Page 39 of The Awakened Wolf

“They were careful,” Sebastian’s wolf whined.

“You knew that, and you left us.” My wolf growled softly. “You left us in anger.”

“I left you in shame.” Sebastian’s head sank up to his ears in his coat collar. “I’ve always known I was a Beta deep down, but I thought I was broken… I never dreamed there was a real reason. Finding out the reason…” He shook his head. “How could you ever want me again, knowing whose blood I’d pass on to our pups?”

“I knew when I came to you,” my wolf whispered. “And I’m sorry I lay with you with that terrible secret in my heart, but I could deny myself no more. You were created in an act of evil, but I was made for you when Leto heard my mother’s prayers. You are my fated, and the blood you pass on to our pups will be blessed by the Gods.”

Sebastian lifted his head, human eyes wide just as much surprise as my own. It wasn’t that my wolf wasn’t speaking my own heart—she was—I just never knew she could be quite so eloquent.

“But you never wanted to be fated,” Sebastian murmured. “And now you’re stuck.”

“I never wanted to be fated because I wanted to choose my own destiny.” I cupped his scruffy cheek. “And when I did? Because you gave me the space to do that instead of just taking what you felt was yours? I felt it more than I knew a person could feel.”

He leaned into my palm, and I brushed my thumb over the bead of moisture sneaking out from under the gold wire frame. He sniffled and whispered, “Huh. Here I’d been thinking I was just that good in bed.”

Laughing, I touched my forehead to his lips and received a much-desired kiss as his warm hands settled on my bare upper arms. My heart began to slow-clap in my chest. I couldn’t believe he’d only been gone for three days. It had been interminable. Not like a series of long days and long nights. It had been one unending night.

“Can you forgive me, Elyse?” His voice trembled. “For… everything I’ve done wrong since the moment we met? I can go over everything in detail later, but I think your guests are getting antsy for their refreshments.”

“Yes,” I said, taking him by the lapels as Evan had just done a moment ago. “As long as you understand I never want to see that Alphahole mask you used to wear again.” I took a step back and pressed my hands flat against his chest, tilting my head back to look into his eyes. “I want the boy who fell in love with The Neverending Story. I want the man who can admit he’s afraid to ride the Roosevelt Island tram. I want the goofy wolf who ate popcorn out of my hand not the suit who tried to buy my love with a theater.”

“That’s not what I was try—” His mouth snapped shut in a cringing smile. “Sorry.”

“Thank you.” I smiled and smoothed out the wrinkles in his jacket. “For everything you’ve done right since the moment I first saw you and you insisted on walking me home like—” My voice hitched. “—like a girl in a movie.”

Sebastian tried to hide another sniffle with a laugh. “I actually only walked you halfway across the bridge.”

“Well, you’re here now,” I whispered as a single tear slid down my nose. “And while we may not be on a front porch, I think you know what happens next.”

He stroked the tear away with his thumb, those golden brown eyes crinkling at the corners. Want sang through me, bright and urgent, flashing memories of lying beside him in bed and kissing his eyelids, of trailing my fingertips over the soft scruff on his chin, of drifting off to sleep in his arms, my head tucked against his chest, his arm heavy on my waist.

A cool rush of air washed away my reverie as Sebastian sank to one knee and pulled a box from his pocket all in one fluid motion. For the first time since the horrific fabric cage around me was cinched, I thanked it for being there. Because I wasn’t sure I’d still be standing otherwise.

The box was a very specific shade of blue.

And the stone on the ring inside the box?

A very specific shade of white.

Or maybe I should say clear. Did that count as a color?

My brain was glitching, trying to reconcile the sensation of fantasy becoming reality. I knew I wasn’t asleep because I’d never have worn this gown in a dream, not even a nightmare. Which meant this was happening. My fated tilted his head, and for the first time since he’d burst into the room, the mischievous twinkle I’d loved the first night we met returned.

“Elyse of the Bronx,” he said, “Will you marry me?”

The collective gasp of my entire pack sucked all the oxygen from the room. My lip wobbled so hard I had to bite it with my fang tips to keep from howling. I’d only been looking for the kind of kiss that made the camera spin in circles around us as it rose toward the sky, but this… this was what happened after the credits rolled because it was usually too cheesy to pull off. I mean, if you’ve seen one proposal, you’ve seen them all, right? A guy gets down on one knee and holds up a ring and a girl gets caught off guard and forgets how to breathe or even how to say —

YES.

No. I pulled the brake on my rolling train of thought, and it screeched to a sudden stop. Sebastian stared up at me, his dark eyes hopeful, and the beautiful new silence within me grew, spreading from me to him and encircling us until it held off all other sound, all other motion. We were not two halves of one whole, as I’d been taught to believe about Fated mates. We were two wholes with one future.

I held out my hand. “As you wish.”

Chapter Fifteen

I shivered as cool metal slid over my fingertip and knuckle, settling into place at the base of my ring finger. Sebastian got to his feet and pulled me to him, skimming a hand around my waist. My breath caught as the air between us evaporated. His free hand found my jaw, and my eyes fluttered closed as he leaned in —

“Sebastian!” A deep voice, thick with fever, filled the room.

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