Kate’s heart pattered at his words as he stroked a finger under her chin. “I’m just sorry it took me so long to get it right.”

“We’re here now. We’re bonded. We’re together. That’s enough.” Kate sighed and snuggled her face into his T-shirt. From the very first time she’d walked into that library, she’d just wanted to be in his arms. And now she finally was. And it felt so good.

She glanced up at the sky. It was alive with the sunrise now. Pinks and oranges and yellows, like someone had taken a palette of watercolors and thrown them up into the pale blue atmosphere. It was beautiful.

“How do you do that?”

“Do what?” Kate quirked her head and peered up at Ryan.

“You just move on from stuff. You don’t—”

“Hold a grudge?”

He nodded, his eyes staring straight into her soul like he was looking for a long sought-after answer.

“I can’t live that way. Life is too short to keep being angry or broken. I grew up with angry and broken and I promised myself I would never let that be my life. My grandparents, my parents, even my brother think I should just tow the line and take what the pack gives me.” She reached up and stroked her fingers across the scruff on his chin. “But I learned there’s always something that will make you smile. No matter where you are. No matter what you’re going through. You just have to learn how to look for it.”

“You,” he said softly, walking his fingers from one bump of her spine to the next. “You make me want to smile.”

Kate laughed. “I never would’ve thought that. You were always frowning and angry around me, except for a few stolen smooches.”

“Smooches? That’s what you’re calling my kisses?” He growled and rolled over, pinning her to the ground with his weight. His fingers went to her ribs and he dug them in.

“Noooooo,” she squealed, twisting beneath him, trying to escape the torture of being tickled. “S-st-o-p!” she said, spitting out her plea between bursts of laughter. “Pleeee-a-se!”

“I guess I’ll have to show you what a real kiss is. Something you can’t call a smooch.”

He leaned closer and covered her mouth slowly. Nipping first her bottom lip. Then the top. Then lazily thrusting his tongue into her mouth and drinking her down. His erection pressed solidly into her stomach and suddenly the laughing and teasing of the last few minutes became so much more.

Ryan pulled back, breaking the kiss. He stared down at her, his blue eyes flecked with gold. “Was that a smooch?” he asked, a cocky grin spreading across his face.

Kate nodded. “It needs more practice. I would still consider that a smooch,” she answered, her mouth curving into a purposeful smirk.

“Well, I consider that a challenge.”

She just smiled and waited, her body alight with need. His desire swirled in her mind, intertwining with her own. She could feel his hunger for her like a ravenous animal staring down its prey. The mutually shared feelings through the bond were exciting and overwhelming at the same time. She’d worked hard to try and cut him off before, but now…now the connection between them was wide open. She felt his genuine sorrow and grief over the way he’d been treating her. Over the choices he’d made to push her away again and again. But she also felt his overwhelming guilt. He thought he’d failed his pack. She could feel how much it cost him. It was like a huge open wound on his heart, and the pain of it shook her.

She was his. Always had been, from the moment she’d sensed they were Fated mates, but now he was finally hers. Wholly and completely hers. She was glad for it, but distraught at his feelings of failure and guilt. Whatever came next with his pack, they would figure it out together, but right now she needed her mate. And he needed her too. He needed to claim her. Needed to feel the soul-cleansing comfort only she could give.

She raised her legs, squeezed them around his waist, and arched her back, pressing her breasts harder against his body. The move elicited a moan of desire from deep within his chest.

“You’ll never use that word again after this,” Ryan said, his voice deep and hungry. His arousal rose through her, warming her core even more, making her throb from the inside out.

“After what?” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “I don’t see anything happening.”

“Oh, you’re about to.” He locked an arm around her waist, lifted her from the ground, and crawled a few feet to his right before depositing her on a slanted piece of metal—the slide on the swing set. The steel was cold from the morning dew and it dampened the back of her shirt.

