Chapter 9: Chapter Nine

Given all the questionable things he'd done, both as Beta and in his own time, Leo had been pretty sure he wasn't destined for an eternity in heaven among the gods his kind worshipped. For some reason, though, they'd decided to grant him a glimpse of it when they made Della and had her trust him with her body.

He'd had his share of partners—not an exorbitant number, but enough to keep his wolf quiet. But nothing had ever, ever, felt like the first moment he pushed inside her. The taste of her, the feel of her spasming around his fingers had both sated and amplified his hunger for her, and that first moment of having her beneath him, legs spread around his hips, her breasts pressed to his bare chest, her most private flesh open to his as he pressed deeper and deeper into her tight, hot wetness… it was branded on his fucking soul. It was like giving water to a man dying from thirst. It was like being given a gift he'd wanted his entire life but never dreamed he'd truly receive. The first time she came, her sex clenching even tighter around him as shudders rolled through her body, he had to dig his nails into his palms to avoid falling to pieces then and there. Tasting her scream of pleasure as her back arched beneath his body almost undid him. For her, he had ordered himself, barely able to keep his body in check. You hold it together for her.

And it seemed anything truly was possible, because he'd managed to keep himself from shattering into a million tiny pieces as she hit a second peak, then had driven her to a third. The surge of pride in him from knowing he'd brought her pleasure could have powered Mystic City for a month. And finally allowing himself to come with her… there was no parallel he could draw to the sensation of releasing within her perfect body. Nothing else he'd ever experienced even came close. His wolf had been howling like it was a full moon in midsummer, shouting out to the world, 'Mine! Mine! Mine!' The heroin addict metaphor he'd given Raj and Emmett suddenly seemed vastly more appropriate; he felt like the deepest craving he'd ever had—to pleasure her, to take pleasure in her, to claim her for himself, to meet every need she'd ever had and ever would have—had suddenly been fulfilled. He'd served her. He'd claimed her in the moment that he took her, and for the first time, that prospect didn't scare the living hell out of him.

She was his now. More than that, he was hers. He knew instinctually that this craving would be with him for the rest of his life. He would never get over this need for Della Greenbranch, no matter what he did or how far he went in an attempt to outrun it.

He could no longer discount his friends' belief in the idea of having a mate—not when he knew no one could ever mean as much to him as she did in this moment, her body so warm and soft where it cradled his own. Wishing he could make this moment last the rest of his life, he rolled off to avoid crushing her, pulling her with him so she was cradled against his side. At this moment, Leo was physically incapable of letting Della go. He settled for stroking a hand down her side, tracing patterns on her skin.

"Well," Leo managed once his breathing had evened out somewhat. "That was… something."

"That's one way to describe it," Della said, her voice uneven. She laughed breathlessly. "Is it always like that with a werewolf?"

Leo couldn't stop himself from letting out a low growl. "I'd advise against you conducting any experiments to find out."

She ran a hand down his chest, stroking the hair there, gentling him with her touch. "Leo. I'm here with you. I'm not planning on going out on the prowl for other werewolves like some kind of… groupie for wolves. I'm with you." There was a long moment when he got himself at least partly under control before she added, "Besides, after what we just did? I wouldn't have the stamina. You wore me out, Leo Tyler."

"Good," he replied, his wolf finally calming down from its surge of possessiveness when he added quietly, "It's not always like that. Not even close."

"Maybe it's a witch-and-werewolf thing," Della murmured.

"I think maybe," Leo said in a low voice, "maybe it's just a you-and-me thing."

There was a brief moment when the movements of her stroking hand paused on his chest and she seemed to be deciding how she felt about that pronouncement, but then she burrowed even closer into his side, her hand resuming its movement over his skin. "I think I can live with that," Della said softly. "You know, provided we can do it again to test the theory."

"I think I can probably handle that." Leo laughed, his cock already thickening once more at the thought.

The smile she sent him was pure seduction.

***

Leo woke up reaching for Della, as if his body knew he'd find the bed empty and wanted to alert him to that fact. Of course, he'd fallen for a woman who was an early riser. And not by the definition that his body was quickly reminding him that he fit, surrounded as he was by the scent of them together. Barely pausing to pull on the jeans he'd discarded last night, he prowled off to find her and show her how a morning with the two of them in bed together should begin.

