Chapter 21

Chapter

Twenty-One

DANYAL

W e landed shortly after. It was broad daylight and surprisingly warm. It felt almost too vulnerable, in spite of not being able to sense danger around us. That was probably the most disconcerting part. The country was on the edge of another war, a tyrant was trying to seize power, but everything was just…getting on.

People were working on the strip nearby, a handful of men were patching potholes, a few of the rich humans were inside the hangar talking about their latest flights.

I didn't know why I had expected a warzone, but the peace of it was throwing me off.

"You'll need to hit full Wolf speed the moment you take off," Arturo said, and he nodded his head to a small brick building off the side of the main hangar. "You can leave your shit in there and I'll collect it. I'm flying out of here in about twenty minutes. It'll give you enough time to cover the distance, and I'll know if you need help."

Mikael released my hand and startled both Arturo and me when he took the other Wolf into an embrace. Pulling back, he spoke in a long string of Spanish that made Arturo soften, then nod. I swore I heard the name Ivan there, but I would ask about that later.

Too much had happened. It felt like an entire lifetime had passed since I was in Kasher's compound, and there was still so much we didn't know.

Extending my hand, Arturo took it and squeezed, then he popped the hatch and I followed Mikael onto the tarmac and along a slow, easy stroll toward the building. The tension was enough to make my muscles hurt, and at that point, I couldn't wait for the shift.

It was the only way I would feel safe.

"Are you sure you know where to go?" I asked him.

He quirked a brow at me as he opened the door to a small changing room, but he didn't seem offended. "Trust me. It's this, and then it's three days."

Three days to make him mine—however that was going to look. And then we prepared to fight.

I shook myself out of my thoughts, only to find an entirely naked Mikael standing in front of me with his hands on his hips. I realized that even in Paris when we'd spent time lounging together, I hadn't appreciated his body. And now wasn't the time, but I still drank him in, taking a single step forward so I could drag the flat of my palm down his torso.

"Like what you see?" he asked, but his smirk was hiding a small surge of insecurity.

I wished I had time to make him feel as wanted as he was, but we had to run. Grabbing my shirt by the hem, I pulled it over my head, then struggled out of my shoes and pants. Kicking them to the side where Mikael had piled his own, I eased my body against his and surged up to kiss him.

"I'll show you how much once we make it safely." It was a promise I intended to keep.

He groaned, kissed me back hard, then shoved me away. "Let's go. We're almost done."

We were far from almost done, but it didn't matter. I dropped into a crouch, leaning into the shift, feeling my body contort faster than I preferred to slip into my wolf. I ached still from the fight, but I was rested.

I would be fast.

Mikael's black snout nosed the door open, and he gave me a single, glowing yellow stare before he shot out ahead of me, and I pushed into my speed to follow.

Just like the run in France, I barely noticed the scenery whipping by. All that mattered was his scent and trusting his direction. I was half aware of cars that were near, of human hearts, of the occasional Wolf, but they remained unaware of us.

Danger wasn't nipping at our heels.

If we had luck on our side today, no one would be waiting for us.

We entered a thick forest a few moments into the run, and Mikael kept a punishing pace for so long, I was sure I was going to run out of power. But just as I started to lag, he slowed. I matched his pace, catching my breath as it huffed from my chest, and I saw him lift his nose toward the sky.

He changed his direction a bit, and moments later, a cabin came into view. We were so far out in the middle of nowhere, I wondered how the damn thing had been built. It seemed ancient and untouched, but I could smell hints of Wolves having recently been by.

Kor, I reminded myself as my hackles rose. Mikael seemed to be having the same thoughts though, because he didn't rush to shift. Instead, he circled around the place three times, slipping into the woods before he came back and chuffed his approval.

We were safe.

We were alone.

Mikael shifted, but I remained as my wolf as I followed him up the stairs, and he found a key hidden in the porch light, opening the door. The place was one story, and it smelled fresh enough that I could take in a deep breath without wanting to sneeze.

