Page 70 of Hunted By Wolves and Shadow
Seeing her right there with me was enough to send me spinning over the edge.
My whole world drew up tight and sweet, each thread pulling inward to this single beautiful ache, and I was reduced to one heartbeat at a time—the feel of warm flesh, the smell of vanilla, and these sensations consuming me as the stars realigned, until Emi came apart around me.
“You might need to beat my soul back into my body with a stick after that,” I said when she rolled off me after round two.
Emi only huffed and snuggled closer, sliding her hand up my chest. “No more beatings,” she murmured. “Unless you don’t do the dishes, then I reserve the right.”
I chuckled. “Fair.” We settled into steady breaths until our hearts slowed.
“Where do we go from here?” Emi asked once we came down from the bliss.
“Wherever we are, as long as we’re together, I’ll be happy.”
“Don't you want to try to find your old life?”
I'd been weighing that question for days.
“I don't think so.” I stopped to consider how to explain the conclusions I'd reached. “If I had family, they'd have mourned me long ago, and I have no desire to open old wounds. Either for me or for anyone else.”
I wrapped my arms around her and pressed my lips to hers. “Besides, I have everything I need right here. I want to build a new life, anywhere you want, as long as I’m yours and you’re mine.”
“Promise me something?” Emi whispered.
“Anything.”
“At least once every day, kiss me that same way. Like you love me more than you imagined you could and like it surprises you every day. And tell me you want me even when it’s hard.”
Loving this beautiful spirit beside me would never be hard, but I knew, even on her bad days when the doubts crept back in, that was a promise I would gladly keep.
“Always will, witchling. Always will.”
Three Moons Later
EMI
Idipped the soiled bandage in the pot of sterilizing alcohol and then tossed it on the fire. Wiping my hands on my apron, I returned to the woman on my treatment table. “Let me know if it keeps ailing you, Kelcy. Say hello to Amber for me, and maybe get her help next time you decide to climb down a giant beanstalk.”
The woman gave a spirited laugh. “I’m a klutz no matter how much help she gives me. Thanks for fixing me up. Again.”
My smile lingered while I cleaned up after my last patient of the day. Being able to help people was making me happier than I’d ever been. That, and the incredibly sexy man who’d helped me set up this little clinic beside the cottage. I hummed softly as I worked until a shadow darkened my door.
“Got time for one more, witchling?” Wolf limped in the door.
“Wolf. You’re hurt!”
He hobbled to my table while I hurried over. “Only the pain of missing you all day, kitten.” He winked, but he was a lying liar because his teeth clenched in a grimace as he sat down and held his leg out.
Wolf and I had moved into the cottage once we tore ourselves away from the enclave and all the memories there. We’d spent the past three moons ripping everything of Grandma Ruby’s out of the place and rebuilding it. I didn’t mind the long hours or hard work. I loved life with Wolf.
“What happened?”
“I stepped in a hole while I was checking my traps. I just need my love to kiss it better.”
I did kiss him, but on the lips instead of his swollen ankle, then I bent to take care of that too.
As soon as my magic had fully returned, we’d gone to visit the nearby village where several of the others had settled. I’d finally been able to heal Bob the rest of the way and mended Hawk’s broken arm. He was excited to try shifting again now that he wouldn’t have a broken wing. Most of them were finding their feet there, though a few more had decided to set out to see if they could find their old lives. Robin and Bear were still there, though. She wore the green hood with pride to greet me when I’d walked up in the red one that now felt like mine.
“I was right about it being good camouflage,” Robin had told me on our last visit. When I’d asked what she meant, she got shifty and would only say, “I’m helping people who need it, that’s all.”
