Page 26 of Ignited By My Mate

“I came here for a reason. I thought it was to rest. To escape. But now I know I was looking for something more. Foryou.”

I stand and walk down the steps until I’m standing right in front of him.

“I don’t know what the future looks like. I don’t have it all figured out. But I know this—everything feels clearer when I’m with you. Stronger. Like I’m where I’m meant to be.”

His jaw clenches, and his hands twitch like he’s holding himself back.

“So if you still want me,” I whisper, “I’m yours.”

Harris doesn’t speak.

Heacts.

He surges forward, sweeping me into his arms, his mouth crashing against mine in a kiss that sears straight through my bones.

I gasp, clutching at his shirt, as he lifts me off the ground like I weigh nothing, carrying me inside without breaking the kiss.

The door slams shut behind us.

Clothes scatter like confetti.

Hands roam. Tongues tangle.

His voice breaks through the haze when he lays me on the bed and stretches over me. “I love you, Lark. I’ve waited my whole damn life for you.”

I cup his face, my heart wide open. “I love you, too.”

And when he claims me all over again, it’s not simply instinct.

It’sus—choosing this. Choosingforever.

TWELVE

Harris

Five Years Later…

Twisted Oak hasn’t changed much.

Same quiet streets. Same swaying trees. Same cozy diner where the coffee’s strong and the gossip stronger. The old wooden welcome sign still stands at the edge of town, hand-carved and weathered, the same way it looked the first time she drove past it.

Buteverythingin my world is different now.

Because she’s in it.

I walk through the front door of our cabin—the same one I built bigger, warmer,oursnow—and the scent of cinnamon hits me first. Then laughter. And then the sound of little feet running full speed down the hall.

I barely have time to set down the bag of groceries before a blur of curls and giggles launches at me.

“Daddy!”

I scoop our daughter into my arms and spin her around, her laughter echoing off the walls.

She’s got her mama’s eyes and her wild heart. Smart and fearless, always asking questions and never sitting still. Her name is Ivy, and she’s the fiercest little cub in the pack.

“Hey there, wild cub. You been helping your mama?”

“Kind of,” she says, all innocence and sass. “I stirred the stuff. But then I spilled it. So I had to clean the floor. And I gotdistracted.”

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