“Can I open my eyes yet?” Vina asked over the rumble of the Harley.

Ram had been riding with one hand, holding hers tight to his stomach with the other. It had been two days since he’d seen her animal, and he’d broken all his own rules. Now, he touched her all the time and made her feel safe and cared for. She loved it.

“One more minute. Almost there,” he said.

With a happy smile, Vina rested her cheek against his back. The last two days had been chaos. They’d been hard. Ramsey was in meeting after meeting with the remaining crows, Ethan had disappeared into the night, and Ram thought he was starting a new Clan with the traitors. They’d had to order supplies to repair all the damage she’d done to the clubhouse, and the phone was ringing off the hook with requests for interview spots for tomorrow.

She would be sitting beside her mate in front of the cameras, answering questions about what and who she was in one tiny day. Every time she thought about it, her nerves got the best of her and she felt like Changing.

Tonight, Ramsey had drawn her between his splayed legs as he’d rested against the pool table, kissed her knuckles, and murmured, “You wanna get out of here for a while? Just you and me?”

She was tired from the long day, but it had still been an easy answer. Of course she did.

Tonight was warm wind on her skin, a full moon, and the instruction to close her eyes when Ram had turned off on a dirt road.

The Harley slowed, and she pressed a kiss to his spine just to quell the excitement that bubbled up inside of her. She loved surprises.

Ram cut the engine and gripped her thigh. “Last night, when I was right on the edge of sleep, something really cool happened. The Crow showed me things. Things I’d missed. Things he’d hidden from me. He showed me every moment he’d spent at your house. Even the ones I remember, he gave them to me in detail. As I watched you through these memories, you became more and more beautiful to him. Like this tarnished object that was getting all polished up. And Tenlee, or his memories of her, got dimmer and duller. And then he gave me your story of your parents and the bear, when you got those scars, and I could feel him falling in love with you too, just like I was.”

Vina’s breath hitched as she lost it, and she gripped his middle closer. “You’re falling in love with me?”

“Yeah,” he whispered. “But bigger. You’re mine, Vina. Mine to protect, mine to go through the ups and downs with, mine to take care of. You don’t have to worry about me leaving. Not anymore. You have me. Open your eyes.”

Vina squeezed them tight, then opened them and waited to adjust to the dark. They were at the entrance to a property. The fence was old and rusted, and the No Trespassing sign had bullet holes in it.

“I bought this place a few years ago when I was wanting to move out of the clubhouse, but I never really did anything with it. It’s just been sitting here.” Ramsey got off the motorcycle and pulled a red and black plaid blanket from one of his storage bags and a paper bag of what smelled like sandwiches from the other. He set them beside the bike and helped her off, unclipped her helmet.

“Ramsey,” she whispered, realizing what he was doing.

“You had this tradition to Change with your family. And I can see it in you. You’re stressed with everything going on, and your eyes change color to your animal’s a lot. So I’m making a new tradition for us. This is our place. Just ours. It’s our escape from everything. When you need to Change, we’ll come here together, and then we’ll eat after. And probably fuck because, let’s face it, I’m still me and I’m still gonna be a C minus in romance.”

“Fucking is good,” she said thickly. She didn’t care what it said about her, but she found this all very romantic.

Ram gripped her hips and dragged her to him, his smile nothing but pure wickedness. “I love when you cuss.”

“You’ve completely corrupted me.”

“I know. It’s sexy.”

She giggled and nuzzled her face against his chest. “Well, I love when you give me sweet surprises. I’m giving you feelings. I’m corrupting you, too.”

“Mmm,” he rumbled. “Maybe you are. I love when you wear white sneakers.” There was a smiling tone to his voice.

“You won’t change me so don’t even try,” she teased, stretching her leg out and pointing the toe of her Chucks.

His eyes went serious, and the smile faded at the corners. “I don’t want to change you. You’re perfect just how you are.”

“I love how you give me butterflies.”

Ram wrapped his arms around her shoulders and whispered against her ear, “What else?”

“I love how you listen to me, and when you look at me, you really see me. And how you stick up for me no matter what. I love how you hide the ghosts from your Clan so only you carry the burden. I love that you are a leader, but not power-hungry. You don’t just boss people around to make them do stuff. I love how you’re honest, fearless, and you care very deeply about your people.”

“I love you,” he murmured against her ear.

“What?” she gasped.

“You heard me. You fixed me, Vina. I knew exactly where I was headed, and there was no one who could stop my fall. And then you came into that clubhouse, and you caught me. Even when I didn’t deserve you, and couldn’t pick you back, you caught me. At my worst, you looked at me and said ‘no matter what, he’s mine.’ And now all I see is you. Everything else is secondary, but you…you’re everything. You earned my loyalty. I love you.”

“Then say it,” she whispered. Please. Say the thing she’d longed to hear. Say the thing she’d dreamed of. Say the thing she’d uttered to him the first time he’d taken her to his bed.

His lips brushed her earlobe as he murmured with such sincerity, “I’m yours.”

And she just…held on. Wrapped her arms so tight around him and held on. She’d been so scared that her fate was to be alone, but everything had changed the moment the matchmaker had set them up. She’d found her mate, and he was better than she could’ve ever imagined. Tears leaked out of the corners of Vina’s eyes as he kissed her worries away.

Tomorrow they would face the public. They would figure out how the Clan would move forward and hunt down the person who bugged the clubhouse. They were right at the edge of a long-brewing storm, and it would be rough waters to navigate for a while. But for tonight, none of that mattered. All that mattered was the man in her arms, swaying them gently from side-to-side, brushing his lips to hers in a silent chant—I’m yours, I’m yours, I’m yours.

She’d found her crow, and he wasn’t just any crow. He was the King of Crows. Her man, her mate, her future.

This town had never felt like home, and she hadn’t been able to understand that until right now.

Home wasn’t a place at all. It wasn’t a city, or her duplex, or her job, or the clubhouse.

Home was an unbreakable bond her mate had built with her.

It was feeling completely secure in the person she was with.

It was feeling safe to be her exact self, and be loved despite her faults.

It was finding happiness.

It was her mate.

Her. Mate. She’d lucked into something she would never take for granted. Something that she would always covet and protect. Something that she’d waited so long to find.

Home was Ramsey.