Page 27

WINTER

The air hangs heavy with the scent of damp earth and lilies, and if you linger on a little longer, there’s the smell of death, too.

The same rain that began falling steadily since the funeral came to a stop.

I kneel beside the grave, my hands clasping the freshly turned soil tightly. A single tear traces a path down my cheek as I look at the other graves beside Jacob.

Before me lies my mother, my brother, and my father—my entire family. All of them are dead. All of them left me alone in the world to fend for myself.

I sob for the gaping hole inside my chest that Jacob left. I had just…I just got reunited with him, and he jumped to his death.

I know he was saving me. I know he was trying to do what was right, but he looked me in the eyes and decided to leave me.

Deacon kneels beside me, his arm wrapping around my shoulders, “It’s okay to grieve, Winter,” he whispers, his voice rough with emotion, “Let it all out.”

The raw grief that threatens to consume me rips out of me in a flood of tears and bitterness. ” I just found him, Deacon, and now…he’s gone,” I choke, “He’s the only family I had left.”

Deacon holds me close, just like he’s been doing all along. From taking care of Jake’s funeral preparations to taking care of the boys when I locked myself in the room trying to process Crystal’s betrayal and the aftermath of it all, Deacon has handled everything.

I lean into him.

I hold him like he’s my anchor because he is.

“I know, baby,” he murmurs, stroking my hair. “But you’re not alone, Winter. We're here for you, Winter. The boys, me..." Deacon pauses, looking at the boys who are playing a short distance away with the biggest grins on their faces, “They need you. I need you.”

“I know,” I whisper, my voice hoarse as ever, “I know.”

Gently wiping my tears with his thumb, my mate drops a kiss on my forehead and promises, "We'll get through this together. We'll build a life and a future filled with love and happiness, just like Jake would have wanted."

I trust in Deacon’s voice because in his eyes, not only do I see the same grief I have over Jake’s death, but also his love and his unwavering assurance that I'll be okay. We’ll be okay.

“Come on. Let’s go home, Winter.

XXX

FOUR MONTHS LATER

My morning dawns with a golden glow, the sun breaking over the horizon and casting its light across Moon Stone City just outside my bedroom window.

The scent of flowers and pine mingles in the air. That’s an indicator that the women in the pack went out of their way to make this occasion grander than I would like.

I gaze at myself in the polished mirror, my eyes racking over the gown that's embellished with silver-like threads to symbolize who I am and what power I'll hold in the pack from today henceforth.

My lips are painted with a red shiny lipstick, and I can't help but smirk knowing that, come tonight, the lipstick will be off my lips faster than I can get the dress off.

My hair is pushed back into a classy ponytail that has flowers pinning it up.

Nothing can compare to the happiness licking my veins like hot lava.

Nothing can quite put a pin to the stampede that races in my stomach every time my thoughts go back to the man who'll be there, waiting for me at the altar, waiting to tell the entire pack that I'm his Luna, his mate, his wife and his forever.

“You look beautiful and happy. Definitely happier than I've seen you in years,” Julie praises behind me, dabbing at her eyes to wipe her tears.

I'm about to tell her I've never felt happier than I am right now when the thud-thud knocking on the door cuts me off.

Thud.

My heart skips a beat, and the raging organ pounds against my breastbone in excitement.

Thud.

I know who's at the door.

I know because he promised me, he would meet me before I walked down the aisle to be crowned as Luna.

“Goddess, who's knocking so loudly? If it's Luca, I swear to the Goddess, I'll kill him with my bare hands,” Julie grumbles.

When she opens the door, it's not Luca.

It's…

“You are not allowed to see your Luna before the actual ceremony begins, Alpha Deacon. You know the rules.”

My mate is clad in a regal dark suit that is stretched and dominated by his rippling muscles. His chiseled Romanesque jaw is peppered with a neat stubble, one that screams handsome from a mile away.

His usual tousled dark hair is trimmed elegantly to go hand-in-hand with the energy he exudes.

