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“Are you okay?” Concern etched his face, deep grooves in his forehead.

I couldn’t stop smiling. I mean, I should be freaking out right now. The wolf I befriended as a teen and the gorgeous guy I met at a bar were one and the same. Was that so farfetched to believe?Kinda.Though it certainly explained why hanging out with Noah seemed so easy and natural as though we’d done it many times before. Because we had.

Besides, Noah secretly being a wolf was pretty damn cool.

I smiled up at Noah trying to reassure him. He looked a heck of a lot more freaked out than me. “That was, hands down, the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”

His shoulder slumped with a heavy exhaled. “I’ve been wanting to tell you, but it was never the right time.”

He acted totally at home standing naked in my backyard. Maybe it was a wolf thing? Either way, having all that golden-tanned flesh within arm’s reach sent tiny shivers dancing through my middle, centering between my legs.

It’d been a long time since I saw a man naked. Even longer, if ever, since I truly appreciated the view. My breath quickened. He either needed to dress, or I needed to step back and put some space between us.

I swallowed. “And now’s the right time?”

He closed the distance. His body heat coupled with his wild and earthy scent, surrounded me making my head swim.

“I hope so. ’Cause I’ve waited fifteen years to show you the real me and I don’t wanna screw this up.”

My breath caught somewhere in my chest. “You’ve waited this whole time to show me?”

He drew even closer, until only a sliver of space remained between us. I became increasingly aware of his nakedness. Not in a weird way. In a way that awakened every cell in my body.

He cupped my jaw, smoothing his thumb along my cheek. Again, the touch seemed so familiar.

“I haven’t just waited to show you. I’ve waitedforyou.”

And there went my heart, flipping upside down and inside out.

I was right. This guy could convince me to pack up my life in Seattle and stay here in the middle of nowhere. Fifteen years ago, I wanted to run away with Thor and live in the forest forever. Less than an hour ago, I told him we’d wander the earth together, never alone.

The last piece of the puzzle fell into place. Thor hadn’t found his wolf mate. Man and wolf had waited for me.

I flattened my palm over Noah’s thumping heart. It beat loud and strong, like him and his beast were one.

“I’m…your mate.” I whispered the words, still unsure I comprehended their meaning.

Did I imagine our connection? Was the story he told true? Did wolves wait forever for their mate?

My breath hitched. Did the lone wolf on his wrist represent him?

“Yes.” He held my face in his strong hands, searching my eyes.

The world vanished.

“That summer when you first came here, I sensed you in the forest and tracked your scent all the way to Joan’s house. I found you staring out that window. I knew the second I saw you. But I had to make sure it was safe.” His lips rolled inward. “Tell me you feel the bond between us.”

Did I? I sensed a connection with Thor, the tug that drew me to the window when I first arrived. That same connection lured me to the yard every afternoon, desperate to see the wolf. I thought back to when I arrived at the bar, where a similar, if not the same, pull drew me to Noah. A spark had zapped through my middle the moment our gazes collided. Not a love at first sight spark, but something stronger, deeper. Ancient.

I joked that we’d known each other in a past life, but this explained it. A higher power connected the two of us as though we were destined for each other.

“I do.”

I guess that was the right answer. The second the words were out Noah took my mouth with his. Hot, hungry, and raw. A kiss that wasn’t just the meeting of two mouths, but two souls finding each other after a lifetime apart. Yearning, need, and desire swirled together in one tumbling mess. Noah angled my head to deepen the kiss, drawing a soft moan from my lips.

I embraced our connection, every sensation overtaking my body until it left me aching for more. Knowing what he was, that he stepped into my life so long ago, felt like I’d finally come home. No, not come home, foundhome.

Noah was my home.