Chapter 120
Thorne’s POV
Turning over, I find the bed beside me cold and empty. The ache in my chest grows, and I look around for my mate. She’s here somewhere because her scent is still fresh, but she’s not in bed like she should be.
She doesn’t respond when I call out to her, so I throw the covers off, pull on a pair of sweats, and begin searching the house. I follow her scent downstairs, to the kitchen, then out to the back lawn where I find her sitting on the grass.
Since her wolf came out a week ago, she’s been spending more time outside. Sometimes we go for runs and others, we just sit there, like she’s doing now. However, the closer I get, the more I feel and see.
The ache in my chest comes from Aurora, and I instantly realize why. Her mother’s journal lays open on the grass in front of her, the English translations written on papers that are tucked between the pages.
“Aurora.”
It doesn’t take more than her name for her to look up but seeing tears in her eyes has my heart aching all over again. This time with my own pain.
“Goddess,” I grumble, scooping her up and sitting with her in my lap. “Are you alright?”
She’s only received the journal translations yesterday, but I should have made sure she didn’t read them without me here.
The sadness and longing that she feels are clear as day. I don’t know why I didn’t feel them sooner, but they wash over me like a tidal wave, hitting me so hard that I feel my eyes beginning to sting.
“I’m okay,” she lies, sniffling.
“Did you forget I can feel what you feel?” I ask softly. I take her chin between my fingers and lift her face. She shakes her head and mutters something that’s too soft for me to hear. “What was that?”
“I said, I know. I just wanted to try to convince myself.”
Her voice is so soft and sad that I have to take a deep breath. I want to protect her from anything that makes her sad, but this isn’t some physical enemy I can fight. Emotions are an entirely different battlefield—one that I’m not the best at conquering.
“What can I do to make things better?” I ask, needing to know. Whatever it is, I’ll do it.
“Anything?” She asks, her eyes finding mine. I chuckle when I realize she read my thoughts, and I nod. We’ve been so busy the last few days with watching for attacks, discussing when we should get married, and with work and pack issues that I haven’t missed how on edge she’s been.
She needs something to take the edge off, and whatever she wants, I’ll give it to her. As long as she’s happy.
“Anything.”
“If I ask you to chase me in the forest and then fuck the sadness out of me, will you?”
The innocence in her tone contrasts strongly with the sexual nature of the question, and it nearly fries my brain. My response, or lack thereof, must have been amusing because Aurora begins laughing.
But all I can think of is taking her on
the forest floor.
“You have a thirty second head start,” I growl.
She blinks, “Wh-what?”
“Twenty-five seconds,” I grit out, holding myself back. She may have been kidding, but I told her anything.
Aurora squeaks and scrambles to her feet. In seconds, she’s bounding into the trees in wolf form. Her excitement and anticipation flow freely through our bond, and it takes all my will power to keep from shifting right then and running after her.
However, the second my internal thirty-second-clock ends, I’m on my paws, and the chase begins.
Her scent leads me right to her, a mixture of her sweet, natural scent and the spicy arousal that I love. It doesn’t take me long to spot her silver hair behind a fallen tree, and I shift back to my human form.
I pounce, grabbing her and rolling to take the brunt of the fall when we hit the forest floor.
Aurora shrieks, but I can feel the electric jolt of excitement as I pin her face down beneath me.
“I’ve caught you, little mate,” I growl against her ear, grinding my hard cock into her ass. Aurora gasps, pushing back into me and digging her fingers into the dirt beneath us.
“What will you do now?” She raps, her words nearly a moan. I know what she wants me to do. Her mind is screaming it down our bond, so I lean in and lightly bite my mate mark. It pulls a sinful groan from my mate, and she arches, pushing her jean-clad ass into me.
I groan at the feeling and tear at her pants, slicing them clean off with my claws.
“My je—Oooh,” she croons as my fingers find her soaking center. She grinds back into me, allowing me to slide two fingers into her tight heat.
“I’m going to make you forget all about your worries,” I growl, pumping my fingers and curling them just at the right moment to make her cry out in pleasure.
“Yes! YES! Please, Thorne!”
“Good girl. Just let me handle everything.”
She groans, dropping her head forward and lets me take control.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I ask, glancing at my parents’ house.
After our roll in the dirt, while we were cleaning up, Aurora stated her wish to meet my parents again. I didn’t think it was a great idea until she told me that it would be better to do it now and not hold off.
“They’ll only think worse of our relationship if we hide it any longer,” she’d said. I agree, and here we are—standing outside my father and stepmother’s house.
Hand in hand, we head inside, and I prepare myself to defend my mate from anything my father or stepmother will say. I know what they feel for her already, and I can’t imagine much will change their minds unless they realize just who and what Aurora is.
However, Aurora has hesitations in telling them, so for now, she will still be my human mate. The scent suppressant spray will help hide her Lycan scent that’s bloomed over the last few days.
When we enter the sitting room, my father looks up from his paper with an unimpressed expression. My stepmother, on the other hand, gasps in outrage. We don’t have to say anything. Aurora’s mate mark is clearly on display because of her off-the-shoulder top, something she told me she likes to wear now.
My chest swells with pride again at the thought that she enjoys displaying her mark.
Every male wolf would feel the same.
“You fully mated this… this human?!” My stepmother shrieks. She goes on ranting about how Auroa isn’t a good fit, but I tune her out, putting my full focus on my father. His words matter more to me than the harpy’s thoughts, but he knows my stance.
I can see it in his eyes.
He knew I was serious about Aurora when I announced I wouldn’t mate with anyone else.
“Silence, woman,” he growls, and my stepmother jolts and goes quiet. My father stands from his chair, his full height towering even over me. To her credit, Aurora doesn’t shrink away when he comes to stand in front of us.
His eyes move over her down then up again, until they land on her mate mark. It has healed nicely, which will let him know that this isn’t a bond we formed today.
“Aurora,” my father says, which instantly grabs both of our attention. I prepare to argue with him or even fight him if I must, but his next words are the opposite of what I expect. “Welcome to the family.”
I can’t stop the surprise that flies through me at his words.
“I look forward to getting to know you, Luna,” my father says as he leans in and kisses the back of her hand.
Relief floods our bond, and I silently thank the Goddess that my father is on my side for once.
