeats, concern clouding his expression. "How do we explain this to her? What I am?"
I consider the question seriously. "We'll need to take it slowly. But honestly? I think she might accept it more easily than anadult would. She already loves 'your' wolf. Finding out you are the wolf might seem magical to her rather than frightening."
"And what about the mate bond?" Kane asks. "The physical aspect of our relationship?"
"We'll be discrete," I assure him. "Take things at a pace that gives Lily time to adjust to you as a presence in our lives before she understands you're a presence in my bed. Children are adaptable, especially when they feel secure and loved."
Kane pulls me closer, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. "I never thought this was possible," he murmurs. "After Afghanistan, after what happened there, I was convinced I'd spend the rest of my life alone. That it was the only safe option."
"And now?"
"Now I think maybe isolation wasn't the answer," he says. "Maybe what I needed wasn't to avoid connection, but to find the right one. Someone who could accept all of me, man and wolf."
"We'll figure it out together," I promise him. "Day by day."
Outside, the sun has fully risen, painting the snow-covered landscape in golden light. Inside, wrapped in Kane's arms, I feel a sense of rightness, of coming home in a way I never have before. There will be challenges ahead: explaining to Lily, balancing our lives between the cabin and Cedar Falls, navigating the complexities of a relationship with a man who is also a wolf.
But for the first time in years, I'm not facing those challenges alone. I have Kane—man and wolf both—at my side. And somehow, impossibly, that makes all the difference.
Epilogue - Kane
Two Years Later
The morning sun filters through pine branches, casting dappled shadows across the forest floor as I move silently through the trees. Behind me, I hear Lily's footsteps, her nine-year-old determination to follow exactly in my tracks bringing a smile to my face.
She's getting better at this. Moving quietly, reading the signs of the forest, understanding the language of the wilderness.
"Kane," she whispers, using my name rather than 'Dad,' though she switches between the two these days. "Look!"
I follow her pointing finger to a set of tracks in the soft earth—three-toed impressions with a distinct pattern. "Good eye," I tell her proudly. "What made those?"
Lily's brow furrows in concentration as she kneels to examine the tracks more closely. "Turkey?" she guesses after a moment.
"Exactly right," I confirm. "A wild turkey passed through here this morning, probably headed toward the berry patch to feed."
