Chapter Eighteen: Mason

"The beach?" Mason asked as they left the streets behind and headed along the boardwalk, past the stores that were closed for the night, their window displays still filled with seashells that whispered secrets of the ocean, magical ocean-themed trinkets, and brightly-colored kites that didn't need a breeze to fly.

Tamsin paused, letting the salty breeze tug at her hair as she turned to look at Mason. "I was starting to feel a little homesick."

"I would have thought you would have had enough of the beach to last a lifetime." He finished the last of his pie and brushed the crumbs from his fingers. "But I guess there is comfort in the familiarity of it."

"The ocean lulled me to sleep, night after night. The soothing sound of the waves lapping against the shore was a lullaby I never grew tired of," Tamsin replied softly, her voice almost lost in the gentle wind as she looked out at the vast expanse of darkened water.

It must have been so very lonely,his wolf said mournfully.

Something we could never appreciate,Mason said. Since we always have each other.

True,his wolf said. I'll never take talking to you for granted again.

Or wish that I would keep my thoughts to myself sometimes?Mason asked lightly.

I never said that,his wolf replied.

No, but you have thought it,Mason said with a chuckle. There's no use denying it.

Then I won't,his wolf replied.

"Do you want to sleep on the beach?" Mason asked, wishing he still had his bug out pack with him.

"I thought we could set up camp in the caves farther along the headland," Tamsin said as she took off her shoes and headed toward the steps that led down onto the beach. "I'm sure they're still here after all this time."

Mason clutched the paper bag containing coffee and the couple of remaining dishes they had bought from the street food vendor in his hand. The pie had been wonderful, but not enough to satisfy his hunger.

However, another hunger threatened to consume him. That for his mate.

She'd admitted that he was the only one she wanted to spend time with. Maybe at last he had broken down her defenses. Or at least made a chink in them.

As she reached the sand, Tamsin twirled around and around, her head thrown back and her arms out wide as she looked up at the stars. "I dreamed of a roof and four walls. But the sky was my always ceiling, and the stars my night light," she confessed, her voice carrying a hint of wistful longing. "Maybe I wouldn't trade those for four walls, after all."

Mason watched her, mesmerized by the graceful movements of her bare feet dancing over the sand. For a moment, she seemed like a spirit of the night—untouchable and free.

He approached her slowly, the scent of sea salt mixing with the aroma of their dinner. The caves were still a bit of a walk away, but he didn't mind. Any distance spent beside Tamsin was worth it.

"You know," he began, his voice a gentle rumble against the backdrop of the waves crashing softly against the shore, "I've always wondered if the stars knew what was happening. Everyone always says things like ‘written in the stars' and even our prophecy is measured by the planets, but do you think that they actually care about petty feuds between witches and wolves?"

Tamsin stopped twirling and looked at him with a soft smile. Moonlight illuminated her face, casting her features in a gentle glow. "I don't think they pay much mind to things like that." Her voice was quiet as she turned her eyes skyward. "I always thought they would understand how unimportant things like that really are, that perhaps they watched over us, waiting for us to see the bigger picture. That thought helped me feel less alone when the stars were the only company I had."

"But they are not your only company now," Mason reminded her.

A small smile spread across her face. "No, they are not." She stepped toward him. "Will you always be by my side?"

Mason's eyes widened at her question. "Isn't the answer obvious?"

Her brows furrowed together. "I hope so. But I'd like to hear it from your lips."

Lips. Oh, how he wanted to kiss her lips. To kiss them and hold her in his arms under the ever-watchful stars. "I will always be yours, Tamsin. Just as I always have been since the day I first saw you."

She stood on tiptoes and kissed his lips, and he wound his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. His skin tingled beneath his clothes, and heat spread through his body. He longed to claim her. To prove to her that he was faithful, and loyal, and nothing in this world or the next, not even his pack or her coven, could change that.

As their kiss deepened, he groaned and tightened his hold on her, ready to throw their food onto the sand and lay her down and make love to her beneath the stars that Tamsin loved so much.

But a cave would give them some privacy.

So he broke the kiss and took her hand, guiding her along the beach. However, Tamsin tugged at his hand and pulled him back toward her.

"Let me carry the food." She held out her hand for the bag he carried. "I want to meet your wolf."

Mason's wolf let out a howl, filled with longing and joy. The moment he had waited for was finally here.

I take it you want to meet Tamsin?Mason asked as he relinquished his hold on the bag.

Do you need to ask? To finally be with her without having to focus on being hunted, to give her my full attention. His wolf was tearing at the edges of Mason's mind, fighting for his freedom, fighting to be near their mate, to feel her hands on his fur.

Mason took a couple of steps back, but then he let go of the world as his wolf took control. His wolf had never been like this before. But then he had never met his mate before.

In an instant, Mason's human form was gone from the world. And then, in a heartbeat, his wolf took his place.

"Oh my," Tamsin said as she dropped to her knees before him. "You really are incredible."

His wolf grinned and rubbed his head against her shoulder before she let go of the paper bag, wrapped both her arms around his neck and hugged him. His wolf was ecstatic. This is the best day of my life.

Mason chuckled. I think we can agree on that.

Finally, it was as if they were complete.

