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Chapter 40

CHAPTER FORTY

MIKO

B ack on my feet, everything healed, I walked hand in hand with Orion down the hill to the western edge of the town. After a ten-minute recovery, Basil healed my mate's wounds, Cate firing endless apologies at him for chowing down on his flesh.

Ori tried telling her it wasn't her fault, but she wouldn't have it.

"I'll get you some wine," she said.

"I can't have Earthly alcohol, remember?" he replied.

He'd yelled at me the last time, properly pickled out of his mind on gin.

"And you don't have to do anything," he added. "Really."

"Leave it to me."

"Let her run with this," James jumped in. "It's easier."

Thank God for Basil's healing. I owed him a lot.

A hell of a lot.

We came to a road choked with bodies, none of them getting up. No sign of zombies, no sign of pink shit anywhere.

Could this really be the end?

Damn me for missing most of it, for leaving my mate to get the replica into that lab to make the final blow.

"West Street," Paige said, reading out the street sign beside the roundabout.

"What about this place?" Trev asked, pointing to a brick building. "Shall we crash here?"

A block of flats, three stories high. Some of them with balconies.

"Yeah. Let's do it." We really needed to rest up and get out of this poxy rain.

"Our forced shift's coming, sir," James said. "It's October tomorrow."

"Shit. Forgot about that."

For the first midnight of every month, werewolves had to shift to let their beasts run free. What perfect timing. I finally get to spend some time with Ori, but then came these conditions like we were in fucking Cinderella .

Just call me the pumpkin coach.

"I will shift with you," Andrew said.

"Weredolphins do it on the seventh midnight of the month," Malorie added, her arm linked with her son's.

We'd have to find them a body of water as soon as possible.

Before we could get settled in, we had to clear the bodies from the building first. Fortunately, there weren't too many to move. We piled them up in the carpark with the intention of either burying or burning them later. There'd be a lot of that in these coming weeks, seeing as every corpse was truly dead now.

Job done, we spread out to find food and water, gathering plenty of stale biscuits, more of those long-life croissants we used to eat in Haven, and several boxes of flat sparkling water.

With water on his mind, James took Arlo and Andrew to the roof, the three of them armed with buckets. They soon got us enough rainwater to clean up with.

Bliss.

Next up, we all found some suitable clothes—a pair of shorts, boots, and a jumper for me.

Supplies in hand, we split up, settling into the flats, the buildings filed with the sounds of our yawns and weary energy.

Ori and I took a flat on the top floor with a balcony. The walls were either blue or green, depending on the room, and the open-plan living room/kitchen boasted a massive corner sofa. Too big for this space really, but nice and soft.

And dusty.

The master bedroom was better, the king-sized bed filling most of the room. The previous occupants seemed to enjoy oversized furniture. There was just enough room for a dresser, empty perfume bottles scattered across the top.

I picked up a pretty one shaped like a star. I collected them, carrying on my mum's tradition.

"She'd like this one," I said softly.

Ori dumped his supplies on the floral bedspread, wrapping himself around me. "Are you alright?"

I reveled in his hold, putting the bottle down. "Yeah."

He kissed the back of my neck. "Kind of a ridiculous question, isn't it?"

I placed my hands over his arms. "Not coming from you."

"Too sweet."

I turned, holding him by his waist. I pressed my forehead to his. "Feel like I'm in a dream."

"I know."

I slid my hands up his sides, taking hold of his face. My God, I carried guilt like it was ten sacks of potatoes. Guilt and trauma and an anvil of sorrow. Just like everyone else.

"Sorry I was out of it when you went into that lab," I said. "I'm a useless?—"

He swallowed my self-flagellation with a kiss. I drifted into the pleasure of it, swimming in cherries and the wonder of his lips on mine. What a lucky guy to land a mate like this.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

That didn't shift my guilt, though. It'd set up shop, here to stay for a while.

Ori pulled back, tracing his thumbs across my stubble. "Talk to me."

His emerald eyes were hypnotic, my cock twinging in happy response. "About what?"

I want to fuck you so badly… Maybe not now, though. My horniness might be strong, but so was my fatigue and the aftershocks of what'd gone down.

Until we saw a full day without the pink smoke of Dawn and the biters, I might start to relax.

I licked him from my lips, going in for another peck. "Shall we change? I'm sick of dripping."

He nodded, pulling off his jumper.

I feasted my eyes on his slender upper body. Practically salivated over his erect nipples, hungry to kiss every inch of skin, to make him moan as I tweaked those swollen nubs.

Another day.

We'd also found some towels, bars of soap, toothbrushes, and some toothpaste in our searching. I let him use the bathroom to freshen up first. He went off with a bucket of rainwater, and I returned to the living room to walk off my boner.

He returned fifteen minutes later, his sweat stink replaced by a soapy one laced with cherries. He dried his scarlet hair, beaming at me.

My man wore a white jumper and red jogging bottoms, very much my cherries and cream.

"The power of a good scrub," he said. "You can't beat it."

I chuckled, getting down to business myself.

Bang on the money there, Ori… I felt so much better having washed the drama and dirt off my skin, standing in the bathtub. I watched the dirty water vanish down the plughole, taking in these moments of silence. Not to think, but to reflect.

To just be.

I'm alive.

I'm here with Orion and my pack and I'm alive.

I couldn't quite believe it.

Ten minutes later, after shaking out the duvet on the balcony, I curled up with Ori under it on the bed. I was the big spoon, holding him so tightly in case the forces of evil tried snatching him away again.

He yawned, wriggling against me. "Dry and warm."

"Delicious. Like you." I pressed my nose into his hair, sniffing deeply.

He giggled. "Right back at you, Mr. Robot."

I wanted to make love to him in a bed. Properly. But not this one. At least for now.

The storm played out, now soothing rather than dramatic.

I think we both fell asleep at the same time. I didn't remember falling asleep, only waking up five minutes before midnight.

The sky was clear, the storm over. A swathe of stars twinkled against the inky black of the night sky, the moon full and bright.

Ori woke up as I stripped off, getting off a big yawn. "What's happening?"

"Almost midnight. Go back to sleep."

He did, snoring lightly as I left the flat to join my pack.

We gathered outside, counting down the last ten seconds. Still together, still fighting-fit, the lion alpha joining us.

What a glorious miracle.

My guilt might be weighty, but I was so happy to be alive with these amazing people. That made me a lot luckier than most.

A hell of lot luckier.

As wolves, we headed into the town to spend the next hours scoping out the area, planning our next steps.

"Think we should settle here?" James asked via our wolf connection.

"Not sure. Let's see."

"I quite like it," Cate added.

We passed a cemetery, dead bodies everywhere.

"I'd like to stop searching for a home," Paige said. "Set one up here. We could build that community we've always dreamed of."

Good point. A very good point. But I just wanted to wander for a bit, let the town show itself to me before I made any decisions.

Although it might have already been made.

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