When the door shut, the place dimmed, and I finally felt myself shift into arms and legs. Taking a moment to stretch, I watched him—unashamed in his nudity, poking around like a kid. It made me smile as I thought about him young—untouched by the war, unaware of a world that would segregate him from the people he loved.

No idea that society would murder his mate and plunge him into decades of killing and fighting.

I wished I had known him then. I wished I had just a glimpse of the Wolf without the weight of the world on his shoulders.

And at the same time, I also wouldn't trade this person for the world.

"Hungry?" he asked. He'd gone around a corner as I stepped into the living room and tested the plushness of the leather sofa, and he joined me with a pile of clothes in his arms. "There's food and a couple of suitcases." He lifted the clothes to his nose and took a breath. "I don't recognize the scent, but it's someone from Corland."

He was right. I took a soft t-shirt and a pair of running pants, and I could smell home. Not my home, not my pack, but close. It made my chest feel a little tight as I slipped into them, and I suddenly wished we could have just gone all the way back.

I was desperate to see my sister, to pull my brother into my arms and assure myself he was fine. I wanted to kiss my niece and have a beer with my brother-in-law while he told his terrible Blind Dad Jokes.

I just…wanted a moment of peace.

Then Mikael's arms came around me, and I remembered why we needed this. My belly heated up, hotter than it ever had before, and my body shivered at the sensation. "I think I'm exhausted," I told him.

He stared down at me with a small frown, but after a beat, he nodded. "Why don't you go find us a bed, and I'll see what I can feed us quickly."

It sounded like heaven. I watched him walk off, then I made my way down the hall and found the first bedroom with a cozy bed, the blankets and sheets freshly washed. It was almost too soft as I sank down onto the mattress, and the fatigue only got worse as I laid my head down on the pillow.

"I want to let you sleep, but I know you need something in your stomach." Mikael's voice jolted me out of what I realized had been a doze, and I rolled onto my side to see him holding a plate with two sandwiches. "At least a few bites."

I wasn't hungry. I was…something else. I had no idea, but it felt like an itch just under my skin. I knew he was right, though. We'd run too far and had been through too much for me to ignore myself.

Pushing up to sit, I grimaced at the aches settling into my joints. "Is it always like this?" I asked as he settled the plate between us.

Mikael frowned. "What? What are you feeling?"

"Sore," I admitted. I stretched my arms above my head, and it made my skin break out into gooseflesh. It was…new.

"You're not used to that kind of running," Mikael said, but he was looking at me strangely as he lifted his own sandwich and took a bite.

I mirrored him, and his look of approval settled something in my gut, making me take another. And then another. He watched me as I finished the whole thing, and it should have been strange, but it wasn't. It was…nice.

"Will you hold me a while?" I asked as he set the plate on the floor.

At that, he let out a happy rumble in his chest and shoved the blankets back. I was too hot to need them, and his warmth was just enough to sink under my skin and provide more comfort than I had ever felt in my life.

It was familiar—being with him like this.

Different from France.

Older.

"Sleep," he told me softly. His fingers brushed through my hair, and my eyes drifted closed, heavy and aching.

I woke to a tongue on my neck, licking over my pulse. It was rough, close to wolf, and the ache had returned. My skin was burning, my eyes hot like I had a fever, but that was impossible. I hadn't burned up like this since…

Fuck.

"Mikael," I tried to say, but it came out like a whine. I knew right then that if he hadn't been with me, I'd have been lost to the heat delirium, but his hands on my bare skin were keeping me centered.

Still, the want was building, the slick at my entrance.

"Mikael," I said again.

His teeth gnawed at the top of my shoulder as his hands pushed my pants down farther. "I know, sweetheart. I know."

I could smell him—thick with need. His knot wasn't far, and he was close to a rut. I wanted it—by the gods, I wanted him to be mindless, filling me, fucking me, splitting me on his cock.

"Danyal, fuck fuck," he gasped.

I hadn't realized I was speaking aloud until my tongue caught on the edge of a fang. My desire—my need—sparked hotter, and I pressed my ass against his rock-hard dick tenting his sweats.

