Page 81 of Blood Sacrifice

“Stay with me, baby,” I said against her lips. “Don’t you dare fucking leave me.”

My fingers tightened around hers, and for the first time in forever, I prayed to whoever was out there watching over our miserable lives. Luna needed to come back to me because life only made sense when she was close to me. In her absence, I had been a miserable excuse for a lycan, spellbound, and nothing more than a puppet. Her love had set me free and returned me to the man I had been before.

She shook under me, her body fighting an unseen force.

I held her, talking lowly for only her to hear, my body covering hers in a blanket of protection until the movementsquietened and her body relaxed. I continued to whisper to her long after the sun set outside and the night creatures began to emerge.

When Luna had stilled, I kicked off my boots and crawled into the bed beside her, tugging her close to me, and wrapping myself around her. I should have done this in the first place instead of sitting watching her. Luna belonged in my arms, and no matter what the future brought, I would stay by her side to the very end.

I must have fallen asleep, and when I woke, her body had changed position in the bed. Instead of me curved around behind her, she was lying on top of me the way she tended to do when we were in bed together, her hand on my stomach.

I lay staring at the ceiling, my fingers trailing up and down her back as I tried to organise my thoughts. There was so much in my world that needed done, yet there was nowhere else I needed to be more than beside my mate. I ran everything that had happened from the raids through my head, including the men in that final room, and the significance of the map.

“You’re thinking too hard.” Her voice was raspy from not being used for days, her words slow and low.

Every muscle in my body froze and I dared not look down while I debated if her voice had been in my head. Luna’s fingers glided over my stomach and she snuggled closer, making the little purring noises she tended to make when she was sleepy.

My fingers combed through her hair, gently tugging her head back until I was staring into those huge, dark eyes that drew me in and mesmerised me. “You tried to die on me,” I accused in a low tone.

“I tried to save you,” she replied simply. “I refuse to live in a world where you don’t exist.”

My thumb skimmed over her bottom lip. “What makes you think I can survive in this world without you?”

Her tongue darted out to move across the seam of her mouth. “I need to get up, there is a lot that’s happened.”

My eyebrows shot up since she had been lying in this bed for days driving me slowly insane. We had been the ones out slaughtering the enemy. “You need to stay in this bed until you’ve regained your strength.”

She struggled to try and push herself up, but my arm held her firm because right now I needed her close, to reassure myself she was alive and still with me.

“Are you not supposed to be an alpha asshole?” Luna said against my chest. “Do you not have rules against snuggling?”

“This isn’t a snuggle, I’m restraining you with my arms.”

Her leg snaked across my hips and she crawled on top of me, the tip of her nose touching mine. My hands curved around her ass to hold her steady.

“You’re going to make me think that you care about me,” Luna said, her eyelashes kissing mine when she blinked.

I touched her mating mark. “You’re mine,” I replied.

“I own a lot of handbags that are mine,” Luna pointed out. “I’m not a possession.”

I had spent several lifetimes locking my emotions down and ensuring no one ever saw behind my mask. She stared into my eyes, and I saw the vulnerability in their depths. Surely she knew that she was my entire world?

I rolled Luna onto her back, my hands cupping her face. “Luna, you must know that I love you with every single beat of heart?” Her eyes widened. “If you had died, I would have willingly stabbed myself through that heart because my life would be worthless without you.”

She chewed the corner of her lip, blinking once. Her silence was almost deafening since she didn’t reply for several seconds. “Mates doesn’t mean love is involved, it’s a pairing of cosmic compatibility.”

The woman was trying to drive me to the brink of insanity. Fated mates were rare, and I’d encountered very few over my long life. Mating was different as it was about procreation.

“Luna.” I stopped and stared at her until I got her full attention. “I’ve been in love with you from the moment you walked out of that temple to get water and I saw you in the moonlight. I abandoned my pack the night the war started to make sure you got to safety. From the moment I had to walk away from you, I haven’t as much as looked at another woman because the only one I wanted to be with was beyond my reach.”

I pressed my forehead to hers, our breathes mingling.

“My heart stopped beating when you stepped in front of me to accept that curse in a selfless sacrifice. I’ve walked this world alone long enough, Luna. I want a home where we can live together, start a family, sit and watch the sunset together at night, and wake up beside you every morning.” I gave in to temptation and kissed her since I had been terrified that my last words to her had been filled with hurt before she saved my life. “Mates is about a chemical reaction because our wolves sense who would create the strongest pups with us. Fated mates mean that you are the other half of my soul.”

Her fingers tightened at my waist as I spoke, her eyes becoming huge orbs of light that allowed me to see into her soul. Luna was a powerful and beautiful woman, and yet there was a vulnerability in her that made her doubt her worth to me.

“I love you, Luna. Always have and always will, time never changed how I feel about you.”

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