Chapter 138

“Laughable?” Zane asked me as he pulled me in closer.

Goddess, I loved the feel of his body against mine. “Oh, lie on top of me,” I moaned, feeling wonderfully brazen. “Please, just lie on top of me and be with me.”

Zane moaned my name and then some sort of chorus of sounds, and then pulled me toward him so our lips locked in a kiss. Without asking, he plundered my mouth, as though he wanted to devour, to own, and to have me close as possible.

I completely agreed. When he lifted my hips, I wrapped my legs around him tightly while his arms pressed me closer, as though disliking the distance our bodies made to ourselves.

Oh, I was so losing myself inside him, even as he delighted in being inside me. I felt ridiculous, empowered, and like I could conquer the world. I wanted to kiss him and keep kissing as though we could not be broken apart.

I came, my whole body enjoying it as it could never enjoy anything else so much, and then he sighed brokenly into my mouth and I knew he’d found completion with me.

And then we just breathed together, two people who had come together in love.

As I lay there, I realized anew just how deeply my life had become a part of Zane’s. My body was cooling as I lay next to him, his arms heavy and soft around me, and I welcomed every sensation. I wanted to touch every part of him and have him touch every part of me. I wanted to kiss him all over in the bright sunshine and then turn off the lights and have him kiss me back.

No, now that I thought about it, I wanted him to kiss him in the sunlight. I fervently wanted him to acknowledge me as his mate. I wanted to bite his neck and leave a massive scar for everyone to see.

Well, I didn’t really, surely? I laughed at the idea.

“What is it?” Zane grumbled.

“Nothing. I’m just being silly,” I said. I laughed. “Being with you makes me feel silly.”

“What does that mean?” he asked in a tone that made it clear he’d suddenly become serious.

I didn’t know how to answer. I was just being, well, I didn’t know. “I don’t know,” I said. “Don’t I get to say silly things now?”

“What does that mean?”

“I mean that I am blissed out right now and might start singing, ‘You’d Better Put Down the Ducky,’ by Ernie from Sesame Street, and would appreciate it if you didn’t make a big deal about it.”

A minute of silence followed my statement.

“I always preferred “It’s Not Easy Being Green, myself,” he finally said.

I refused to be impressed. “You’re a big Sesame Street fan, are you?”

“When Grace started talking, when I was really dealing with the fact that somehow she kept looking for a twin who wasn’t there, that she shouldn’t have known should be there, we watched a lot of Sesame Street. We would talk about community and the importance of knowing everyone, from Oscar the Grouch to Big Bird to Mr. Hooper, and knowing about people’s needs.”

Zane was quiet for a moment.

“She would ask, you know, she would ask about where he sister was, if she were doing OK, if people were treating her well, and I would say she was. I told her that her sister would come back to us one day, and then she could ask her herself.”

“And you were right,” I whispered into the darkness of the bedroom.

“And I was right,” Zane said. “I can’t imagine what would have happened if I’d been wrong.”

I shrugged. “You wouldn’t have said it if you’d been wrong.”

“You really think that?”

I shook my head against the pillow. “I don’t know. I also don’t like to think about things that didn’t happen. I loved your daughter when you couldn’t, and then we found each other and reunited two sisters who should never have been parted.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

I laughed. “Nothing about my life lately has been ‘simple.’ I don’t think I’ll ever know ‘simple’ again.”

“And do you resent that?” he asked.

“No. I don’t resent it. I thank the goddess every day.”

He raised up, which I knew meant her wanted me to roll over on my back, which I did. I looked up at the blue ice of his eyes and warmed myself with the love I saw burning inside them. My breasts were suddenly demanding attention from his hands, and my whole body ached to be closer.

Closer: that was the thing. When I felt my love for Zane swell, all I could think about was being closer to him, wanting to share his body, his breath, his thoughts. I wasn’t sure this was entirely healthy, but I also didn’t care.

“Kiss me,” I said secure in the knowledge that he would oblige. I would do the same should he ever ask, which, actually, he often did, when we were alone.

He lowered his head and pressed his lips and then his tongue to mine. I felt wanton and sated, a woman with a lover who would deny her nothing.

But then he pulled back. “I was so worried,” he said, “when I heard about the bomb. I couldn’t stand being so helpless, so far from you, so unable to—”

“You called me,” I interrupted. “You called and made sure I was OK, and that Melissa was OK. Do you think I think you’re some sort of superhero? That you should fly in and rescue us?

“You’re a pack alpha, but you’re still just a werewolf, just a man, just like I’m just a woman. Things will happen to us, and if recent history is any indication, sometimes pretty screw up things. You did everything right. Everything.”

“I just want to keep you safe, you and the girls.”

I laughed softly. “Just gave yourself away, pack alpha. You rely on your girls to handle things because they’re alphas. You hate it, but you rely on it.”

Zane grumbled something indistinct.

“Yes, that’s right. But I’m supposed to be this little human female You’re supposed to have to worry about me. But, surprise! I was fine. I am fine.”

I wiggled a little, getting a nicely physical bit of proof I was getting to him in return. I laughed.

“Alpha Zane, you have taken a human lover. And she loves you, but she will always be human. I’m afraid you’re going to have to deal with it.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” he grumbled.

I laughed, but I knew, deep inside, he meant it.