Page 118 of Never Tamed
“He wasn’t supposed to actually die.” I know it sounds stupid for me to say, but I don’t care. Just thinking about never hearing him all me Red again…
A sob chokes out of me, and I fold myself over Dax’s body. I can’t hold it back anymore. The tears come. And come. My whole body shakes as I press my face against his chest.
“I love you, Dax. Do you hear me? I love you,” I whisper. “You belong with me. With us. Life won’t be the same without you. Come back… Come back to me. Please.”
As the last plea leaves my lips, a sharp, brutal snap reverberates through me. The sensation is searing, tearing through my chest, but then it floods into fire, into light.
The mate bond.
I feel it lock into place with Dax. It threads into the core of me. The world erupts, and my heart slams against my ribs as if it’s been waiting for this moment all along. The bond surges with power, with heat, with a love so raw it takes my breath away.
And I’m not alone.
Torin jerks beside me, his hand gripping mine so tightly it hurts. Mathis’s head bows forward with a strangled gasp and his body trembles. And clutching his chest, Noble lets out a ragged groan.
They feel it too.
All of us. The final bond, the missing piece of our puzzle is finally in place.
Then, under me, Dax moves.
His body twitches in a shuddering convulsion, and before I can shriek with relief, his eyes fly open. He sucks in a giant breath, filling his lungs greedily.
I cry out. “Dax!”
His gaze finds mine, dazed and unfocused, and he smiles. His lips part, making a broken sound, that sounds a lot like my name. “Red…”
Now the tears are falling for a different reason.
He’s alive.
Thank the Moon Goddess.
The others move closer, touching him, touching me, while all shouting out their disbelief and excitement.
“Wow, man. We thought you were a goner,” Noble says.
“You bastard,” I kiss his scratched up face, his lips, his cheeks. “How dare you scare me like that.”
Mathis pats his unharmed shoulder. “It’s good to have you back, Dax.”
“Welcome to the bond,” Torin adds.
Dax’s eyes never leave mine. He blinks up at me. “Is that…what that was? The mate…mate bond?”
Nodding, I clutch his face. The bond buzzes through me. It burns so bright, it warms me from the inside out. Even in my nakedness, the cold can’t touch me.
“That’s right,” I whisper. “The bond saved you. It makes us stronger—all of us. Together.” I lower my mouth to his, brushing the softest kiss against his lips. “Now we share a heart… and a soul.”
As Dax reaches up to cup the side of my face, he gives me his typical wolfish smile. The one, for a moment, I thought I’d never see again. “The better to love you with, little Red.”
Epilogue
REN
“Toast, bitches!” Aspen holds the clear bottle of tequila high. “Because nothing says summer or fourth of July like getting drunk.”
Flora lets out a cheer. “I can drink again!” She shakes her head. “You guys have no idea how much I missed it, being pregnant.”
