14
He smelled her.
Her scent was everywhere, it was part of him, it filled his lungs.
He wanted to scream.
He was so damned weak, too weak for his mate to trust him and it tormented him even in sleep.
But he wasn’t asleep.
Line sat up in his bed.
It was early. The sun was just turning the morning gray with light, but he knew something had changed. The new day had brought new promise and his heart leapt.
Then he heard her, a laugh, quiet, but there and he heard her hum happily.
He slowly climbed from is bed. She wasn’t alone, He smelled Lucian and River too, but she was there.
He crept to the hall, so he could look into the kitchen and he caught his first sight of her since she’d left him. How long had it been?
She opened the oven and looked inside. He smelled biscuits and heard the familiar sizzle of bacon in a pan.
The loneliness that had surrounded him like a heavy coat, now fell away. She was home.
She looked up and smiled when she caught sight of him.
“Good morning.” She said and her voice unstuck his feet. He rushed to her and pulled her into his arms.
“Stay.” He breathed when he tore his lips from hers.
“Always.” She whispered back. She cupped his face and looked into his eyes and repeated her words. “Always.”
“It isn’t safe. I can’t trust myself.” He said brokenly.
“That’s ok. I trust you.” She soothed.
“My lion…”
“Is a stranger and he’s scared, and he’s pissed off, but he’s still part of you. He’s still my mate. We just need to get to know him. We can do that. We can do it with help. You can’t hide who you are. You have to accept it. We need to learn to love him too.”
How had he ever found someone so strong? How had he ever been able to find her?
“I don’t know what to do.” He admitted and felt like a fool.
“First, we stop hiding. I have agreed to let Lucian follow the pregnancy and he can study us, but it will be observing, our lives will not be taken from us. In return, we have his protection. With him and the strength of our pack, we will be ok. We can’t live in fear.”
She was right.
He held her close and lifted the walls he’d built in his mind. He let his lion feel her, her love, her warmth, and his throat vibrated.
Harmony giggled.
Line remembered all the other times his throat had vibrated when she’d been near and he shook his head.
“Well, I’ll be damned.” He chuckled and shook his head.
There was no violence in him. She was his mate, lion, man, or wolf, his world revolved around this woman.
“It is my opinion that your wolf will come back, he’s asleep and who knows what that drug has done. Give him time. In that time, get to know your cat. He isn’t new to you, he has always been there. Your wolf cannot beat the Pride. You need your cat for that.” Lucian said smoothly.
It was hope.
“I need you back on the road Line. we still got shit to do.” River was his normal charming self.
Line met his alpha’s eyes. They told him more than he even asked. He was accepted. He still had a place. He was still family.
“Eat, take today. I want you back tomorrow. Get your ass back to the saloon.”
It was time.
“Get the fuck out of my house.” He snarled, and it felt good. He was damned tired of being treated like a child.
River chuckled and stood.
“Here, take something to eat.” Harmony insisted pulling biscuits out of the oven.
In half an hour, the food was gone and they were alone for the first time since he’d spent the night with her. He’d left her to make her safe and instead, he’d brought her more trouble.
“I’m sorry.” He said when he had her in his arms again. “I wanted to make you safe, but now it’s all worse.”
She cupped his face. “This life was never going to be easy. Your life isn’t safe. I know that.”
He held her and buried his face in her neck. “Your mother is safe. She’s in a hospital. She’s being well cared for.”
He felt her shock. She looked up and her beautiful eyes were damp.
“I thought…”
“You thought I’d kill her.” He said simply.
She looked away but nodded.
“I was going to. Pie said I shouldn’t.” He shrugged.
“I’ll have to thank him.” She laid her head on his chest. “I know it doesn’t make sense, but I still love her. She didn’t know everything, she couldn’t. How could a mother know and do nothing?”
Line lifted her chin. “She doesn’t have your strength.”
Then he kissed her. He had gone too long without tasting her, too long without feeling her warmth. He kissed her and when she wrapped her arms around him, he bent and lifted her. Her legs wrapped around him and he grew so hard it hurt.
“I need you Harmony.” He said in a voice more animal than human.
“I need you too.” She whispered.
“I’ll be gentle.” He said and laid her on his bed.
She was so beautiful with her golden hair spread over the pillow. He touched her as he undressed her, kissed every inch he discovered. He tasted the sweetness of the skin on her neck and the salty musk of her need for him. He pulled pleasure from her again and again until she lay limp on his bed, her legs splayed, eyes filled with desire.
By the time he slipped into her body she was ready for him. Her body fit him, was made for him.
He leaned down to taste her lips as he began to move inside her.
He lost himself and found himself, died and was reborn in those moments and he came out stronger. No longer would he hide from what he was, no longer would he feel shame for what he was. He was strong and with Harmony, he could do anything.