Page 98 of Brody
“Together?”I asked.The word was both a question and an answer.
He pulled me into his arms, his hands framing my face with a tenderness that made my heart ache.“Rozi Dhahabu,” he said, his voice rough with emotion, “I spent so much time regretting the day I walked away from you.I won’t waste a single moment of this second chance we’ve been given.”
He kissed me then, not the quick, passionate kisses we’d shared throughout the day but something deeper, slower, a promise sealed with every gentle press of his lips against mine.I melted into him, winding my arms around his neck as he pulled me closer, lifting me slightly off my feet.The taste of him, coffee and mint and something uniquely Brody, filled my senses, drowning out everything but this moment, this connection, this love that had defied time and distance and hurt to find its way back to us.
When he finally pulled back, his smile was all the certainty I needed.His thumbs brushed away tears I hadn’t realized I’d shed.
“I love you,” he whispered, forehead pressed to mine, our breath mingling in the space between us.“All of you.The fierce cheetah and the stubborn woman who still won’t admit when I’m right.”
I laughed despite myself, the tension breaking.“Which happens approximately once a century.”
His answering grin was boyish, lighting up his face in a way that made him look years younger.My heart swelled with such love for this man—my fated mate, my partner, my home—that it felt too big for my chest to contain.
In that moment, surrounded by the proof of our breakthrough and facing a future neither of us could have imagined, I realized that some thresholds, once crossed, transformed not just our circumstances but ourselves.The independent woman I’d been wasn’t gone.She’d simply evolved into something more complete.
Just like the moss at the edge between water and earth, I’d found my perfect balance at the threshold between who I’d been and who I could become.
“I want to build something with you,” I said suddenly, the words tumbling out before I could analyze them to death.“Not just the pharmaceutical company or the serum production.A life.A future.Maybe even a family someday.”
His breath caught, his entire body going still beneath mine.Slowly, he tilted my chin up, his eyes searching mine with an intensity that made my heart race.“Are you sure?”The hope in his voice was almost painful to hear.“You’ve always valued your independence so much.”
“Independence was my armor,” I confessed, “not my dream.”I pressed my palm against his chest, feeling his heart pound beneath my touch.“My dream was always to matter enough to someone that they wouldn’t leave.To be essential, not optional.”
“Rozi,” he whispered, his voice breaking on my name.“You’re not just essential to me.You’re everything.”
With Brody beside me, with our research proven, with the means to help not just the Ridge but shifters worldwide, I was ready to step across this new threshold, not alone, but alongside the mate who’d proven that sometimes the greatest discoveries happened when you dared to trust your heart as much as your mind.
“So,” I said, my smile turning mischievous as I brushed my fingers over the edge of his claiming mark peeking above his collar, feeling the shiver that ran through him at my touch, “CEO Dhahabu and her wolf.Think the pharmaceutical world is ready for us?”
His answering grin was pure predator, his gray eyes gleaming with promise.He bent to brush his lips against my ear.“Not a chance in hell.”
CHAPTER24
ROZI
TWELVE MONTHS LATER… ON A FULL MOON
My skin prickled with electricity as I fastened the vial pendant around my neck, my fingers trembling so badly I nearly dropped it twice.Inside the tiny glass capsule, the iridescent blue serum caught the moonlight, reminding me of how Brody had looked beneath me during our second trip into the COL cave, his powerful body gleaming with blue-tinged water as I’d straddled him, his eyes blazing as he’d thrust up into me.
“Fuck,” I whispered, heat pooling between my thighs at the memory.
My cheetah stretched beneath my skin, claws flexing with anticipation of what awaited us tonight.Mine,she purred, the word reverberating through my consciousness with primal satisfaction.Mate.Claim.Forever.
I stood at the entrance of the cave housing the Cradle of Life, my thin silver robe doing nothing to shield my naked body from the cool night air.My nipples tightened to aching points, partly from the chill but mostly from knowing that Brody waited inside, that within the hour, he would be inside me, his cock stretching me open as his teeth found the claiming mark on my neck.
The scent of night, sandalwood and pine, carried on the breeze, mingling with something else, the unmistakable musk of an aroused wolf-shifter.Brody was already here, his primal scent making my pussy clench with a Pavlovian response.A year of being thoroughly claimed by him had trained my body to recognize his presence before I even saw him.
My inner thighs were already slick with desire, my core aching with a need only he could fill.The knowledge that tonight would bind us forever, that the entire pack would witness our commitment before we slipped away to consummate it, sent a fresh wave of wetness flooding my center.
Ready?my cheetah demanded, impatient for the claiming ritual to begin.
I took a deep breath, inhaling the scents of magic and moonlight, of ancient power and carnal promise.The gold bracelet Brody had fastened around my wrist last night caught the silver light, reminding me of his whispered promises against my ear as he’d slipped three fingers inside me, his thumb circling my clit with devastating precision.
“I’m going to fuck you so thoroughly tomorrow night,” he’d growled, his teeth grazing my earlobe as his fingers worked me toward another shattering climax.“By the time I’m done, you won’t remember your own name, just mine.”
As ready as I’ll ever be,I thought, stepping into the cave entrance, my body thudding in anticipation of his touch.
Inside the cave, a breathtaking sight awaited me.The blue pool of the Cradle of Life dominated the center of the cavern, its otherworldly glow illuminating the entire space with ethereal light.The water seemed alive, pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat as if recognizing me.Crystal formations caught and refracted the blue glow, creating an underwater effect that made the entire cavern feel like we were suspended in some magical realm between worlds.
