“What did you do!?” My voice croaked as I gasped for air and rolled onto my side to see Sawyer holding a bleeding Astra in his arms. I remembered getting pumped full of bullets and then losing consciousness on Pearl. Now Sawyer held Astra, who was bleeding from the stomach in the exact places that I had.
She’d healed me.
No!
Dizziness and panic slammed into me as I tried to remember what had happened when she’d healed Walsh. How had I helped her? I’d claimed her … but now she was already mine.
Mine.
My alpha power surged inside of me and I sat up, reaching out to take her from Sawyer, who looked crestfallen at the seemingly dead teenager in his lap.
There was so much blood…
Sawyer released her and I pulled her to my chest, tears brimming in my eyes. There weren’t many people that I truly cared about like I cared for this girl. Her faith in me, her belief that I would return from the Wild Lands and save the Paladin people, kept me alive in my darkest moments in the woods.
‘Astra … take from me what you need. You’re mine. You have to stay with me. I need you.’ I spoke into her mind, latching on to her soul with my alpha power. I felt my power, like small tendrils, hooking into Astra’s energy and pulling her back from wherever she was drifting off to.
‘Careful, Alpha. You could kill the both of you.’ Rab’s warning washed ice-cold fear down my veins and I froze.
Willow knelt beside me, fanning sage smoke at the both of us. “You can’t take too much of the injury from her. She’ll need to be the one to heal that wound. Just take enough to keep her alive. Otherwise, you’ll take it all back into yourself and you’ll both perish.” Willow’s voice shook. I nodded, and the realization that I was about to do some very serious and advanced magic with zero training came over me.
“Demi…” Sawyer’s voice pulled my attention and I snapped my head up to look at him.
‘Don’t you dare tell me not to save this sweet girl,’ I growled through our bond, and he balked, looking guilty, before nodding and lowering his head in submission.
Taking in a deep breath, I let my intuition guide me. My power was so enmeshed with Astra’s soul, it was hard to tell where she began and I ended. My stomach cramped as I pushed energy into her and she sucked it from me like a vacuum. I could feel the magic leaving me in gushes and I gasped as more pain sliced into my stomach.
“That’s enough!” Sawyer yelled, stepping forward, but Rab was quick and positioned himself between Sawyer and I.
“She’s got this,” Rab stated, staring down my husband.
I couldn’t focus my attention on the dominant male pissing match, I had to concentrate on this energy and power that I felt. I needed Astra to regain consciousness before I pulled my magic back.
‘Astra … come back,’ I whimpered, the pain in my stomach growing unbearable.
Just when I thought that I would die from this agony, it eased, and Astra’s eyes snapped open.
“Alpha.” She looked at me weakly and I felt the power she’d sucked from me so freely shut off like a faucet.
The pain stopped and I reached for her shirt, pulling it up to see there were puckered holes there. They looked red and angry, some still bleeding, but closing slowly.
Relief rushed through me. I wanted to shake her for doing such a stupid thing as risking herself for me, but thought better of it.
“Don’t do that again. Don’t die for me. Ever,” I told her angrily. I fucking loved this girl. Somehow along the way she’d become like a little sister to me.
She gave me a small smile, a smile that said she would do it all over again, and I just shook my head in disbelief.
Walsh showed up just then with the only remaining pack surgeon we had left at his side.
“Get her into medical and make sure she’s not internally bleeding,” I snapped to Dr. Pearson. “I think it’s sealed but … she needs fluids, and let me know if we need to donate blood.”
He nodded, bending down with Walsh to take her.
Willow placed a hand on mine. “I’ll go with her. Make sure she’s okay.”
I squeezed her hand. “Thank you.”
Everyone had gathered in rows and rows of people, fanning outward into the village, to see the big show. Their eyes went from me, covered in blood, to Sawyer, their alpha fresh out of prison, and then to Luka, a traitorous vampire on our lands, before finally resting on Pearl, the motherfucking dragon that no one knew existed until now.