Usually, he'd just follow the trail of her scent but, this being her home, it was already on everything, so heavily layered he was hard pressed to tell recent traces from older ones. Plus, if she came in to find him sniffing the seat cushions on her couch, she might find it a little strange.

He found her in a room that was obviously a spare bedroom she'd converted into a study. Papers and books were piled on the unused bed behind the desk where Della sat perusing a document while she sipped at a mug of what smelled like coffee. Pushing down his wolf's frustration that there was a bed in this house where he hadn't yet taken her, Leo closed the door loudly enough behind himself that she'd know he was there.

Della jumped, sloshing coffee over the edge of her mug that she magically halted in mid-air with lightning-fast skill before it could land on her papers. Returning it to the mug with a twist of her wrist, she looked up at him with a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Sorry, I was kind of absorbed in what I was reading. You startled me."

"You've got excellent reflexes," Leo said, prowling closer. He pressed his face into her hair and finally took a deep breath of her intoxicating scent. "But then," he added, pulling back just far enough to tilt her chin up for his kiss, "I already knew that."

Della opened her lips to his and sighed into the kiss. "Good morning to you too." Leo could feel her slight smile against his mouth, and it made him growl with pleasure as he met her tongue with his own.

When they broke apart, they were both breathing hard. "There's coffee in the pot in the kitchen if you want some," Della offered.

"How long have you been up?" It bothered him slightly that she'd managed to leave the bed without waking him. He needed to be more aware than that if he was going to sleep beside her. What if there had been a threat to her safety, and he'd slept through it? Unlikely, in her own house, no doubt surrounded by protection spells, but still. It was the principle of the thing.

"Not long," Della said, then glanced at the clock on the wall. "Okay, slightly longer than I thought. I need to start getting ready for work."

"Take the day off," Leo said, almost without considering the words. "Spend it with me."

Della laughed, but there was a hint of longing in it. "I can't take a day off work just to spend it in bed with you, Leo."

"Then we won't spend the whole day in bed," Leo said, though a large part of him would have loved to. "Do you hike?"

"Hike?" Della asked. "I guess, when I have the time."

"There are some incredible waterfalls at the edge of the pack's territory. I could take you to see them."

He was almost surprised by the way her eyes lit up. "Waterfalls? Really?"

"It's a bit of a walk if you're doing it in human form, but it's worth it."

"I guess I do have some sick days saved up," Della said, clearly wavering.

"I'll take you to the burger place for dinner after," Leo said, trying not to sound like he was pleading. Spend more time with me. Don't make me let you out of my sight already.

"It was a really good burger," Della admitted.

"How 'bout it, then?" Leo asked. "Want to get away from the paperwork for a few hours?"

She gave him one of those smiles where half of her mouth lifted fractionally before the other, and Leo's heart almost skipped a beat. "I guess I'll let my boss know I won't be in today." Something seemed to occur to her as she stood. "How long exactly is this hike, if we're not going to be back until dinner?"

"I didn't say what time we'd be leaving," Leo reminded her, feeling his grin turn predatory. "First I have to show you what a morning waking up with me is meant to be like." He lifted her and sat her on top of the papers littering her desk, ignoring her half-hearted protestations. "This is how I'm going to wake you up next time you spend the night sleeping next to me."

Every night, his wolf insisted. She should be in my arms every night.

Ignoring the thought, Leo dragged his hands from Della's shoulders down over the curves of her body and pushed her legs apart, then got to work.

Afterwards, having thoroughly disorganized the papers on her desk when he laid her out across it, Leo sat in the chair before it, Della curled up on his lap, practically purring. Hell, if he could make her this content with just the use of his body, he'd have to start waking up earlier to satisfy her before she went to work each day. Gods, only this woman could make him consider getting up early. The idea of her arriving at her job with his scent all over her sent a kind of smug pride running through him. Then every male who came close to his woman would know she had been claimed.

What the hell happened to 'casual'? a voice in his head asked.

This happened, Leo told it, shoving the thought away. Della happened.

"We'll have to stop by my place so I can change," Leo said, his voice husky from growling her name.

"I've never been to Blue Crescent territory before," Della said. Her body had grown slightly tense in his arms. "Your pack is usually pretty full-on about keeping outsiders away." She pulled away far enough to meet his eyes. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"You'll be with me," Leo said, feeling his canines start to elongate at the thought of one his pack making trouble for her. "It'd be more of a problem for whoever decided to kick up a fuss."

