Page 27 of Stay With Me

I give him a watery smile, tears still leaking down the corner of my eyes. I’m not sobbing anymore, but the relief is still overwhelming. “You said you were hallucinating.”

“I thought I was. How else could a bumbling idiot like me lands the most gorgeous female in all of Accalia? It had to be a dream. But if it was, then I’m dreaming again.”

“Why? Because I’m holding you tightly? That’s because I’m not letting you go. I said don’t leave me. It’s more than that. Stay with me, Duke. I need you to stay with me. And I need you to understand that I mean it. I was the idiot before. Not anymore.”

Because he doesn’t stay with me, I’m going with him. He can try to shake me off. I was willing to take on the female alpha to fighting my way to him. I would’ve lost terribly, for sure, but Gem has a bit of a merciful streak. If she didn’t put down her father after she challenged him and won, she’d probably just kick my ass and let me limp my way after Duke.

And I would. Bond or no bond, fate or not, this male is mine. If the Luna thinks so, that’s just—pardon the expression—icing on the cupcake.

“I’m not going anywhere, baby.” Ducking his chin, he presses a fierce kiss to my lips. “But that’s not what I meant. I must be dreaming because I thought I heard you say you have feelings for me. Since they set off the fever and heat inside of you, they must be good ones.”

Oh, Luna. Selfish Trish strikes again. Here I am, clinging to him like a barnacle, telling him he has to stay with me, listening to Duke tell me that he will, and I’ve let him think that I only want him around because of what happened on the full moon.

Yeah, right. Looking back, we both should’ve known I was a goner when I sleep-shifted next to him. Nothing like falling asleep in your pajamas, then waking up naked next to your male to say: I want you. Even if my wolf wasn’t giving me a nudge that I stubbornly resisted for too long, the cupcakes should’ve sealed the deal.

“They’re the best,” I promise. “Because I’m in love with you, Duke Conlon. And I dare any female to come between us.”

Duke, my gentle giant, my silent shadow, the male I can’t believe I didn’t notice for so long… he throws back his head and lets out a howl that has my wolf jumping to her paws, my pussy growing wickedly damp in preparation for him to mount us.

That’s a claiming howl and we both know it.

But first—

Slipping my hand between us, I tap him in the middle of his broad chest. “Well? Aren’t you supposed to say something to me?”

Reaching around me, he places his hands beneath my butt. Without any effort at all, he lifts me up, urging me to wrap my legs around his waist. If we were naked, we could start mating right here, but luckily our clothes protect our modesty.

Even in a shifter pack, some things just aren’t done—except on the night of the full moon, of course.

He kisses me again, almost as if he can’t help himself, then buries his head in the crook of my shoulder. If he bit me now, it wouldn’t matter—I could keep it as a scar, but it wouldn’t become my mate mark until he fucked me again under another Luna—and I find that I’m becoming even hotter at the idea that I’ll wear his marks the same way he wears mine.

As that thought rushes through my head, I dart out my tongue. I run the length of it over the thin white lines traveling down his throat. I made these marks. They’re mine, just like Duke is.

And if I had any doubt that he feels the same way, they’re immediately quashed when his deep voice begins to rumble against my skin, sending shivers skittering down my spine.

“I love you, Trish. I always have. I love the female you are, how you’re loyal and determined and no one can tell you anything. From the moment I first saw you, I knew that there would never be anyone else. But you… you were looking at the Alpha while I was staring at you. And that was fine with me. I just wanted you to be happy. I’m only happy when you are.”

Gem said that he went to break the bond because he didn’t think I was happy. I threw in her face that I never was.

But when I cling to him, holding him tight, I realize something.

Duke makes me happy. Baking cupcakes makes me happy. Teasing Bobby, having sewing lessons with Audrey, taking odds on how much longer before Ryker and Gem start popping out pups… that makes me happy.

Hooking my hand around his thick neck, I pull back enough to meet his gaze again. “Look at me.” He does. Duke doesn’t even blink. “I’m happy. Fucking deliriously happy. But if you think you’ll find some way out of this bond we have between us… like, say, asking a Luna-touched female to snap it? You’ll see just how quickly you can piss a she-wolf off. You know your scars? I did that when I liked you. You don’t want to see what happens when I don’t.”

I meant it as a tease. I’m so Luna-damned relieved he didn’t throw away our shot at forever before I knew about it, I try to make light of the whole situation.

I should know better. That’s not the kind of male Duke is—and I love him even more when he reveals another facet of his personality when his gleaming gold eyes turn almost defiant.

“I couldn’t go through with it,” he confesses. “I wanted to, for your sake, because I loved you too much to hold onto a bond that was making you miserable. But… in the end? I wanted you even more than that.”

As if I didn’t already know that. The moment I sensed him lumbering up the mountain in his skin instead of his fur, I knew… I justknewthat his human side had taken the lead on the discussion with Elizabeth. His wolf wanted me, but it would release a mate who didn’t recognize that they belonged together.

But his human side? It wouldn’t—and I’m glad that it didn’t.

I grin over at him. “Look at that. I guess we’re both selfish, huh?”

And doesn’t that make Duke Conlon the perfect mate for me?

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