It was almost too good to be true, Taya thought as she and Etienne soared through the clouds.

After losing nearly everything—her life as a teacher, her sense of security, and, worst of all, Etienne—with one, selfless act, Mina had turned her world inside out.

Night had become day. Sadness had become joy. Pain had become strength.

Part of her still couldn’t believe it, and she almost wanted to pinch herself.

Not that it had been easy. In fact, at first, she’d felt like she was going to die. The pain of the bite, even with Mina taking care to be as gentle as possible, was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. The Valkryie had taken pity on Taya’s neck, choosing her wrist instead, and it was a good thing. The tear of flesh had almost made her lose her lunch. It was only the knowledge that Etienne would be waiting for her on the other side that had kept her from giving in to every instinct urging her to pull away and run like hell.

The two days that followed weren’t much better. The fever came, like Mina had warned, but nothing could prepare Taya for the all-consuming fire. It was as if her blood was a boiling, writhing mass of lava and the only possible escape from the pain was death. Luckily, Mina had chosen a large cave shelter deep in the forest, so no one could hear Taya’s screams. And, to her credit, Mina had stayed by her side every step of the way, bathing her in a nearby stream, and laying cool, damp moss on her head at night.

It wasn’t until the night of the second day that her body temperature cooled enough to even think straight.

Her first thought?

Etienne.

Now, he swooped in close and nudged her with his massive wing, breaking into her reverie. She’d made it through and was here with her mate, and that was worth any price.

Happiness bubbled inside her as she dipped to the left and executed a playful loop-di-loop around him.

Funny how the flying came easy. The first time she’d actually shifted, after the fever broke and her wings had come in, she was floored. They were so magnificent, it had brought a rush of tears to her eyes. But hot on the tails of her excitement and awe, came a rush of fear. What if she had these gorgeous wings but couldn’t figure out how to use them? What if she was a broken Valkyrie? Nothing more than a human with a pair of pretty but useless wings? It had been Mina yet again who had saved her from her self-doubt.

Taya shook her head even now at the memory. The other Valkyrie had scooped her up in her arms, flew her high into the canopy of trees and just…let go.

Trial by fire.

She was still Mina, after all. She’d done so much for her, but she still expected Taya to dig deep and find some strength within herself, as well.

And she had.

She’d pushed aside her abject terror and focused, using the wings her new friend had given her. The sense of wonder during that first flight was like a rebirth.

Now, as she and Etienne darted across the painted sky, gratitude and unadulterated joy coursed through her. She beat her wings more quickly and pulled ahead of him to catch his eye, pointing to down to the cliffs below. He inclined his emerald head, and she led the way.

They landed on the cliffs, side by side, and she watched and waited as he shifted back into human form.

His change was different than hers, bigger, and much more consuming. She retracted her wings as he straightened before her, the creature of lore turning into a perfect specimen of man before her very eyes.

“Does it hurt you?” she asked softly, gaze trailing over his hard, naked body, surprised at the blast of stark desire that coursed through her.

He shook his head, pupils dilating as he drew closer.

“No. It’s uncomfortable, I suppose, but I don’t even think about it anymore.” He reached out a hand and closed it over her hip, leaning in to press his forehead to hers. “In fact, all I can think about right now is you.”

When his lips found hers, his teeth closed over her bottom lip and she instinctively arched into him. His fingers trailed down the curve of her neck and then lower, skimming away to trace her nipples through her thin shirt until she gasped.

“No bra…god, you’re killing me.” He cupped her breasts, his golden eyes going molten.

“The wings make the whole bra thing tough,” she murmured, her voice catching as he teased her.

He bent low, his warm breath washing over her chest before he tugged up the shirt and sucked one tight bud into his mouth, drawing on it gently. The ache between her thighs was building so fast, so hot.

“It feels…different,” she murmured in wonder. “More.”

More intense.

More emotional.

More sensual.

Her entire body hummed with a vitality and a life and a strength that fed off the same in him. It was like driving a race car in the Indie 500.

Or like flying.

No sooner had her pelvis lined up with his thick cock in an effort to get some relief from the rising pressure, than he was gripping her hips and turning her around toward the rock face. He didn't bend her over. Instead, he fisted the back of her hair and pulled her close, placing one hand flat against the plane of her belly while his lips tickled her ear.

"I thought I would never have this again," he ground out. He swept her hair aside to trail sucking kisses over her nape and then she felt it. His swollen shaft butting up against her bottom. Her whole body went tense with anticipation as he tugged her jeans off.

She closed her eyes and spread her thighs apart, using the rock to anchor her, ready for the sweet invasion. She should have known better.

Every move made her think the time had almost come. The drag of his hand along the outside of her thigh as he hooked a finger around the crotch of her already-soaked panties, pulling them to the side to make room for him. The promise was made. All he had to do was plunge in deep and fill her up the way she needed him to so badly...

With one hand, he cupped her breast, circling her nipple with his thumb while he guided himself between her quaking thighs with the other.

One thrust and he'd be buried deep. Instead, he slid forward, pressing himself against her clit and teasing her legs open wider, sending her every nerve-ending screaming to life.

"I want you inside me.”

He responded by running the edge of his teeth over her nape before clamping down hard. She arched her back, tried to bend to entice him, but it was all too clear that he wasn't playing by her rules.

