Tears filled my eyes again. I leaned my forehead down against his. “Same,” I whispered. “How did you get out?”
“I was searching for you, and it was too hot. I couldn’t get out and found the stairwell to the basement, but knew it would all collapse on me. Then I remembered the coal chute from when I fixed the fuse box.”
What he’d gone through. God, it had been close. Too close. “I love you, Rand Tucker.”
I felt the rumble of a growl from his chest.
“I love you, Natalie Shefield. Now and forever. Human love. Wolf love. Every fucking kind of love there is, I’m in it with you. You’re mine, and nothing’s going to change that.”
I let out a happy sob. “No, nothing will change it for me, either. I’m sorry it took me so long to figure it out.”
“Darlin’, I know these ladies are going to want to do their doctor-veterinarian shit to me when we get back, but can we please just sneak away to my place and skip all that?”
I groaned with a smile. I wanted that so much, for us to be together. Alone. But… “No. You’ve got burns all over. I would really feel better if they looked at you.”
He grumbled. “I’m fine. But whatever you want, Red. You’re the boss of me.”
I cleared my throat. “Except when I’m not,” I murmured, remembering how much I liked when he took charge.
Rand stopped walking for a moment. “Aw, darlin’. Now is not the time for me to get a hard on for you. I’m wearing a fucking sheet around my waist.”
I giggled. He was all right. Injured, but he’d heal. “Right. Later.”
“Later, yes. Later I am going to boss the hell out of you, and you are going to scream my name until you’re hoarse.”
“I already did that tonight,” I reminded him, sobering.
His eager expression slipped. “Scream in the good way,” he amended. “Don’t think about that again tonight. We can’t. Nathan Brown is lucky he’s spending the night in a jail cell, or I would rip him to shreds.”
“I don’t want to think about it, either,” I said, resting my head on his shoulder.
The warmth in my chest, having his arms around me, savoring the words of love we finally shared… the sense of rightness that flowed through me was undeniable. How could I have ever doubted that what we had was real?
27
RAND
I let Audrey look me over, flushing out some of the worst burns with water, but there wasn’t more she could do. I was fucking lucky my lungs were clear, and my skin was healing quickly. It still hurt. Fuck, did it sting, but I knew it was temporary. But Natalie was with me.
She loved me.
She was mine.
That would last forever.
Even though Audrey was a doctor who treated humans, she agreed the best thing for me was to shift to my wolf and stay that way until the worst of the damage had been repaired.
“I agree with the doc. Based on the way those blisters are healing—” Rob said, leaning against the kitchen island. “—a few hours in wolf form, and they’ll be mostly gone.”
I didn’t want to wait a few hours to make Natalie mine, but I wasn’t going to be able to claim her like this. The burns were all over my body, and there was no way I could fuck her now. I wanted to focus on her. Her silky soft skin. Her cries of pleasure. I still hurt, and she’d worry.
That was not the way to claim a woman.
I looked to Natalie, who nodded.
“Fine, but I want to heal at home.”
No one argued, probably knowing that once I was better, nothing was going to keep me from my mate.
Rob nodded. “I’ll drive you to your cabin.” He said nothing more, just narrowed his eyes. Waited.
I met Red’s green gaze, leaned in and kissed her, then whispered in her ear. “I’ll heal in my bed, then I’m claiming you. Yes?”
She pulled back, studied my face. “Yes.”
My wolf soothed. I exhaled. Fuck, I did hurt. I nodded, then shifted back to my wolf. Let shifter biology work as Rob drove me and Natalie back to my cabin. I hopped onto the bed, circled, then settled, but didn’t close my eyes until she climbed beneath the covers. Her scent surrounded me, in a way healing me as much as time, and I slept.
I had no idea what time it was, but just after dawn. The sky was soft, the sun not having risen over the mountain. The air was cool coming through the open windows, the scent of smoke was redolent. I shifted back to human form and carefully sat up, not wanting to wake Natalie. She was asleep on her side, her hand tucked beneath her cheek.
Fuck, just seeing her here made me smile. I shrugged my shoulders, looked myself over. Besides being filthy, I was mostly healed. The minor burns were completely gone, no sign of them on my skin. The spots where there had been blisters had hints of pinkness, but I didn’t hurt anywhere.
I ran my hand over my head, felt a spot where my hair had singed. On my chest, there were some bare spots, but that would all grow back.
I crawled toward Natalie, loomed over her and nuzzled her neck. She stirred, a smile on her face. Her eyes popped open, and she sat up so abruptly, she almost popped me in the nose with her shoulder.
“Easy, Red.”
Her gaze roamed over me, eyes widening in obvious shock. “You’re healed.”
She reached out to touch me but pulled her fingers back. I grabbed her hand, set it on my chest.
“You’ve known about shifters but didn’t know how we heal?”
“No.” Her hand began to slide over my skin, gently. Almost reverently. “Well, no one told me specifically, but the tipped tractor. You… healed as I watched you run off in your wolf form.”
I closed my eyes to the feel of her fingers. Fuck, just that little brush of her skin on mine lit me up. My wolf practically rolled over and offered her his belly. “I remember that happening. Scared the shit out of myself because I was stuck, but I shifted and scrambled out. I had no idea you’d seen any of it.”
“Scared the shit out of me, too. Then surprised me. I mean, you turned into a wolf. It was a lot for a little girl.”
I slowly shook my head and opened my eyes. “No, Red. You were brave even then. Braver now.”
We looked at each other, just stared as her fingers traced over my torso. “Red,” I whispered. I was hard for her. My wolf was eager. Ready.
This was the moment. Our entire lives brought us here. Me working on the Sheffield land. Natalie being there with her uncle. The secret she’d carried. Her scent that made her mine. The fire.
Everything.
Fate had put us together, and it was time to make it official. Before, I’d wanted it so everyone else knew who she belonged to, that she was mine. Now, I didn’t give a shit what anyone else thought. I wanted to claim Natalie because she was mine.
No, I wanted to claim her because I was hers.
“Rand,” she whispered right back.
“If you’re better, then—”
“—then I want to be yours. Forever. Will you let me claim you because you’ve already claimed my heart. My soul. My wolf.”
Tears filled her eyes and slipped over. Her chin wobbled, and she threw her arms around me, kissed my face. “Yes. Yes!”