Page 65 of So I Won a Werelion

“How are you feeling?” Bibi asked.

“Excited, nervous, and really pissed off that someone was in my house touching my things.” Wendy’s gaze was still glued to the window.

“It will never happen again,” I growled.

“You can’t say that for sure. I’m not even there.” She was panicking, and rightfully so. “There’s no telling what else they got. What they know…”

“Do you have anything to hide?”

She shook her head slightly. “No.”

“It’s just papers, Wendy, books. Things that can be replaced.”

“It’s a piece of me they took.”

“They didn’t,” I rumbled. “Bibi was right, and you’ve been hiding behind that artifact.”

She sighed. “Maybe a little.”

“Did you think your life would be better once you solved the riddle, and that the shifters that shunned you would accept you into their circle?” Fuck. I’d done this to her. I’d made her feel like she wasn’t enough. And just like I’d competed hard to prove to myself that I’d made the right decision by leaving, Wendy had worked hard to prove to me she was everything I was running from.

“Maybe,” she whispered.

I took her face in my hands. “You’re more than enough.” I brushed my lips against hers. “Always have been. I love you, Wendy. I’ve always been in love with you, and I’m sorry I didn’t do anything about it long before now.”

“I’m glad you didn’t do anything before now. Because then you probably would’ve never gone to New Zealand and had an amazing career. And I would’ve settled in and been your mate and we’d probably be as boring as my sister and her husband. And maybe we wouldn’t be lucky enough to feel this way about each other now.”

I went into kiss her again but she stopped me.

“You didn’t let me finish.” She laughed a little because her words sounded funny with my hands on her cheeks. “I love you too. I’m sorry that I was afraid to say it, but it’s been on the tip of my tongue for so long that it was normal for me to hold back. But after Bibi called me out—"

“Guilty,” Bibi said.

“She wouldn’t be your fairy dragmother if she wasn’t right most of the time.”

“All of the time.”

Wendy grinned. “That’s not all. I love that you’ve been there for me every step of the way, even when you were on the other side of the world. I love that you’re ready to risk everything and possibly change everything too. I don’t know what will happen tonight, but I’m so glad I’ve gotten a chance to get to know you all over again.”

“No one’s gonna take this away from you.” I leaned in and kissed her. Let myself get totally lost in her like I should’ve done so long ago. Maybe she was right—it was better that we saved the thing we’d carried within us until now.

I loved the little noises she made when I kissed her. Wendy was never one to be quiet, to keep her thoughts to herself, and I couldn’t wait to see what she did in bed.

“I hate to break this up, but Wendy’s the only one who knows where we’re going.” Bibi was beaming at us when we separated.

Wendy scraped her teeth over her bottom lip before turning back to the window. “When you see a place to pull over, I’d do it.”

Bjorn parked the van, and everyone loaded out. We had a ton of shit with us since this was slated to be an overnight trip. I loaded bags on each shoulder, and Hugo and Lars did the same. Bjorn had his hands full with the camera and the rest of the infrared and surveillance cameras we brought.

Wendy considered the map that she’d hand drawn from memory. Pretty fucking impressive if you asked me. The group waited on her to take the lead. With a breath that lifted her shoulders, she headed down the path.

“It starts to descend into a valley, so be careful. If I remember correctly, it gets steep fast.”

A howl rang out in the distance, and Wendy stopped dead in her tracks.

“Keep going,” I said in her ear. “You’re the alpha of this pack.”

But damn if that didn’t have my animal on the verge of bursting out too.

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