My shoulder was sore. My left ankle was practically numb and my thigh was on fire from where the fox’s fangs had pierced my flesh. But none of that mattered right now.

Billy was here – and he was pregnant.

“Get inside, Kitchi,” Tate said. “Have Osana take care of that.”

Kitchi. That was the fox’s name. Tate obviously recognized me from The Love Knot. Of course this place would end up belonging to him. He wasn’t happy to see me and must have assumed I’d tracked him here and was looking for trouble.

I shouldn’t have hit him like that. That’s what set the fox on me – Kitchi. Billy had gotten him pretty good and his pride must be pretty bruised right now for letting an omega do that to him.

“I’m sorry, Kitchi,” Billy whined. “I couldn’t let you kill him.”

“It’s okay, Billy,” Kitchi said sternly, his hand covering his shoulder wound. “I understand.”

He turned away from us and made his way quickly back inside. I was bleeding too, but all I could do was hold my omega in my arms. After that night, I’d thought I’d lost him. And now here he was, and he was carrying my baby.

“You’re pregnant, Billy?” I asked him softly.

“Osana told me,” he replied. “Not even ten minutes ago. I had no idea.”

“So quick!” I laughed.

“She said a good alpha would do that,” he replied, nuzzling against my chin. “And I told her that’s what you were. I was sad – I thought I’d never see you again. But here you are. How did you find me?!”

“I was out for a ride,” I told him, remembering the fury inside me that had spurred me on through the snow. “And I picked up your scent. It hit me so hard I dumped my bike and wiped out.”

I chuckled, feeling like a sappy little teenager as I petted Billy’s head and stroked him gently.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” he told me, looking up at me through teary eyes.

“Those men who took you,” I asked him. “Who were they?”

“Marcellus,” he replied. “My pack leader. He – he sold me.”

“He what!?”

A fury ignited within me again and I tried to keep it down as I listened to my omega.

“An auction for omegas who haven’t had their heat,” he replied.

“But you had your heat…”

“I know,” he replied. “He pheromone blocked me and sold me anyway. A man named Pablo bought me and was furious. He drugged me and left me in the woods.”

“Kitchi found him,” Tate chimed in. “We took him in. We were kind to him.”

“And I appreciate that,” I told Tate, doing my best to put our differences behind us. “I really do. And I’m sorry for what happened here.”

The last few days had been unlike any others in my life. I’d met Billy, an omega I knew I could spend the rest of my life with, and then he’d been taken away from me. I thought I’d never see him again, and we’d been reunited here, at the lodge of the man who I’d almost gotten into a fight with.

Life.

“Come inside,” Tate said with the authority of a pack leader. “You need to get your leg cleaned up and Billy’s going to freeze to death without his clothes. Martin, will you put Aiden’s bike in the barn?”

I looked over at the second wolf who had shifted back to human form. He was a pretty boy and obviously still skeptical of me.

“Yeah, sure,” he muttered, stepping away from us.

I rose to my feet, my right ankle killing me and my left thigh dripping blood onto the snow. My body was a mess, but my heart and soul were soaring. Billy had returned to me – or I’d been returned to him. Somehow, fate had reunited us and there was no doubt in my mind that Billy was who I was meant to be with.

“Nice bike,” Tate said, offering an olive branch of peace by trying to lighten the mood.

“Laid it over on the way here,” I grumbled, taking the first step up the porch to the house. “Gonna need some bodywork.”

“At least it’s still running,” Tate replied.

“Yeah. There is that.”

When I stepped into the lodge, I felt a feeling I’d never felt before.

This place was a home and I understood why Kitchi had been so quick to protect it. Martin brushed past me and strode quickly through the living room.

“I’m gonna go check on Kitchi,” he said over his shoulder. He was obviously not happy with me, but I understood. I wasn’t happy about the way things had gone down either, but it wasn’t entirely my fault. Just a big misunderstanding basically.

I heard voices from a room out back and assumed it was their doctor taking a look at the wound Billy had given Kitchi. I was proud of him, even though I wished he never had to fight like that. If I had been able to handle this in a different way I would have.

“Here, sit down,” Billy told me as he guided me to a chair by a fire that crackled welcomingly in the fireplace.

“Chrissie!” Tate called out. “Can you bring some gauze in here, please!?”

“Coming!” A voice called back. Moments later, a girl who must have been Chrissie came into the room. She was small, but had an obvious strength about her and dressed fashionably out of place in a pair of denim overalls with a polka dotted white and black shirt underneath. Somehow, her air reminded me of Martin.

She rushed over to me with a handful of gauze and instantly pressed it over the wound on my thigh. There must have been some sort of antiseptic ointment on it or something, because as soon as the stuff touched my leg it started to sting like crazy.

“Gah!” I gasped out, clutching the arms of the chair. Billy’s hand grasped my shoulder and he leaned against me. His scent distracted me momentarily from the pain and I brought my eyes to his as Chrissie worked on my wound.

“I’m sorry this happened,” Billy told me sadly.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “This wasn’t your fault. Not one bit. And all that matters now is we’re together. And nothing is ever going to change that again.”