Yet, it isn't the suit or his ethereal looks that take my breath away. It’s the way he looks at me, the raw, unguarded emotion in his gaze, like a silent promise echoing in the depths of his eyes of what's going to happen next.

“I want to speak to my mate.”

My knees nearly buckle from the roughness and the hint behind his voice.

Julie looks back at me. Her eyes do the telling that she wants me to back her up, “I know he listens to you, Winter so why don't you tell him it's bad luck for the Alpha to see his Luna before she is crowned.”

“Five minutes,” my voice comes out wanton, “Give me five minutes with him.”

The tension between me and Deacon is so electric that it’s hot enough to light up a fire between us.

“Winter? I swear to the Goddess if he ruins your makeup after it took two hours to perfect…”

“You'll kill him. I know, Jules. Let me see him for five minutes?”

We'll be in here for more than five minutes.

I know that.

Julie knows that.

And that smirk on Deacon's lips tells me he's aware of it, too.

My best friend steps out of the room, stating clearly, she'll be back in five minutes.

I stand rooted to the ground with bated breath.

My thighs rub each other underneath my dress as I watch Deacon walk inside and lock the door behind him.

And when he turns around? His eyes drink me in like he's stripping me of every bit of clothing I have on. I almost melt into a puddle.

“Fuck, baby. Just when I thought you couldn't get any prettier, you proved me wrong. You are breathtaking, baby, and you are mine.”

His words sizzle against my skin like water dousing a fire.

I'm wearing heels, and yet that's not enough to keep Deacon's six-foot-two frame from completely dwarfing my own height.

“You look handsome, too, and we talked about this, remember? You shouldn't see me before I get crowned.” My voice comes out as a mere pant when his hand finds my cheek.

“And I remember me telling you I don't give a fuck about superstitions because you are already mine, Winter Cavanaugh, and no one is going to stop you from becoming my Luna today. You remember what else I promised you?”

His eyes gleam as he cages me by the waist in his arms.

I nod because I remember every single promise he whispered in my ear last night while Adrian and Asher slept on his chest.

It almost feels like a century ago when I told my boys that Deacon was their father.

Of course, Asher and Adrian had questions, lots of them, but eventually, they came to love Deacon just as I do. They came to accept him as their father, and nowadays, all they shout about is, “Daddy this” and “Daddy that.”

“Words, baby. Give me that sweet voice of yours.”

I wrap my arms around his neck, smiling, “You promised to claim me. To fuck me and fill me with your cum so that when I walk down the aisle, I remember that it’s you I'm walking to and that it's me and you forever till death.”

Pushing a strand of loose hair from my face, Deacon’s eyes burn into mine, and he says in finality, “You and me forever till death, baby.”

“We can’t do this. Jules will kill both of us if you ruin my makeup.”

“I know,” he answers smugly before sealing his lips over mine and flicking his tongue over the seam of my lips until I welcome him inside.

He tastes of whisky and heat, and one drop of that has me over the edge.

I kiss him with the same fervor, my pleasure-filled moans loud and reckless with abandon.

My heart is still racing like a runaway stallion as Deacon picks me up effortlessly and places me on the bed.

I don't think I'm breathing right as his lips nip at my chin, slowly going to the hollow of my neck where my tattoo is.

I thought my mark would manifest itself as a rose or a tiger lily, as Deacon thought. Instead, it took the form of an Amaryllis flower, one of the flowers in the world that signify strength and pride.

“So damn beautiful, baby. Every inch of you is perfect,” he speaks against my neck, latching on the skin there that I’m pretty sure will leave a hickey.

“Deacon,” I moan his name with need, the pressure between my legs growing headier by the minute when his hand disappears under my dress.

The look he gives me as he settles between my legs is nothing but serene.

I match the desire in his eyes, the love, the longing, and the understanding of what it took for us to be together.

Tears of happiness burn my eyes, my legs band around his hips, and I whisper, “I love you, Deacon Cross. I’ve always loved you.”