“I don’t think this is what the manufacturer intended for this—” Her shorts were gone a second later and his mouth was attached to her clit. Oh! The first swipe of his tongue made her curl forward into a sitting position.

She ran her hands through his short wavy hair, gasping each time his tongue lapped at her. “Ryan,” she moaned his name, the ability to think cohesively quickly leaving her.

“The manufacturer couldn’t think outside the box, then,” Ryan said, chuckling deep in his chest. His words vibrated against her sex, sending her even higher.

She reclined on the cold metal as he slid his tongue inside her core, but kept her fingers entwined in his hair. Pushing and pulling and pulsating with desire. Her orgasm curled around her, building toward a pinnacle that would surely tear her apart.

Her fingers tightened, dragging him closer. She rode his tongue and writhed beneath him at the same time, twisting and whining, needing just a little more pressure to crest. His tongue responded by lashing her slit harder. Her body clamped down on his fingers, grinding and begging for the release that was so close she knew he could taste it and feel her body starting to lose control. His mouth and head pulled away, and he replaced it with the heel of his hand and bore down, working her body faster and harder.

“That’s it, sweetheart. Come for me, right now.”

She did. Hard. Her body spasming, arching against the cold steel of the slide. Her mouth opened to scream, but a wordless gasp was all that escaped. She needed him. Needed his warmth. Needed him to hold her.

A second later he’d pulled her back into his arms. He sat on the ground in front of the slide, cradling her as she shuddered and whimpered and came down from her orgasmic high. Everything hummed in tune with the frequency of their bond. It was amazing and she wanted more. More of him. She wasn’t sure she could ever get enough. She certainly wasn’t sated this morning.

“Ryan,” she said, her voice soft but strained. Her body burned for him.

“I’ve got you,” he answered, rising from the ground, holding her tightly. He helped her slip back into her shorts, then picked her up and carried her toward the house. She saw a blur of the yard, the kitchen, and then he carried her up the stairs to his room, all without spotting his mother.

The door of his bedroom closed and the mattress met her back before she had truly caught her breath. Ryan was stripping before her eyes. She sat up and pulled off her T-shirt and shorts. A second later they were a frenzy of arms and legs, pressed together so that not even a piece of paper would have slid between them. Skin to skin. Mouth to mouth. Their tongues lashed against each other in a fight to see who would bring the kiss deeper.

He hovered over her for a moment, their gazes meeting. His irises gold from his wolf. Her wolf leapt for joy when he sunk his length deep inside her and stroked. Mine. Her hands stroked his muscular biceps and shoulders. She wrapped her legs around his rock-hard thighs. Gods, his body was amazing.

He drove deep again, sinking so far into her that they were like one. She never wanted to let go. Never wanted to feel separated from him again. She opened up their bond again and felt…everything. The rush of emotion was like a flood. Had she been standing, she might have collapsed under the weight of how much he cared for her. He wasn’t hiding it anymore. Wasn’t pushing her away or compartmentalizing his feelings. He wanted her as much as she wanted him.

“Kate,” he moaned, sliding his cock in and out slowly. His mouth descended on hers again, claiming it, demanding more from her. He wanted all of her. She belonged to him. She could feel how much she belonged to him and her heart soared as the sweet sense of being cherished filled her soul.

The intensity between them only ratcheted higher. The rhythm of his tongue and his cock rocked her into a blissful abandon. He tensed, driving faster now. Kate dug her fingers into his shoulders and arched into him, drawing him in deeper. His hands slid under her shoulders, pulling her to him with each thrust.

“Yes,” Kate said, her tone husky and out of breath. Her insides tightened as he growled. Everything poured into that moment. All the power and attraction and magick and pain and everything that had led up to them being together now. “Yes,” she gasped out.

“Kate,” he growled into her mouth. His body tensed and tightened beneath her hands and legs and he came, filling her with his warm seed. Filling her with his love. She could feel it through their bond, even though neither of them had said it yet. It was there. He slipped a hand between them, sliding against her clit just hard enough to send her over the edge as he continued to thrust and come.