Just as desperation began to mingle with desire, he pulled back and pressed into her, filling her with his hot length. For a moment, her world tilted on its axis and her vision went dark while she stretched to accommodate him. God, it felt like he went on forever. She sucked in a breath and willed her muscles to relax. The borderline pain faded in a hurry as fresh waves of desire pulsed through her.

“Okay?” he murmured, kneading her hip gently.

She nodded, flexing back against him and gasping at the resulting sensation. “Way better than okay.”

Heaven.

“Don’t hold back this time. I want it all. I want everything.”

“And you’ll have it. When I’m ready to give it,” he growled. Then he curled a hand around her torso and cupped her breast, drawing his hips back before thrusting forward. She squeezed her eyes closed and tried to suppress a shiver.

“So good. So tight,” he groaned, the bridled power of his controlled movements making her pulse race even faster.

He rode her, slow and steady, with long strokes. Yet another layer of torment. She wanted fast and gritty, in a headlong rush to the finish line.

He worked her body like he was executing a long-awaited master plan. Every move played off of the next. He traced a finger down her spine in the softest of caresses, a study in contrasts as he drove into her. When her walls quaked against him, he would push deep and hard, once, twice, three times, and then slow to a gentle rock again. It was the most amazing torture she'd ever experienced, and with every thrust she was torn between wanting it to go on forever and wanting to put it to a permanent, screaming end.

Her fingernails dug into the rock before her to the point that her newfound strength was causing chunks to crumble away, but she didn’t care. The ache inside her built like flood waters, threatening to burst through and drag her under. She bit her lip to hold back a moan, but couldn't stop it. So close. She could see the point of no return…

And then he let loose, his muffled groans ringing in her ear as he picked up the pace, hips moving like pistons as he pounded into her hard enough to make her teeth rattle. She loved every second of it but before she could form the words to tell him, her vision went dark and the world burst into a thousand tiny pieces, shattering around her.

The tingling spread from her toes to her fingertips to the top of her head. Her ears rang as his body stiffened and his cock pulsed inside her. She pushed back, anchoring her ass to his hips, driving him deeper, wanting him to fall with her.

“Jesus,” he groaned, his fingers closing over her hips in a punishing grip.

She cried out as he jerked against her, sending her body rocketing straight from one climax to the next. His cock twitched and leaped inside her as he came, her name a murmured chant on his lips.

When the last of the aftershocks subsided, she sagged against him, heart hammering wildly.

“Mine,” he growled in her ear before nipping the lobe gently. “Mine forever.”

She nodded, resting her head against the cool stone while her brain tried to recalibrate. “Yes. And you’re mine. Forever.”

They stayed like that for a few more, blissful moments before he let out a low sigh of regret.

“We should go. It’s getting dark and Drake and Willa still don’t know you’re alright.”

He helped her dress with gentle hands and she thought back to all the moments that had brought her here, to this.

The first attack where she thought she’d drawn her last breath, all the way to the night she’d walked away from her one true love and felt like her heart had been torn from her chest. And she knew, if she had to do it all again to find herself right here, right now, she would. A thousand times over.

She was exactly who and what she was meant to be, and the joy of it brought tears to her eyes as they took to the skies again, together.

* * *

Night had sucked the last of the light from the sky by the time they glided back down the mountainside and walked up the pathway to the château, arms locked around one another’s waists.

Drake and Willa were going to lose their minds, but he needed to make sure that he had a chance to speak to them both alone before they saw Taya.

“Did Mina say where she planned to go after she brought you to me?” he asked, tugging at a strand of silky hair as Taya nuzzled his shoulder.

“She said we wouldn’t see her for a while because she had some business to take care of back in France, and not to worry if she didn’t call.”

He nodded in response but didn’t reply. Because he knew what his gentle love did not. The wolves in power here in Montana might have shown leniency in a recent case of a shifter turning a human, but the European Council of Shifters would not take such a thing so lightly.

Someone would pay for this insolence, and he knew with complete certainty who that someone would be.

Mina.

His stomach clenched as the magnitude of her selfless act humbled him all over again. She’d known what it would cost.

Her position with the Council.

Her freedom.

And, more than likely, her life. The only way the powers that be could ensure that this type of thing didn’t become a habit was to make an example of her.

Which was why he hadn’t been able to bring himself to ask her or Willa to do the deed when Taya had asked about it that night.

How could he have lived with the knowledge that he’d placed more worth on his own mate’s life than that of his two friends? No, even if Drake wouldn’t have killed him for suggesting it, the guilt would’ve eaten him alive if something happened to either one of them.

Instead, he’d been committed to taking Taya into hiding and then finding a safer way. Since he was a child, there had been rumors. Old wives spoke in hushed whispers of a “worthy few” humans being changed over the years by gypsy shifters who traveled small groups across Eastern Europe. He had hoped he could find someone who would see what he saw in Taya and agree to change her. They lived so far off the grid and under the Council’s radar that the risk of them ever finding out who’d turned her was almost nil. An un-punishable crime.

But all that planning was moot now, because Mina had thrown herself on the knife.

She’d risked it all for he and Taya without a single thought for her own safety.

“Etienne? Is everything all right?” Taya asked, a frown furrowing her brow.

He nodded and tugged her closer, working up a smile. “It’s better than all right. It’s going to be amazing,” he said. Because it would be. He would make sure of it.

Besides loving Taya with every ounce of his being for the rest of his days, the only other way to honor his friend’s sacrifice was to make sure he didn’t squander this gift by doing anything foolhardy.

And he’d make sure to get right on that.

Just as soon as he figured out how to return the favor and save her crazy ass…