"Part of me would like to see you fight someday," Della said with the air of one admitting a mortal sin. "I think…I think it'd be kind of hot."

Leo wondered briefly if she'd even want to come near him again if she saw him in a state where he let his instincts take over, the half-shift giving him claws and fangs designed for carnage. "Maybe someday," he said non-committally. "My friend Raj is always up for a fight," he added. "You might rethink the 'hot' part after you've seen us spar, though."

"Why?"

"It's not like the kind of fighting you see in the movies. It's messy. And you'd have to see me in my half-shifted form, which isn't exactly cover model material."

"I think I could handle it," Della insisted.

"I'm sure you could," Leo said. "The question is whether you'd let me near you afterwards." He said it with a laugh, but that didn't stop the honest concern that she wouldn't. And there was no way he was risking that.

Della gave a little considering hum noise in the back of her throat and started up from his lap. "I guess I'd better ring my boss, then try to find those hiking boots."

Leo licked his lips. "I might go get some of that coffee. It's delicious… or that might just be because I was tasting it on you."

Leo drove them from her house to his, and Della noticed people watching his car passing as they drove into Blue Crescent territory. The majority looked pleased to see him, some even waved, but others looked almost… scared? She didn't have long enough to assess it before they were driving away.

Blue Crescent territory looked almost disappointingly similar to Avalon Coven territory. Della didn't know what she'd been expecting. Claw marks down the lamp posts and massive wolves prowling the streets? Sure, there were a few more shops with wolf puns in the names, but then, wasn't her favorite café near her own house called the Coffee Cauldron? Who was she to judge?

Leo's house was farther from the centre of the territory than she'd have expected for a pack Beta. His area was almost a little city, full of lively shops and narrow, winding streets.

Leo noticed her sudden silence. "It's the oldest part of the pack's territory," he explained. "Most of my neighbors are about three times my age. I do a lot of handiwork for them, but it's worth it to live somewhere like this."

"It's beautiful," Della said honestly. "So much of my coven's territory is very planned and organized, grid work streets, carefully selected street trees planted equidistant from each other. This place is a little… wilder. I like it."

A small smile was Leo's only answer as they pulled into the driveway of a house almost completely hidden by trees.

"You must really like your privacy," Della commented.

"You're not wrong," Leo laughed, "but most of these were here long before I was. I keep them under control, but mostly just let them grow."

"It looks much more like a wicked witch's house than mine does, hidden away like this."

"Doesn't stop my neighbours from coming past when they want a door handle fixed or something. Clearly, it's not as intimidating as it appears at first sight."

"I'm not intimidated—" Della started, but he was already throwing her a wink and climbing out of the car.

The inside of Leo's place was classic bachelor pad, a massive TV, a big couch, and a couple of easy chairs.

"I might have to give you the full tour some other time," he said apologetically. "I can't promise what'll happen if I get you in my bedroom looking like that."

"Looking like what?" Della asked, genuinely nonplussed. She glanced down at herself. "It's just activewear. I'm wearing hiking boots, for heaven's sake."

"You've clearly never seen your ass in those leggings," Leo said with a raised eyebrow. "It's a wonder we made it out of your house to the car without me ripping them off you."

Della felt how high up her eyebrows had risen in surprise. "These are, like, ten-dollar leggings."

Leo sent her a grin as he disappeared through a doorway on the opposite side of the room. "You won't mind when I destroy them later, then."

Shaking her head at the impossibility of males, Della set to snooping around Leo's house. She found a large collection of tools, clearly well-used, and a shelf of old jazz CDs, covered in dust. Crowding the top of a chest of drawers were a series of photos of monuments in various countries, some with a younger Leo in them, some just of the views, the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum, the Taj Mahal. One picture of him having climbed a trail in the Annapurna Mountain range and looking exceptionally pleased with himself, made her question the wisdom of going hiking with a man who climbed mountains for fun.

Leo reappeared while she was examining a photo of him holding a surfboard at a crowded beach. She only knew he was behind her because he said softly, "That's in Costa Rica. Tamarindo Beach."

Della started, then put the picture back with the others. "When were you there? When were you in… all these places?"