‘Please make them leave. I can’t right now. I need to process,’ I told Sawyer, looking down at my bloody clothes.
I … died. I remembered this bright light, and then I was floating among the stars looking down on the planet from thousands of miles away. I remembered Sawyer’s voice calling me home, and then Astra’s energy, before being sucked back violently.
Now I wanted time with my baby and more time with Sawyer. I needed to regroup and I didn’t want my people to see me weak like this.
“These men…” Sawyer pointed to Luka, Bennett, and Talon. “…are here as my guests. They will not be harmed.” His voice was clear. That was an order and a threat. “Get back to your tents and continue your chores. We’ll have a pack meeting tomorrow to discuss our plan to get Wolf City back.”
There was a chorus of cheers at that and everyone disbanded. When the meadow was clear of most of the people, Sawyer reached down and pulled me into his arms, lifting me up off the ground. “Are you hurt?” His voice was gruff.
I shook my head. “Creek?” I looked around and Sawyer nodded, walking me over to Sage.
Sage handed me my son and I pulled him into my chest, a sob ripping from my throat. I fucking missed him so much. Babies, puppies, and new cars all had this distinct smell, and Creek was no different. I wanted to bottle it and keep it forever; he smelled so fresh and clean.
He leaned into me, trying to nurse through my shirt, causing Sawyer to chuckle. “Looks like I’ve got competition.”
I grinned. “Take us home. I want one night as a family. Tomorrow we can plan a war.”
He nodded, and I told Rab to make our guests comfortable giving them whatever they needed, including Pearl. Then Sage led the way to our small but quaint two-bedroom cottage across from Astra’s meeting hall-church. The second Sawyer stepped inside, I could see that he was impressed. His approving gaze ran over the handcrafted furniture and then into the kitchen.
“You can set me down.” I held on to Creek, who was now asleep.
Sawyer shook his head. “Where’s the bedroom?”
Sage pointed down a hall and he nodded, walking in quick strides through the living room and kitchen and down the hallway into my room.
“Astra gave me this place, got it all ready for me,” I told him. Everything that was adorable and handmade in this home was because of Astra. I wanted him to know that.
He nodded, looking around with a reverence. “It’s nice. She’s a very special girl and I’m grateful to her.”
She’d better be okay. I could never live with myself if she wasn’t. I felt so empty and depressed knowing she was sick right now, healing from injuries I had sustained. I didn’t feel like myself, I felt empty, sad, and … off. I was about to say as much when the truth of what I’d just said knocked into me like a truck. In all the drama of almost dying, I’d totally forgotten.
My wolf.
‘I’m so sorry!’ I sobbed as I reached out to her through our bond, horrified that I’d forgotten her for a moment in all the near-death drama. But she didn’t answer. She was cuffed, gagged, cut off from me as I was from Sawyer when I’d been in a similar situation.
Sawyer looked down at me, seemingly confused at my sudden sobfest.
“Sawyer, my wolf,” I croaked, the full weight and emptiness of knowing half of my soul was in prison while I was free settling into me.
He nodded solemnly, setting Creek and I on the bed as he crawled in beside us. “I know. I’m so sorry, my love.”
“But…” My eyes brimmed over with tears and Sawyer reached up and cupped my chin, forcing me to look at him.
I was met with the fiery yellow gaze of his wolf.
“Demi Calloway-Hudson, I will not let anything bad happen to any part of you. I promise.” His voice was barely human, thick with his wolf, and I nodded, trusting in him.
I needed to lean on him right now, because where I was, it was too dark, and he was my beacon of light.
Lying together with our son between us, I couldn’t help but think that my wolf had again sacrificed something so that I could be free.
‘I’m sorry,’ I told her. ‘I’m so sorry.’
I rested my forehead on Sawyer’s, and we both lay there a long time before I finally got up and showered off all the dried blood. Then we fell asleep, for the first time as a family.
