Chapter 30

Gavin

As day broke over Hexen Manor, the combined strength of the Eastpeak and Grandbay Packs slayed four of the Dalesbloom wolves. With the Eastpeak snowy mountain wolves, we even brought down one of the Inkscales. Our packs chased the Dalesbloom wolves, including David and Colt, into the woods. The Inkscale clan, too, shadowed them above the treetops until they disappeared into the dawn. We had injured wolves, and Muriel was in need of healing. Both Billie and I were keen to chase down our enemies. But our desire for vengeance against David and Lothair was trumped by our need to get the injured back to the healing waters of the Gunnison.

Over the upcoming days, I grieved with Billie for all the needless deaths that had occurred, both recently and in the past. Despite knowing Catrina's vindictive spirit, we mourned her passing. After all, so much of her cruel behavior had come from the influence of the brutal man who'd raised her.

Thankfully, our pack hadn't suffered any fatalities from the fight. There were wolves that needed treatment from Helen, but they would all recover. The healer had recently been training up another pack member, Riley, to help her in her healing duties, and they were both kept busy. Muriel's wound was the most severe and required three treatments daily. Sacred water treatments from the Gunnison and the use of Vana's invocations were gradually working their magic, though. The poison that had entered Muriel's bloodstream from the murder weapon would take time to seep away, something that seemed true for all of us as we slowly recovered from the fight with Dalesbloom and the Inkscales.

The revelation of David's heinous crime rested heavily on me but on Billie most of all. One of the things she found hardest about returning to Grandbay was that the Mundys' cabin had been ruined for her. Now, knowing that David had murdered her mother there, Billie couldn't bring herself to set foot in it again.

This was solved by Billie moving in with me. Besides, both my wolf and I wanted her as close as possible, and it was a relief that her need married with my heart's wishes so perfectly. If she hadn't been beside me, I'd probably not have slept a wink over the following nights. My wolf was on high alert and acting like her personal guard dog, not at ease unless she was beside me.

The first day back, I held Billie to me, comforting her as she mourned for her mom and dad and all the hope that she'd lost now that she knew for sure they were both dead. Being familiar with the particular pain of being an orphan, I ached for the loss she was suffering.

Billie spent time with Aislin, too, who was gradually healing from the deep injury Catrina had inflicted on her leg and shoulder. When she wasn't with her, though, she preferred to spend her time with me, mostly out in the woods or on the banks of the Gunnison.

My chest clenched with gladness that mine was the company she wanted, and we once more found ourselves on the second evening back in Grandbay on the bank of Ridge Bay, beneath what I now called Billie's cottonwood. The thought filled me with deep contentment. I wanted to gift everything within my lands to her. The obsessive thought I'd had building over the last couple of days crept in again. The fantasy of Billie and I ruling over Grandbay as Alphas, side by side.

Beneath the huge tree, I pulled out the picnic blanket from the hamper that was still here from our first date. I went to pass her clothes, but she shook her head. "I want to feel the evening air on my skin," she said.

My lips lifted as her words buoyed me up. She had gotten used to shifting and was comfortable in her own skin, both her human one and wolf's. My pulse spiked at her words, and I was actually jealous of the damned wind caressing Billie's flawless skin. My wolf rumbled possessively as if he wanted to take on the warm southern wind blowing along the bank. My gaze dipped to her beautiful breasts that I'd long thought looked like perfect handfuls, but that, somehow, I still hadn't touched.

Yeah, I'm going to find the whole naked thing far tougher than her.

Since the battle at Hexen Manor, I'd held back from getting too close to her physically. Hell, I'd wanted to more than anything. After all, the urge to mark her since that awful night when Colt had almost marked her had me wanting to make her mine with an all-consuming need. But mindful of the trauma she'd suffered during that moment and with everything else that had happened that night, I'd kept silent about my desire and need to make her mine.

"I keep trying to imagine her, you know," she said. "But I don't even know what color her hair or eyes were."

Once again, I reminded myself that this was why I'd been giving Billie space. I knew Billie was talking about her mother, Shannon. Most of the discussions we'd had over the last couple of days had been about Billie's parents and David's cold-blooded crime.

My brows drew together as, once again, I tried to remember the days when my mom would take me to the Rathbones' house. I closed my eyes, envisaging the memory I'd had of Billie as a kid. The sandy-haired toddler, with chubby legs, stuck a ring from a stack of multi-colored hoops into her mouth and started gnawing on it. I saw the woman cooing over her had long, curly brown hair, but as I tried to focus on Billie's mom, she dimmed, and the memory flitted away.

"Shannon had long, curly brown hair," I told her gently. I caught her vivid green eyes. They shone with emotion before flitting back out to look at the ridge of the canyon opposite. The sun was sinking, and the black soaring rock of the ridge was bathed in the last of its rays.

Once again, uncertainty moved through me. I didn't know whether I should have shared that snippet with her or not. I thought of how, indirectly, I'd failed Billie. I may have only been six years old when David murdered her mother in Grandbay, but it had happened right next to my parents' house, Billie's Alphas' house.

The sense of culpability weighed on me. "I'm sorry we failed you, Billie. I'm sorry my father and mother, your Alphas, failed you. And I'm so sorry that I failed to uncover David's crime." My heart ached at the neglect Billie had suffered in Dalesbloom. And the thing I found myself most thankful for over the last couple of days was for Vana interceding. If she hadn't shown me Billie in the Moondream, David's crimes might all have gone unknown, and I wouldn't have had the chance to have the amazing woman beside me in my life.

