Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
The concern cleared for a moment as he chuckled down at me. “It doesn’t smell like fire,” he assured me, slowing down a moment before he lowered his head. He kissed me soft and sweet, his tongue licking at the seam of my lips, before slanting his mouth and kissing me a little deeper.
I groaned.
He groaned.
He never messed around when he kissed me, that was for sure.
Those comforting arms slid around me one more time and pulled me up against his chest. His cheek rubbed the side of my neck, the breath from his nostrils the best kind of tickle. “We’re going to finish that conversation in a little bit.”
I smiled and kissed his shoulder, then his throat. He smelled even better now than he had years ago. “You’re dang right we will.”
The look he gave me said he wasn’t going to forget. I wouldn’t let him anyway.
We were almost to the house when Henri sniffed again. “I smell Pascal, but it’s not recent.”
“He was over earlier. He brought me some sunflowers and told me I looked pretty.” I smiled. “I think you’re going to need to go growl at him.”
Henri snickered. “That little fucker.”
I batted my eyelashes.
“He hasn’t forgotten he owes you his life… how many times now? Ten?”
It had to be more than that, but who was keeping track? Maybe everyone other than him. Pascal was a handful—the biggest handful of them all. But he was just as likable as he’d always been, and it made up for all the gray hairs he was responsible for on so many people—mostly his parents and me. Henri would be in fourth place.
He was lucky he was cute.
But not as lucky as I was, I thought again, just looking at Henri.
We had tied our lives together on the first full moon right after my three-month period, under a bright starry sky, right beside the sacred, magical waterfall washed with pink and purple. I’d held Duncan in my arms for the majority of the ceremony that had taken place in front of the elders, my parents, the hellhounds, Matti, Sienna, Agnes, Randall, Ani, and her mate. My parents, the hellhounds, and Sienna had been required to swear an oath never to speak of the waterfall again; something they had all been more than willing to do, fortunately.
That night had been the most beautiful night of my life and the official beginning to something I hadn’t even known I’d needed—a bigger family. But that was exactly what had happened. Afterward, Henri, Duncan, and I had approached Agnes and asked if she wanted to live with us. Her initial answer had been a no, but a week later, she’d changed her mind.
Little did she know, we had already set up a room for her.
And that had just been the start of our new family.
Our oldest member was Franklin, followed by our surprise additions as of a year and a half ago—the hellhound brothers, who had come to visit three times before leaving their lives in Alaska behind to move here, closer to their “baby brother.” It had taken several discussions among the elders and a lot of pointing out gray areas in the community’s guidelines before the brothers had gotten the green light to move, but it had worked out.
All of them spent a ton of time at our house, one of the closest to the clubhouse, which made sense to me considering how much everyone relied on Henri even with him working less hours as a deputy and around the ranch. I helped out as much as I could, tagging along every time I wasn’t working or with the kids.
There wasn’t a single thing I would have traded the last three years for.
To top it all off, I was going to be an aunt soon! Sienna was pregnant, and Matti was losing his mind. We still saw each other as often as we had before, it just took more work for them to come, or for me to leave for a couple of days to visit them in Chicago.
My precious donut had graduated into being a full-on bear claw, he was so dang big. And that reminded me… “Still smell the different thing?” On the ranch, that could mean anything.
Henri didn’t look concerned, just baffled. “Yeah, let’s see what it is.”
I tucked my hand into the back of his pants and let him finish leading us into our house.
Henri came to a sudden stop just as I’d closed the door behind us. “What is that smell?” he asked.
Standing in the living room was Franklin. In his arms was a sleeping seven-month-old, drooling away. Our Nicolas, named after my dad’s middle name. In a playpen in the corner was a sprawled-out two-year-old clutching a stuffed wolf. Shima, or as most of us called her, Shim-Shim. She was named after the woman who had raised Henri—his older brother’s wife, who was also Matti’s grandma. They were our two youngest. A perfect blend of both of us with their dark hair and tan skin. They were happy, sweet babies, and we were all crazy about them. Not just Henri and me, but everyone on the ranch.