Creek cried for a bottle in the middle of the night and I groggily got up to make one. Shuffling with my baby out into the kitchen, I found that Sage already had one in her hands. “Heard him crying. I’ll take him until morning.” She tipped her head at the room Sawyer slept in and gestured for me to go back and lay with him.
I was so exhausted after nearly dying, I wasn’t going to argue. I nodded gratefully, and shuffled back down the hallway. Slipping in bed beside Sawyer, I tried not to wake him, but he stirred anyway.
“Is it the baby? Need help?” he asked, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. “I’m up. I’ll change a diaper or whatever you need.”
Bleary-eyed, he looked at me through tousled hair and long lashes. Shirtless, covered in tattoos, Sawyer had never looked sexier. This new felon Sawyer was hot as all hell, and my body suddenly thrummed to life with need.
“Sage has him.” I inched closer to him, my pelvis lining up with his hardness, and he froze.
It had been a year since either of us had touched each other, and our bodies seemed to realize it at this very moment. It was like someone flipped a switch and we both turned into horny rabbits.
Reaching out, he grabbed my hips and pulled them harder into him as I clung to his neck, bringing his face closer to mine.
Our mouths met in a hungry, messy, sexy-as-all-hell kiss. It burned with fire and passion the likes of which I’d never seen from him before. We were hungry for each other in a way that felt almost dangerous, in a way that almost hurt. I raked my nails along his neck, down to his abs, not caring if I pushed a little too hard. I wanted to claim him, I wanted to devour him.
He was mine.
A growl ripped from his throat and then suddenly he was on top of me, pinning me underneath him. I pawed at my underwear, trying to struggle out of them, when he reached down and yanked them hard, tearing them off.
Yes. Holy motherfucking yes.
I moaned, so ready for this as I pulled off my t-shirt in one swift move. I’d dreamed about this for so long at the cabin in the woods. Being with Sawyer again, making love.
Reaching into his boxers, gripping his hardness, I tried lining him up with my center.
“Not yet,” he commanded in his deep, authoritative alpha voice.
“Yes yet,” I huffed, trying again to line our bodies up.
He grinned, and I was about to beg him when he dragged his tongue down my neck and circled my nipple. My skin prickled, my core tightening as I arched my hips, searching for him.
“Sawyer. Please,” I begged.
His wet warm tongue trailed from my breasts down to my bellybutton and the realization of what he was about to do had me absolutely aching for release.
“God, I missed you,” Sawyer huffed, his beard trailing down my pelvis until I felt his tongue lapping between my legs.
A strangled cry left my lips, and I reached down to thread my fingers into his hair. His hands came under my butt, and then a deep pleasure started to build between my legs as I became unglued. This wasn’t some long, drawn out pleasure session, this was hard and fast and fucking amazing. Waves of ecstasy rocked my body as I clenched my thighs, arching my back and rocking into Sawyer’s mouth.
One second his head was between my legs and the next he hovered over me, finally lining himself up with my center as we pressed our bodies together as one. The second he filled me up, his moans of satisfaction occupied the room and I raked my nails down his back.
This Sawyer was new. He was so strong and sure of himself. And it was completely and utterly the sexiest thing alive. I looked up into his chiseled chest and stared at the word Demi tattooed over his heart.
Reaching down, he threaded his fingers into the back of my hair and his eyes flashed yellow. Deep, throbbing pleasure and heat opened inside of me at the same time as our imprint seemed to come alive. It was like it was a living thing, trying to show the other person how much we cared for one another. I was everything to Sawyer, I felt that. He adored me, he possessively wanted to provide for and protect me and Creek, and he would let the whole world burn before allowing one more bad thing to happen to me.
Our bodies moved in a perfect rhythm, a feverish passion that tried to make up for a year of being apart. When I couldn’t hold on to it anymore, I allowed myself to unravel, turning my head to the side to bite into the pillow as his body started to shake above me.
Now that I had Sawyer back, I knew there was nothing we couldn’t do so long as we were together.