“Ryan,” she gasped. His name came out in a desperate scream, muffled by his mouth. Her body arched and bowed, pushing them both upward a few inches off the mattress. When they both finally collapsed, Ryan rolled off to the side. He slipped on some shorts and left the room, back a few moments later with a warm wet washcloth. After attending to her, he climbed back into the bed and pulled her close. She snuggled into his chest. Sated. Happy. Content.

Fate had finally come through for her. Now she just had to find a way to come through for Ryan. Multitasking was her strength. There was a way for him to have her and still help his pack—she just had to help him find it.

---

***

---

Ryan tucked her into his body, swathing them in the blanket. He loved what the chilly morning air did to Kate’s nipples, but he wanted her warm and safe. This was preferable.

“I’m never going to stop making up for how stupid I was,” he said, earnestly.

“Ryan,” she sighed, touching the hand that had settled on her stomach. “You really don’t get it. You’re forgiven.”

“One apology?” He kissed her shoulder. “That’s not enough.”

“It’s enough for me. I can feel you now, from the inside. Can’t you feel me?”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“Then I want you to look into my eyes,” she said, turning in his arms and giving him those baby blues. “Okay. Now, pay attention to what is going on inside me when I say this…” Kate’s hands went to the sides of his face. “You. Are. Forgiven.”

Staring into her eyes, reaching across their bond, he felt only complete peace. There was no more fear. No holding back.

“God, I don’t know how you do that.” He closed his eyes, thinking of his father. Of his shame about his pack. It wasn’t easy for him to let go. Never had been. “I’ll never understand.”

“I trust you. I can feel inside you when you say that you pick me. I know that you mean it, because there’s no hesitation in your heart.”

“Can I tell you something?” he asked, keeping his eyes shut tight.

“Of course you can.” He could feel her settle her cheek against his chest, and for some reason, it helped to know that she wasn’t looking at him.

“I still want to be the alpha.”

“I know.” Her voice was so solid, so unwavering.

“I still want to undo what my father did.”

“I know.”

He kept waiting for the pain to start in her, but it didn’t. She just stroked the back of his neck and breathed against his skin, like she was completely unfazed by his admissions.

“You are a good man, Ryan.” Her fingers tangled in his hair and she kissed the tender skin at the base of his neck. “You want to give people a better life. And you’ll figure out a way. Whatever form that takes—whether it’s you helping Bracken while he stays on as alpha, or you training someone else to do what you were going to do—you’re going to heal your pack.”

“I just…” He took a deep breath, afraid to share the truth with her, even though he’d already chosen her. “I want to be the one who leads the pack.”

“I really do know that.” There was an edge of a smile in her voice. “My cooch isn’t that magick, honey. There’s no way you took a couple of plunges between these legs and suddenly didn’t want to be the alpha anymore.”

Ryan pulled back just a touch and looked down at her, a smile playing on his lips. “Magick cooch?”

“It’s just a saying.” Her eyes sparkled and she pulled her lips together, like she had a secret.

“I don’t know, it seems pretty magickal to me.” He dropped a kiss onto her lips. “Don’t sell yourself short, girl.”

Her fingers took up their plying in the hair at the base of his neck, like she was soothing him. “I mean it, though. I know you’re not just going to give up on wanting to be the alpha. I don’t expect that. I only wanted you to choose me. I never wanted you to not choose your pack.”

A burning sensation behind his nose just about had him tearing up. “You don’t expect me to change?”

“No, I love that you’re so dedicated to your family. It’s honorable.” She nuzzled back against his neck. “But it doesn’t hurt me that you still want to be alpha. I believe in you. You’ll find a way to make a difference.”

Ryan’s chest expanded and he really felt like tears might come. To have someone say those words. I believe in you. Kate might never know just how important they were to him. They made him want to move the world for her.

And if that’s what it took—if he had to move the world so that he could help his pack and keep his mate, then that’s what he was going to do.