Deacon’s answer to my confession is him sneaking his hand into my panties as he claims my lips again, grunting against my mouth like a depraved being.

“I love you too, baby, and I can't wait to make you mine officially.”

‘I can’t wait to be your Luna, too, Deacon’, I want to say. I never get to say the words, though, because Deacon slides my panties down my legs, fiddles with his belt before gliding the crown of his cock over my folds in slow and unhurried strokes.

I moan softly as my sharp nails dig into his shoulders.

Euphoria shuttles through my body as his finger massages my clit, hurtling me towards the edge of oblivion.

Pulling away from me so that we can lock eyes and I can wipe away any fragments of my imagination that think this isn’t real, Deacon growls one word, “Mine.”

He delivers that one word by thrusting into me in one go. One that has a violent shudder tingling at the bottom of my spine and ending in my core as my walls wrap around him in a vise grip.

Each thrust into me is a testament to everything we’ve had to face to be with each other.

Every kiss he leaves on my lips, my cheeks, and my neck is like being branded by his possession and obsession, by how much he’s loved me just as I've loved him.

Deacon worships my body.

Deacon makes love to me like it’s our first time.

When he hits that sweet spot inside of me that only he knows the map to, he comes inside me at the same time that I shatter around him, and together, we are one. Two people in love brought together by fate.

Once the wave subsides and we both get off the high, Deacon’s forehead rests against mine, the smile on his face mirroring the one on mine.

I know he’s about to ask for another round. Just like always.

The incessant knocking on the door stops him from doing so and cuts our lust-crazed bliss into two.

“Mommy, are you there?” Asher’s high-pitched voice comes from the other side of the door. ” It’s time.”

Ten minutes later, Asher and Adrian are standing next to me, clad in tuxedos.

They both hold my hand as we glance at the people seated in the adorned grand hall of our mansion.

Julie and Luka are practically crying. Ashley, a few coworkers from the office, and Isabel are in the crowd, too.

Yet despite the fact my people have accepted me back into my pack, and they’ve all gathered here to watch me get crowned, my eyes are on the man standing at the end of the aisle.

The man who looks at me like he never, not once, stopped loving me even after we got separated for seven years and I kept his children away from him.

My boys will walk me down the aisle because Jake isn’t here. I would have loved it if Jake was here to walk me down the aisle, but I know, just like my parents, he’s watching over me from the skies above. I’m content knowing he’s at peace and knowing that Mom and Dad are at peace, too.

“You look so pretty, Mommy,” Adrian compliments.

“Are you ready, Mommy?” Asher asks.

Ready to be Deacon’s Luna and his forever? A million times, yes.

“Yes, sweethearts.”

I walk down to the love of my life.

Tears settle in my eyes as I hold my mate’s hands, and one of the elders in our pack asks, “Do you, Winter Cavanaugh, former omega of the Moon Stone Pack, accept to be Luna to Deacon Cross, Alpha of the Moon Stone pack till death do you part?”

Deacon smiles, the corner of his eyes crinkling in a way that makes him look even sexier.

Keeping my voice level, happiness radiating on my face, I repeat the words I’ve always dreamed of saying to Deacon since I was eighteen.

“Yes. I, Winter Cavanaugh, accept to be Luna to Alpha Deacon Cross of the Moon Stone Pack till death do us part.”

“Let us all rise and thank the Goddess for bringing our Luna back to the pack even after we wronged her dearly. Alpha Deacon? You may now kiss—”

Deacon grabs me by the waist, leaving a hot, scorching kiss on my lips as everyone stands up and cheers for us.

We might not have started in the best way, but we ended up together.

Deacon Cross is mine, and I am his.

In the past. In the present and future. We were always meant to be.

If you enjoyed 'The Alpha's Broken Oath', then I think you'll enjoy 'The Alpha's Shattered Bonds' too! Swipe to the next page for a sneakpeek..