Page 59 of Sun's Roar

“Is it always going to be like this?” she asked, her voice already heavy with approaching sleep.

“Like what?” Sol brushed his lips against her damp hair.

“So... intense. So right.”

Her simple response threatened to undo him. After centuries of emptiness, the completeness he felt with his Luna in his arms in their bed was almost painful in its perfection.

“Yes,” he promised, tightening his hold. “Always.”

Her breathing deepened as sleep finally claimed her, but Sol remained awake a while longer, savoring the weight of her against him and the scent of her skin mingling with his. His Luna finally understood what she was, and what they could be together. She was finally home.

TWENTY-TWO

HELENA

Helena woke to sunlight streaming through the massive windows of Sol’s bedroom—now their bedroom. The sheets smelled of him, that woodsy spice that made her heart flutter. She stretched, her muscles pleasantly sore from their night of running through the forest on four legs instead of two.

Her wolf. She actually had a wolf inside her.

She rolled over to find Sol watching her with those impossibly green eyes, a half-smile on his lips. His tattoo on his right arm shimmered in the morning light as he reached out to brush hair off her face.

“I can hear you thinking,” Sol said, his voice still rough with sleep. “How does it feel being a wolf shifter?”

Helena felt her cheeks flush. “Strange. Wonderful. Like I’ve discovered a part of myself that’s always been there, but I never knew to look for.”

“Your wolf is simply beautiful.” He traced the line of her collarbone with his fingertip. “Red like your hair. Like fire.”

The memory of shifting, of feeling her bones transform and her senses sharpen beyond anything humanly possible, made her shiver. “Will it get easier? The changing?”

“With practice.” Sol’s hand slid possessively around her waist, drawing her closer. “But you’re a natural, Luna.”

Luna. The title still felt foreign, but less so than before. After facing Victor, after feeling the fierce protectiveness toward Sol and his pack—her pack now—Helena couldn’t deny the mate bond anymore or her place by Sol’s side.

Sol reached for his phone on the nightstand, his muscled arm stretching across her vision. He punched in a number and brought it to his ear.

“Mitesh,” he said, his voice shifting from the intimate tone he used with her to something more commanding. “Gather the pack at the castle tonight. Ballroom. We’re making the Luna announcement official.”

Helena caught snippets of Mitesh’s excited response before Sol ended the call and tossed his phone aside.

“A celebration?” She propped herself on her elbow. “For me?”

Sol’s smile bordered on wicked. “For us. For our pack.” He cupped her face gently. “But before that, there are some people you need to meet properly.”

“Who?”

“My sister Claire and her family. You met Joshua in wolf form last night. He’s my beta and Claire’s husband.”

Helena’s eyebrows rose. “The man who helped you rescue me from the fire at my restaurant is your brother-in-law?”

“The very same.” Sol’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Claire is eight months pregnant with their fourth. They already have twin boys, Finn and Filip—absolute terrors, both eight—and a girl Emma, who’s six.”

Helena tried to imagine the formidable Joshua as a father of three—soon to be four—wild children. “They live here? At the castle?”

“No. They live in a house on the territory.” Sol captured her hand and pressed his lips to her palm. “Claire will be so thrilled to meet you. She’s wanted me to find my Luna for decades. Said I was getting too broody.”

“Decades,” Helena breathed, still adjusting to the reality of Sol’s age. “And now you’ve got me, a chef who only just figured out she’s a wolf.”

Sol’s expression grew serious and intense. He moved with predatory grace, suddenly looming over her, his arms bracketing her body.

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