Page 33 of Until Forever Comes
“A wolf making sheep references,” Miguel said with a roll of his eyes. “Will wonders never cease?” I didn’t think he was expecting an answer to that question, so I didn’t give him one. “All right. You go to your sister’s house, no pit stops. You tell her where to meet us tomorrow night, then you come right back to me.”
I put my hands on his shoulders and stretched up until our lips touched. “Always,” I whispered. “I’ll always come back to you.”
He threaded his fingers in my hair and pulled me closer, then tilted his face and pressed his mouth against mine roughly, teeth nibbling, tongue licking until I opened for him. Then he pushed his tongue past my lips, thrusting and tasting, devouring. By the time he released me, my lungs were heaving and my shaft was throbbing.
“I’ll give you an hour, wolf,” he said. “One hour. Then I’m coming after you.”
I nodded and then walked into the woods in the direction of Crissy’s den. Though it surely wasn’t possible, I felt like my mate’s gaze was glued to me even when the thick brush and trees had me hidden from view. It was comforting, the idea of Miguel watching me. I laughed internally at how crazy that sounded—a shifter comforted by the idea of a vampire following his every move.
But it was true. I felt comfortable with Miguel. Comfortable and safe and right. Seeing as how I’d never felt right around nobody, myself included, that was really saying something. It was like the man had been made for me, or, considering he’d been walking the earth long before I was born, it was more accurate to say I’d been made for him. Or maybe we were made for each other. Whatever the words, the point was clear. And, as if in direct reaction to my thoughts of my mate, my blood pounded through my veins, stronger, faster, louder. I wanted to feel his breath on my skin, his fangs piercing my veins, his mouth drawing out my blood in long, hard pulls.
Come back to me. I heard his words in my head, or maybe I felt them in my heart. Either way, I quickened my pace, anxious to finish my errand so I could return to my mate.
Strong as I was now that I’d mated, it didn’t take me long to get to Crissy’s den. I ran fast, the exertion feeling good whereas before it would have hurt my limbs. The slap of branches against my skin barely registering whereas before the touch of anything was akin to a burn. The change was amazing and all because of the long-haired man waiting for me, the man who didn’t want to let me go. I smiled, feeling pleased as punch, and quickened my pace.
Shortcuts kept me off the main roads and allowed me to reach my destination faster. And before I knew it, I was standing in front of my sister’s door.
The door swung open before I could knock. “Ethan!” Crissy hissed as she yanked me inside and closed the door behind me. She wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me tightly. The silence lasted but a few seconds and then the barrage of questions started. “After I got your note, I didn’t count on seeing you none for a long spell. Is everything okay with your mate? What’re you doing back here on pack lands? Nobody saw you, right? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Tired? Let’s sit down.” She pulled me toward the couch and sat next to me, taking my hands in hers. “Tell me everything, right quick,” she said excitedly.
I didn’t have time right then to catch her up on everything I’d learned and experienced in the short time I’d been away. We’d have time for that later, I hoped.
“I can’t stay,” I said. “I’m here to—” I stopped mid-sentence. “Are the boys in bed?” I asked, not wanting to risk having one of her young overhear our conversation.
“Yes,” she answered. “They’ve been asleep going on an hour.”
“Okay.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I need you to come into Kfarkattan tomorrow night. Meet me in that alley where you found me last time. There’s some papers you’ll want to see, and Miguel needs to explain what the humans have planned.”
“Miguel?” she asked.
“My mate,” I clarified.
I hadn’t told her my mate’s name in the note I’d left behind, figuring the paper could get into someone else’s hands, and giving anybody information about Miguel would have put him in danger. All right, then. Maybe there was something to my mate’s assertions that my kind was a bit hot under the collar.
She leaned in and sniffed me. “You really done found your true mate.” Her smile was wide and genuine. “And he really is a vampire. How about that.”
I returned her smile, pleased as punch that she could share my joy. “So can you come?” I asked again. “Alone,” I clarified. “No one can know about this.”
“Of course,” she answered.
“Like hell you say.” Richie’s voice caught us both off guard. I jerked my head toward the hallway and saw my brother-in-law glaring at us, his arms crossed over his chest. “You ain’t going into town on your lonesome to meet some bloodsucker.”
My heart dropped.
“Fine,” Crissy said and met his gaze head-on. “Then I reckon you’ll be taggin’ along.”
I didn’t argue. Richie was family, and I figured we’d need all the help we could get.
He didn’t respond to my sister right away, just stood in place, not moving a muscle other than the one in his jaw that seemed to have developed a tick. Eventually he gave a sharp nod.
“It’s a plan,” Crissy said joyfully.
“Good.” I squeezed her hand and got up from the couch. “I have to go. Miguel’s waiting on me. Tomorrow night, the alley from the other morning, we’ll talk more.”
“I told my sister we’d meet them in the alley.” I cupped my hands on the window and pressed my forehead against them, squinting as I looked past the street outside and over to the alley beyond. We were in an abandoned building across the way from the alley. “They’ll never be able to see us all the way over here,” I said to Miguel.
“That’s the point,” Miguel muttered. He had walked over when my back was turned, and as he spoke, he circled his muscular arms around my chest and burrowed his face into my hair. “We’ll see them first, so we’ll know if they bring reinforcements.”
I turned around and traced my mate’s shirt collar before grasping it and pulling him down so our eyes were level. “I already told you that it’ll just be Crissy and Richie.”
