Page 122 of Rogue Wolf

Her pulse spiraled completely out of control. “You want to marry me?”

Kodiak hesitated. “We don’t marry. But we choose our mates, which is sort of the same thing when we do it officially. We mate for life.”

Tamaska didn’t even have to think about it. Earlier he’d asked her to be his mate, but not like this, not…officially as he put it. “Yes.” She clutched her chest. “I told you that last night, but yes, yes, yes.”

His eyes widened. “You will?”

“No.” She rolled her eyes. “Of course it’s a big, fat yes. But don’t fucking run off like that again.”

Kodiak took something out of his pocket. “I got this for you.” And he held it out.

Tamaska leaned forward as he unwrapped white velvet material. She gasped. Two pendants lay inside, bound with fine chains of gold.

They were beautiful. And she wanted to cry.

He lifted the larger pendant. “Since the opal doesn’t work anymore, and belongs to you by birthright, I thought this would be a good reminder of how we met. A reminder of how we worked to fight the vampires, and how you became part of the pack.”

He clasped the necklace around her, and the pendant settled above her breasts.

“I don’t know what to say.” Her fingers moved to touch it. The pendant felt like a gem, but it meant so much more to her. Them. It meant them. Her history she didn’t know about, but that was just a tiny part, something to tell their children if they had them, but as she touched it, she knew.

The pendant was them, their bond.

As binding as a wedding ring. And more precious.

“Thank you would be enough.” Kodiak laughed.

“Thanks.” She kissed him gently. “You don’t think I should return it?”

“The opal? Fuck, no. It’s yours forever.”

“What about the other pendant?” asked Tamaska. Pointing to the other.

“If you’re all right with it, I plan to wear that one as a reminder for me. I’m a shard broken off from you, but together we’re whole.”

Emotion caught in her throat. With trembling fingers, she put the necklace on Kodiak. The Blood Opal had been set beautifully into rose gold, the metal adorning its natural luster.

This…this was a real bond. Perfection.

She kissed him long and hard, and desire flamed inside of Tamaska as her need for him flared into life.

“Breaking news,” the presenter announced on the television, ending their kiss.

“There’s been a string of unusual murders around the city. While the police have declined to comment…”

They looked at each other.

Vampires.

“They’re up to something,” said Kodiak. And he glared at the screen.

A normal woman, a human woman, would tell him to forget it. Tell him that the thoughts of revenge and destruction were where madness lay and he needed to just leave it alone.

Tamaska was not that kind of fucking woman.

“Hey, Kodiak?”

“Yeah?”

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