Page 93 of Anders
I feel it too, but… Can this be real?she asked, her fingertips tracing lazy patterns on his chest.
As he gazed into her mesmerizing blue-green eyes, a conviction so powerful it left him breathless slammed through him.It’s real.I feel it deep in my soul.Being with you feels like coming home.
Etta swallowed hard before whispering,I love you too.
He pulled her closer, their bodies fitting together perfectly.
Etta gazed up at him.I think I’ve loved you from the first moment we met.And I know I’ll love you for an eternity.
His heart swelled, as if it might burst from his love for her.
He pressed his lips to her forehead.
Forever,he said, his voice barely above a whisper.I will love you forever.
Forever, his wolf echoed.
CHAPTER 22
THE EARLY MORNING SUNcast long shadows across the Old Packhouse grounds as Anders made his final adjustments to the perimeter sensors.
Three weeks had passed since Etta’s surgery and acceptance into the Sunburst Pack—three weeks of recovery, planning, and preparation for the battle they both knew was coming.
Anders secured the casing of the newly installed motion detector, his mind focused on the task at hand.
This was the twelfth sensor he’d installed this week, part of a comprehensive security overhaul designed to detect the specific electromagnetic signature emitted by Chimera’s surveillance equipment.
If the organization sent more operatives to replace the ones they’d neutralized, the pack would know immediately.
Anders sat back on his heels, scanning the surrounding desert with practiced precision.His enhanced senses detected nothing out of the ordinary—just the familiar sounds and scents of pack territory at dawn.
But experience had taught him that absence of evidence wasn’t evidence of absence.Chimera had proven themselves experts at concealment.
Sensor array online,he murmured into his communications device.Quadrant secure.
Confirmed,Quinton’s voice responded from the command center.Signal strength at ninety-seven percent.Better than the south array.
I’ll recalibrate the southern sensors this afternoon,Anders said, already mentally prioritizing the work that remained.Has Conall finished mapping the underground access points?
Completed at 0200.He’s sleeping now, but the schematics are ready for your review.
Anders nodded, though the gesture was unnecessary for the radio communication.I’ll be there in twenty.
As he gathered his equipment, a familiar scent reached him—Eliana.Etta.His mate.
After a week of confusion within the pack, she’d finally announced that she preferred to stick with the name Etta when in her human form and Eliana for her wolf.
Initially, the decision had worried Anders.But he’d quickly realized that using both names was a way to claim all parts of herselfforherself—using the name she’d been born with for her wolf and the name she’d had for decades as a human was a means of integration, not separation.
And if she still occasionally differentiated between her identities—Etta the human and Eliana the wolf… Well, the distinction was becoming less pronounced as she continued integrating the fragmented pieces of herself.
Anders turned to see her approaching from the direction of the new clinic—for which they still didn’t have a doctor, though Greg Weiss had started visiting once a month for basic checkups.
Etta’s white-blonde hair caught the morning light as she moved toward her mate.The sight of her still affected him physically, a tightening in his chest that he was beginning to recognize as happiness rather than tactical alert.
You started early,she called, her smile visible even at this distance.
Security doesn’t sleep,he said.
