Page 76 of The Alpha's Silent Mate

“I love you,” I gasp as each new stroke of his body into mine brings me closer to a deep well of pleasure that rises ever higher.

“I love you,” he breathes against my lips. Somehow, hearing the words makes me want him even more. The pleasure builds as I writhe beneath him.

He must sense I want more, or he reads it in my eyes, because he plunges deeper into me than before. We don’t look away as we move with increasing urgency against each other.

I read the moment in his eyes before it happens.

Shay’s face tightens in pleasure and he strains deeper, his weight pinning me to the bed. A second later, my release grips me, making me cry out as I wrap my legs around his hips and hold him against me.

We stay locked together.

I never want to let him go.

So I don’t.

Days pass the same way.

Shay and I make love all day, sit by the fire, and feed each other the food he prepares for us with our fingers.

At night, we shift and run together, so close his body is always brushing mine. And when we find a stream or a lake, we shift back to human form and swim for hours.

We make love there too.

Sometimes a sound makes me jerk my head into the forest, but no one is ever there. Shay silences my fears as only he can, with soothing words, a gentle touch, and endless reassurance.

In the night, when nightmares tear me from sleep with the memory of Shay’s dead eyes fresh in my mind, Shay is always there, holding me, comforting me.

Night after night, I wake less and less.

For five days we just love each other, and it’s the sort of happiness I never believed I would ever find.

I thought I would die with my pack. Was ready for it to happen.

It wasn’t just my body that was cold—it was my heart and my soul, too. But now all I feel is warmth and light. My pack is gone, but that doesn’t mean my life is over.

Shay has given me a new one.

EPILOGUE

1 MONTH LATER

My foot catches on a root. As I stumble, Shay slips his arm around my waist and draws me against his side, his brow furrowed in concern.

“You okay, baby?”

I smile up at him. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

A little of the concern fades. “You’re not tired? I can—”

“No,” I interrupt. “The walk is nice. You see, there’s this alpha I know who likes to carry me around so much, I think I’ve forgotten how to walk.”

He mock-growls at me, but a smile tugs on his bottom lip. “This alpha sounds like a dictator.”

Grinning, I wrap my arm around his hips. “He can be, but he makes love to me every night, so that almost makes up for his bossiness.”

I’m in his arms squealing with laughter a second later. I grab onto his shoulders and hold on tight as he spins me, my long, blonde hair streaming around us.

Once, I glimpse Ewan before he tucks himself behind a tree.

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