"Are you sure you want this?" he asked.

I turned my head over my shoulder and grasped for my sanity. It was slipping, but I could come back still. With his hands, with his mouth on me, I wasn't lost. "I want you."

His eyes glowed brighter—the yellow almost illuminating the shadows beneath his lashes. "I want to bite you. Let me…please, let me…"

"Yes." I had wanted it since France. I had wanted it before that. From his first knot, I had needed him, and there was so long to go, but there was no point in denying what he was to me.

Everything .

He moved quicker than I was able to follow, the heat making me sluggish. I succumbed to it, this feeling I thought long-dead. It rushed through my limbs, rippling on every breath as I crawled onto all fours and pushed my ass out.

I wasn't sure I was forming words, but it didn't matter. All that mattered were his hands on me, were the claws raking down my sides, his teeth along my shoulder in the promise of a bite that would link us together forever.

And it should have terrified me, but I wanted it with my entire soul.

Spreading my legs wider, I let out a begging whine, and he matched it with his own as his now-blunt fingertips grazed my hole. He pushed them in, my slick making a wet sound, and the pressure was good—but it wasn't enough. None of it was enough.

"Mikael," I tried to say. His name was a mess through thick tongue and dropped fang, but he seemed to understand me because his hand disappeared, and the head of his cock pressed against me.

I opened up on it, ready—willing, needy. He held me there though, just for a second, and I wondered if he was watching where his body was entering mine. I shuddered and pushed back, and that was all it took to spur him into action. He slammed forward, sending the bed crashing into the wall. The last coherent though I had was wondering if we'd bring the house down around us.

And then I was lost to him. I could hear his growling, feel it through my limbs, but the heat overwhelmed everything. Pleasure sparked through every atom of my body as I took him. My cock leaked a steady stream beneath me, and the drag of it along the bedspread was so good it was almost painful.

I wanted to beg for more, for harder, for all of him, but I couldn't form words. I was lost to sensation, the feeling of my orgasm building and crashing and building and crashing.

And just when I thought I couldn't take anymore, I felt the pressure of his knot. It pushed at my rim, and the world spun.

"Danyal," Mikael breathed, and I realized at some point he had lifted me up so my back was pressed to his chest. My thighs shook as I balanced over the swollen base of his dick. My hole began to stretch as gravity drew me down over it, and I felt his fangs touch me. "Be certain."

I closed my eyes, and I could see the tendrils of the bond flickering to life again. They were stronger now though—stronger than the first heat, stronger than when we were in the cave. And with a single bite, the bond would last the rest of our lives.

"Need you," I told him. "Want you."

It was enough. Through the growing bond, I felt it—I felt him. I felt his own want and need mirroring mine. I felt his contentment, his satisfaction, his relief that I was there.

His knot slipped all the way inside, stretching me damn-near to the point of breaking. Then I tilted my neck, felt a swipe of his tongue, and then he sank his fangs in.

There were no words to describe what I felt. The bond flashed white-hot and all-consuming as it wrapped around us. His soul twisted around and through my own, and we became two halves of one being. Blood dribbled down my back in the same, pulsing heartbeat as I was coming—as he was coming. He filled me up and then kept going, and his knot throbbed along my rim until I thought I'd go mad from it.

I came to with Mikael's hands gently petting me, his fangs gone, his tongue lapping at the blood spilled. That turned into kisses laid across my shoulders, my neck, my jaw. I was entirely helpless—boneless in his grasp as he eased us down to the side. His knot tugged, and I gave a small gasp, another pulse of come dribbling from my limp cock, and I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to move on my own again.

My eyes were closed, and I watched the faint orange glow behind my lids as I basked in Mikael's hold.

"I can feel you again," he whispered.

And I could feel him. He was a second heart, right alongside mine, quietly beating against the inside of my ribs. And he would always be there. This time, there was no letting go. He was mine. My Alpha.

"This is enough," I whispered quietly into the space between us.

I felt him nod against my shoulder, felt him kiss me there, then the whispered words against my skin. "I know I didn't show it before, but you were always enough."