All they had to do was stay alive until after the conjunction of the moon and Venus tomorrow. Then they could decide on how they wanted to live out their life together.

Easy, his wolf said. We can just light a fire in the cave and wait it out. Who's going to be looking for us there?

We could, Mason said, wishing they had bought a lot more food from the street vendor.

We can curl up together and keep each other warm, his wolf went on.

It's not a bad plan,Mason said. Tamsin's spell should keep the pack and the coven at bay.

At the thought of their adversaries, Mason pushed out his senses. As far as he could tell, there was no one there. No one lurking on the cliffs above, or the boardwalk. But the spell had severely diminished his senses, and he missed them.

"Shall we walk?" Tamsin rose to her feet and grabbed the bag of food. Then, with one hand resting on the wolf's shoulder, they made their way along the beach.

A wolf and his mate.

It was as if they had never been apart. As if they had never been enemies.

And once the conjunction had passed, everything would be all right. They could make a home, a family. Get married.

How he longed to put his mother's ring on her finger.

The wolf looked up at the stars in the sky. Was she up there looking down on her son with a smile on her face and hope in her heart? Hope that he might finally get his happy ending with the mate he loved and so nearly lost.

They kept on walking past the first few caves, which often attracted teens wanting a place to hang out. Or even lovers seeking privacy away from the prying eyes of the townsfolk.

As they passed each cave, Mason forced his senses to penetrate the fogginess brought on by Tamsin's spell and check for any sign of life. There were none.

It was as if they had the beach to themselves.

"This one?" Tamsin's fingers combed through Mason's fur absentmindedly as they stood before a small cave mouth. "I've been here before. It looks small and cramped, but it opens up into a wider cave a little way back."

His wolf followed her inside as she ducked under the entrance. "Light." She broke contact with the wolf as she held out her palm, and a small flame flickered to life before her. With a satisfied smile, she went to the back of the cave and squeezed through a narrow tunnel into a larger cave.

The wolf followed. I never have been fond of being underground. So much rock above that could fall on our heads.

The rock isn't going anywhere, Mason assured him.

To one side was a stack of firewood and a large stone had been rolled in here to act as a seating area around the fire pit which was dug into the sand.

"Okay, let's get this place warmed up," Tamsin said with a shudder.

You should help her, his wolf said, and with one last inhale of her scent, let Mason return to the world.

The air crackled and popped and Tamsin held out her hands as the static electricity caressed her skin. The smile on her face was one of wonder and the first thing Mason saw as his human form returned to her.

"That is incredible," Tamsin said. "I can feel the magic. It's old, ancient, but different from anything I've ever felt before."

"Don't ask me." Mason held up his hands. "I have no idea how it works. All I know is it does."

"Do you have to think about it?" she asked as she picked up an armful of wood and carried it to the firepit.

"Shifting?"

"Yes." Tamsin placed the wood down next to the firepit, then took four smaller pieces and placed them in the pit, which was surrounded by smaller rocks. Then she whispered, "Fire."

Instantly, the wood burned with a cheery glow.

"Impressive," Mason said and held out his hands to the flame.

"You have seen nothing yet." There was a noise, like the rush of wind as she summoned her magic. Then she murmured to herself as she waved her hands around as if painting a picture.

The cave walls seemed to melt away, replaced by what looked like old ship timbers, carved with words that seemed to come alive in the light of the flames. Then, overhead, stars came out one by one, as if the rock above had melted away to reveal the heavens.

"This was my home on the island." She smiled, but her eyes misted with tears. "I wanted to share it with you."

"You carved the prophecy into the timbers." Mason reached out, expecting his fingertips to go right through the timbers as if they were merely an illusion. But the scene Tamsin had conjured seemed to be as real as the cave.

"I did." She whispered another spell and a thick blanket appeared on the ground next to the fire. But when he looked closer, it wasn't a blanket, it was her cloak. The same cloak she had worn on the day she had disappeared. He remembered it vividly, the way it swished around her ankles as she turned and ran from him. "I would lie awake and stare at the words, hoping for a way out. Hoping for a way back."

"But the way back found you." He moved closer to her. It was as if he were getting a rare glimpse of his mate's inner thoughts and feelings. "Thank you for sharing this with me."

At least she did not carve a picture of us with our heart cut out,his wolf said.

Our heart was already cut out from the moment she left,Mason replied.

But now that she was here, he was whole again.

"This place is a part of who I am, of who I became." Tamsin tilted her head back and stared at the stars. "It was under these stars that I honed my craft. That I learned to tap into a part of myself and call forth a magic that was more powerful than anything I had ever experienced before."

"I can feel it in you," he said, holding his hand out to her, palm outward. It was as if he could touch her aura.

"And I feel it in you," she replied. "It's like I have tapped into that ancient magic, the magic that enables you to transform from man to wolf and back again. Or maybe I was trying to reach out and touch someone, anyone, in those lonely days. And that person was you."

"I wish I'd gone wherever you went with you," Mason told her.

"I could have done with the company," Tamsin told him. "But you are here now."

"I am." Mason shook his head as he looked around the cave, at the world she had created. "It's beautiful. And so are you."

"I see you have been working on your romance skills," Tamsin said with a smile that caused his stomach to erupt in butterflies, something he had never experienced before.