Surprise flickered in her eyes as they found me again. "None of you could have known," she said sincerely, showing me the same sweet compassion she always did. "He covered his tracks well," she added, bitterness clouding her eyes for the man who had taken everything from her.

Protectiveness soared through me. That longing to make up for everything that she'd done without forced me to voice my feelings. "I promise you that you'll have the home you've always deserved here in Grandbay."

Before I'd even realized it, I'd leaned toward her and cupped her beautiful jaw. My hand caressed her cheek tenderly, loving the feel of her silken skin as I looked down at her with heartfelt devotion.

"I wondered when you were going to touch me again," she whispered. The gleam in her bright eyes flooded me with heat. So, it wasn't only the evening air she wanted to feel on her skin. Anticipation shot through me, and my cock grew semi-hard at her words alone and the flush on her milky cheeks.

Her gaze dipped to my mouth, and I felt a surge of need, unlike anything I'd experienced. The weight of our shared grief seemed to disperse as our profound connection outshone it. Billie's eyes swept back up to mine, and I detected a vulnerability beneath the desire. I felt Vana's spirit bringing us together in this moment beneath the watchful branches of Billie's cottonwood and the melody of the Gunnison's sacred tones.

My voice sank into a low rumble as I knew this was the right moment to ask her to be my everything. "Will you make me the happiest wolf in the world and let me mark you?"

Her green eyes swam with love, and she didn't hesitate for a second, "Yes." Her smile grew. "A thousand times, yes."

My heart swelled, and my wolf's canines filled my mouth. My lips ghosted over hers, tender and questing. As she opened up for me, I was careful not to graze her with my fangs. My kisses wound down the elegant column of her neck. Her floral scent filled my senses as anticipation swelled through me. She moaned as I kissed and sucked my way down her neck, placing little nips as I teased her. Every so often, my teeth grazed the surface of her silken skin. With each one, I felt her pulse racing with the same thrill drumming through me, and she arched into my touch, yearning for my claiming mark as much as I desired to bestow it.

As my kisses deepened, Billie moaned, "Gavin, please."

The desire pulsing through her voice had my canines descending into her neck, and I luxuriated in the feel of them buried in her smooth skin as she gasped. My tongue lapped at her blood as it trickled from my bite, the iron taste of my mate's essence sating my beast's hunger. Billie moaned harder as I sucked at my claiming bite. Worried that my marking had hurt more than she'd expected, I drew back. My wolf's canines receded as I cupped her jaw.

But she quickly complained, "Don't stop, Gavin. Never stop." Her pleasure-hazed eyes were the sexiest thing I'd ever seen. And the way she said my name had a wicked smile wending over my face as I wanted to hear her crying it out.

Both I and my wolf rumbled with possessiveness as we sought to follow her order. Instead of keeping my kisses to her lips, though, I cradled the back of her head and used the wall of my body to push her back onto the rug. Then, I trailed a path of kisses and nips down her neck.

Before my mouth traveled farther south, I sucked on her earlobe and was rewarded by a gasp. "You're so delicious," I growled against the shell of her ear. "Better than pancakes."

She giggled, the sound making my heart feel too big for my chest. My lips and tongue grazed their way over her neck, a primal thrill racing through me at the sight of my teeth marks in her skin. I hardened completely as I took in the beautiful body, soul, and wolf that was all mine.

Mine.

My beast rumbled with pleasure at the sense of completion at marking our mate. But the man in me needed moreas I licked my way down Billie's body, elated that I was about to claim her in every way. As anticipated, each of her breasts was a perfect handful. I cupped and caressed them, my mouth needing to taste them, too. Her nipple pebbled in my mouth, and she arched up against my body, her hips rocking instinctively against me. I watched as her other nipple tightened beneath my gaze.

Her breath had shallowed, and she begged, "Please."

"What do you want, love?" I murmured, intent on teasing out exactly what she wanted. I let my hot breath linger against her skin as I kissed my way down the flat plane of her stomach, wanting to tease her until she was begging me.

"I want… you," she whispered, her voice achingly sincere.

Once again, I felt undone by her words alone, and need set my blood on fire. I stroked between her legs, finding her slit, and groaned at the wetness welcoming me. Dipping one finger in, I stroked her until she was slick.

Her head fell back, and she gave herself over to the pleasure. The cries falling from her parted lips made my cock tighten, and with my other hand, I gave it a stroke. I continued to pump two fingers inside her until her hips came off the rug, trying to ride my fingers, and meanwhile, I pumped myself. Need coursed through me. I couldn't wait any longer.

As I pulled my fingers from her folds, she whimpered, and I was sure she was about to complain that I'd stopped until her half-dazed eyes found my cock. They widened with desire, and I spread her thighs, then seated myself at her entrance. With a thrust, I drove inside. She opened for me, and I reveled in the feel of her inner walls stretching around me, taking me in deeper with each thrust.

The evening breeze caressed my bare ass and back as I pumped into Billie, delighting in every sensual cry I had wrung from her. I realized that my enmity toward the southern wind had vanished. Instead, the cooling breeze felt welcoming along my hot skin. As I circled my hips, filling my mate, wholeness rocked through me. Being inside her felt so right. I felt more satisfied and whole than I ever had in my life.

Well,almost satisfied.

My mouth captured Billie's lips, my tongue invading her mouth as I pounded faster, chasing my release and needing to fill my mate in every way. As Billie's sex fluttered around my cock, she came with a delicious wail. And, as she pulsed around me, a roar rumbled from my mouth as I found my own release.