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As he kneeled over the tub, his hands took great care in washing my body with a small bar of lavender soap. I tried to relax into his touch, relishing the soft strokes on my arms, but as he ventured to my breasts, I squirmed beneath those ministrations, a brighter heat licking between my legs.

He noticed how my hips bucked, abandoning the soap momentarily as his exploring fingers coaxed their way inside me, and I reveled in a different sort of wetness that eclipsed every other thought.

I couldn’t keep my hips from bucking again. In response, Orion used his free hand to hold me down, gently but firmly, and his talented fingers stroked new fire inside me, sending me climbing to a sacred apex. I weakly gasped Orion’s name.

I shuddered in the bathtub, gripping his arm tightly as I sank back to the earth, to the languid strokes of his fingers.

When I caught my breath, he lifted me, wrapped me in a towel, and lifted me again, carrying me down the hallway to the bedroom. Once he deposited me on the mattress, the towel fell away, now unimportant, as he nuzzled against my inner thigh.

I was eager to the point of panting already, and he wasted no time. He kneeled in front of me, and with both hands, he spread my legs wide and dove into me. His tongue, long, wet and warm, expertly teased and tasted. I arched my back, and my legs twitched of their own accord. I floated on a vibrating cloud of exquisite bliss, already building toward another climax.

He lifted his head, face still dripping with my sex, and rose to meet my lips anew. I tasted myself on his lips, and the muscles of my abdomen shuddered. He pressed a hand there, keeping me flat on the bed, placing himself between my legs.

I raised my hips to meet him, his tip plunging into me with a masterful stroke that had me gasping his name again. He held us there, suspended in that moment, and I wanted nothing more than to stay that way forever.

Except when he pulled back, leaving me empty for an excruciating moment, only to fill me once more.Thatwas what I wanted. And so the cycle continued as he thrust into me, then pulled himself out, and I clawed at his chest begging for more. He obliged the pounding with a few grunts, and he hovered lower over me, capturing each new gasp I released with his mouth.

“What do you want, Diana?” he murmured against my lips.

There were no thoughts. No words took shape for me. I could only moan with pleasure.

He paused, delaying my pleasure as he waited for his answer. “Tell me.”

He nipped a little at my neck. There was only one word that I could manage. “You.”

He chuckled, dark and pleased at that. “And you shall have me. Forever.”

One more thrust, and another, and we gasped in unison. When he found his release, I followed suit, joining him in the quivering darkness as tears gathered in my eyes and I moaned the name of my mate.

“Orion.”

EPILOGUE

It was easy to greet the day when everything was perfect. And everythingwasperfect between Orion and me, splendidly so.

I woke up alone in the bed, which didn’t bother me. I knew he was busy with his new alpha duties. Besides, my naked form twisted in the blankets was a sweet reminder of how we ended the previous evening. Before I cleaned myself up for the day, I could still smell his lingering presence on me, especially between my legs. It was enough to make me flush with desire again.

But I had duties too. We weren’t married, not yet, but I would be pack Luna when it happened. Still, I trained with the guard, tended where I could to the needs of each wolf in our pack, and offered advice when Jesse talked Orion’s ear off. I knew my purpose, my place and privilege in the pack.

Today would have been no different, but Cara stopped me as soon as I left the alpha house, a grim look on her face. “Orion is with the healers. You should join him.”

As she led the way, I frowned. Wondering what tragedy had come to haunt our pack.

Mom sometimes worked with the healers, offering her knowledge of herbs and salves in service to the pack. So I wasn’t surprised when she was there, waiting just outside the healer’s hut. Her face mirrored the grim lines of Cara’s. Dread twisted my stomach as she took my hand and pulled me inside.

Normally, there were cots inside, but today they had all been pushed aside to make room for large masses of something on the floor covered in plastic tarps. The stench, the slight decay and stinging ammonia, told me all I needed to know. These were the bodies of the wolves who attacked us.

The healer, Mica, shook his head, arms folded as he considered the sight before him. Orion stood next to him, and I eagerly joined his side, snaking my arm around his waist. He absently stroked my back.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Mica responded. “I’ve studied these as much as I can. I don’t know if this is magic or some human technology, but I’ve never seen anything like this before. They are not natural wolves. You well know that when we die as our wolf, we revert back to human form. These…thingsare not like us.”

Mica shook his head, stroking his graying beard.

Orion held me a little tighter. “They were after something. They were afterme.”

“They are no better than mindless beasts,” Mica said.