Page 11 of Beary Mated Christmas

“Fuck the scent. Denali, I’m yours. I’ve always been yours. I can’t imagine ever wanting or needing someone as much as I want or need you. And we’re going to let this go? Why? Because of scent? I smell like your mate, right?”

He nodded but still hadn’t opened his eyes. “Yes.”

“So are you still going to leave me? Are you going to leave me again?” That lump was back in my throat.

“Never.” Denali opened his eyes and reached for me. I was in his arms. His warmth seeped in, mingling with mine. This was it. The happily ever after I’d dreamed of but had once slipped from my fingers.

“You’re mine,” he murmured. “I knew it. All this time we wasted.”

I chuckled, leaning in to kiss his neck. “You’re wasting more time right now, alpha.”

That was the first time I’d called him that. We always knew growing up that he was an alpha and I was an omega, but calling him that, well, it meant things had changed. Thank the goddess.

“There’s more,” Denali said, pulling back. “Before we…I love you, Abel.”

Giggling, I let all the tension ease from me. All the tightness I’d held over the years. All the frustration and pain and longing. I let it all go.

“I love you, Denali. Always have.”

He paled then. “What will…where will we live? What? How does this work?”

“First things first, alpha. I need two things from you.”

“And what would those be?” The atmosphere snapped and popped around us. He wrapped his arms around my waist.

“Your knot,” I said. “And then your mark.”

“I never thought this day would come.”

“Kiss me, alpha.”

He leaned in and touched his lips to mine. His were full and soft, the touch chaste, almost innocent at first. I threaded my fingers into the back of his hair and pulled him in closer. I tilted my head to the side and closed my mouth over his, dipping into his warmth with my tongue. He groaned, and a growl rumbledfrom his chest. His hands roamed my body until they reached my ass and squeezed, pressing our groins together. “At this rate, I’m going to burst in three seconds,” Denali groaned.

“Not on my watch, alpha. Take me to bed. Stay with me. Let’s make new memories.”

He paused, pulling back to look me in the eyes. “I’m so sorry. I’m so damned sorry I ran away when you needed me most.”

Fresh tears rolled down my face. “Don’t do it again, okay? I can’t survive losing you a second time.”

“I won’t, Abel. I swear I’ll never leave you again. Well, maybe temporarily. I mean, life happens, but…”

“Denali?”

“Yes, mate?”

I swooned at his words, and my wolf howled inside me. The moment I’d been waiting for all my life had arrived.

“Stop talking and take me to bed.”

Chapter Nine

Denali

The resort had double-booked us. It was not because of anything but chance. Of course. And anyone who believed that was out of their mind because who but Fate could have arranged for an alpha and omega who had taken such decisive steps to be apart from one another to come together in this way.

It was perfect, even if it had taken us a day or so to figure it out. My mate, my best friend, the one I’d wanted to do life with was here, and he wanted me to take him to bed and make love to him.

“I know you said to stop talking, but I want to say one thing. There has not been a day in ten years when I did not think of you, miss you, and ache at the thought you had probably found your real mate. Not just at Christmas but especially then.”