Chapter Eighteen

After all the hours he'd spent by her bed as she lay unconscious, leaving only when it was vital, of course, Della woke up when Leo was outside her room on the phone, dealing with a pack dispute involving one of James' sycophants who was hesitant, to put it delicately, to respect the rule of his admittedly so far somewhat absent new Alpha.

The nurse who had ducked in to check on Della while he was out in the corridor poked her head out the door and simply said, "Leo," and he knew.

"I'll call you back," he blurted down the phone and jammed it into his pocket without waiting for an answer, then raced back into Della's room.

Her eyes were open, and just being able to meet her gaze again sent a wave of relief through Leo that was so strong, he stumbled. She was fighting her way into a sitting position, laughing with the assisting nurse at her own weakness, when he burst through the door. The sound of her laughter was better than any music he'd ever heard, and when she turned her gaze on him and smiled, he fell to his knees by the bed, hands fumbling desperately for hers. Quietly, the nurse excused herself, but Leo hardly noticed. He was too focused on Della, the soft happiness on her face, the way she gently squeezed his fingers.

"Hi," she whispered, her voice hoarse from disuse.

"Hi," he replied.

"Leo—" Della said, at the same time as he started, "Della—"

Hearing their mingled laughter made him feel like there was golden sunlight running through his veins.

"You're okay," he managed. "They said you would be, the doctors, and your grandmother, but—"

"Grandmother Elise was here?"

"She stopped by a few days ago," Leo said. "Didn't exactly stop to give her name."

"Yeah, that sounds like her," Della said with a smile. "I thought I felt her here, but I figured I must have imagined it. She almost never leaves the coven's territory."

"She came to check on you. And to say some confusing things about supernatural magic of the universe and mate bonding."

"Mate bonding?" Della asked.

"It doesn't matter," Leo said quickly. "We can talk about it later."

"Leo, tell me," Della said, as serious as he'd ever seen her despite the hospital room and the gown she wore—or perhaps because of them?

"There's… a story we tell pups," he said slowly. "About finding the one person you're meant to be with, and the tie between you is so strong, you can't stay away from them. You'd do anything for them." He swallowed. "And I always thought it was just that, a story, and then I met you. And as if the bond wasn't enough, I fell in love with you on top of it. And suddenly I knew what they meant. About having someone you'd do anything to keep."

"Is that why you challenged James?" Della asked.

"I challenged James because it was the right thing to do, for the pack," Leo said, feeling the truth of the statement deep in his chest. "But I wouldn't have seen that, wouldn't have recognized that I had to do something about it, if it wasn't for you." He paused, glancing down at his hands grasping one of hers like a precious treasure. "Was part of me hoping it would go some way towards fixing things if I could show you I was willing to change, to be better? Yes, of course. But Della, I never expected you to get involved. Never expected to see you facing off against a werewolf three times the size of you, for my sake." The memory of it sent a rush of cold through him. "I would have fought Raj until I was a pile of bones on the ground to stop you from having to put yourself in that situation."

"I needed to do it," Della said simply. "I may not be a werewolf, Leo, but I still have the drive to protect what's mine."

It took a moment for her words to sink in, but when they did, Leo had to stop himself from pitching forwards to prostrate himself at her feet and swear every moment of his life to the service of her.

"Della," he managed, after a long moment. "Della, I-I know there are still issues. I know I have a lot of work to do. But I swear to all the gods, if you'll have me, I'll put every part of myself into making sure I deserve you."

"Funny," Della said, eyes shining, "I was just thinking the exact same thing."

Leo could no more stop himself from launching forwards to kiss his woman than he could lasso the moon. Though if she asked it of him, gods only knew he would try.

"I love you too," Della said when they finally broke apart, laughing at the frantic beeping of the heart rate monitor. "I have loved you, I love you, I will love you. So, we find a way through the issues because, Leo, I don't want to be without you anymore. This bond… I think it goes both ways. So, what you're feeling, I feel it too. I feel all of it too."

"Thank the gods," Leo said and kissed her again.

Homecoming. Heaven. That's what having his lips on hers felt like.

The sound of someone clearing their throat had them breaking apart again.

"Mags!" Della cried, her cheeks coloring. "You're… am I in your hospital?"

"You sure are," the diminutive human said with a smile. "Good to see you're back with us, girlie. Now if you're going to keep celebrating in this way, would you mind if I turned down your heart rate monitor? Not that the entire ward hasn't already guessed what's going on in here."

"Oops," Della said, glancing at Leo.

"Maybe you'll get lucky," Maggie said as she dealt with the machine, "and they'll just think you're having a heart attack." She paused, raising an eyebrow as she met Leo's eyes with an uncompromising gaze. "Because there will be no other getting lucky while you're in my hospital, capiche? Keep those paws to yourself until my girl is back at full strength and out on the streets, werewolf." She shot them both a grin as she turned to leave, drawing the curtains around the bed. "All right, as you were."

"Once you're back at full strength," Leo muttered for Della's ears only as the door closed behind the nurse, "These paws are going to have to re-memorize every inch of your body, Delphinia Greenbranch."

"You've forgotten it already?" Della laughed.

"When it comes to you, I clearly have a very poor memory," Leo said with a grin. "I think I'm going to have to remind myself regularly."

"You know what?" Della said, wrapping her arms around his neck to draw him close. "I think I can live with that."