"After I left school when my dad was still Beta. I was learning how it'd be when I took up the role, and I guess I realized that if I didn't see the world then, I'd never have the chance. So, I packed a bag, bought a plane ticket to Paris, and left. It was a couple of years before I came back."

"Years?" Della said, shocked.

Leo shrugged. "Honestly, I could have stayed away longer, but my dad was getting sick, and he wanted me home, so I came." A slight smile quirked his lips. "Some of the pack weren't too keen on having a Beta who'd been away from Mystic City for so long, so I think it was also his way of trying to give me time to reintegrate before I had to take up the mantle."

"Do you miss it?" Della asked. "The freedom of it?"

"Sometimes," Leo admitted. "When I have to settle a bunch of stupid disputes or James has me doing something I don't want to do. Sometimes I think about running away all over again. But I couldn't leave the pack."

"They're your home now," Della said softly.

"Yeah," Leo confirmed. "Even the ones who don't much like me know that I'd go to war for them. That's what this job means—more than just solving arguments and handing out warnings, it's about doing what's best for your people. Protecting them."

Something in Della that had been doing its best to protect her heart from this man crumbled to dust.

"Come see the kitchen," Leo said, pulling away. "I'll make us some lunch, and we can eat it at the falls."

The kitchen was almost as big as the living room, with a large wooden table demarcating the eating area.

"Did you make this?" Della asked, running her hand over the table's surface.

"Yeah, that's one of mine," Leo said, getting things out of the fridge. "The chairs, too. You like sandwiches?"

"Who doesn't like sandwiches?" Della laughed. "Maybe I could buy a table from you for my dining room. The one I have is getting to the end of its life."

The breath was knocked out of her when Leo was suddenly in front of her, yanking her tight against his big, hard body with a half-smile that sent electricity running through her. "If you think you're ever paying me for anything I do for you, sweetheart, you're about to get that thought very strongly corrected. It would be my goddamn honor to have something I made in your home, all right?" His breath was hot on her neck as he tugged aside the neckline of her t-shirt to flick his tongue over the mark he'd left on her skin yesterday. Her knees went a little weak, and he caught her and made short work of depositing her on the bench beside where he was putting the sandwiches together.

"So," he said mildly, as though arousal wasn't still lighting up her veins from his mouth on her skin. "I can get a dining table done for you pretty quickly. I'll just need to take measurements, and I can take you to choose some timber you like." He held out a piece of cheese to her and spontaneously, instead of taking it, Della leaned forwards and ate it from his fingers, licking them clean for good measure.

Leo's eyes were as brightly silver as a newly minted coin when he added, "But if you want to desecrate this one with me sometime, sweetheart, all you have to do is say the word."

"Desecrate?" Della laughed. "Is that what they're calling it these days?"

"Careful, or I'll desecrate you right here, my little goddess," Leo said, pushing her legs apart where she sat on the bench and letting her feel his swollen bulge against the juncture of her thighs. When Della gasped and rocked her hips towards him, he added, "It's like this all the time when you're around, Della. You make me like this every minute of the goddamn day. Remember that if you ever doubt that this dick knows who it belongs to now."

As she tried to find a valid response to that, Leo winked at her again and went back to assembling sandwiches, whistling jauntily.

***

They drove out through the remainder of the werewolves' territory to the place it met the edge of the surrounding forest. Della went to offer to carry the backpack that held their lunch, water, and a small medical kit—'Can't be too careful,' Leo had said when she raised an eyebrow—but a look from the werewolf had her holding her tongue. Instead, she just cast a spell to make it lighter, and though Leo's muscles suggested he wouldn't have had an issue with the weight of a few bottles of water, he'd laughed and thanked her. They started down one of the trails that led off the gravel area where they'd parked, and though the path wasn't brilliantly marked, Leo seemed to know his way almost instinctually.

"Have you been here a lot?" Della asked.

"A few times," Leo said. "Came down this way a lot as teenagers to see how many bottles of cheap vodka it'd take to get a young werewolf drunk. Witch-spelled powders and pills. Bringing pretty girls out late at night." He tossed her a smile, but the surge of possessive anger that rolled through her must have shown on her face, because he looked immediately taken aback.

"Not recently, I would hope," Della said stiffly.

"Gods, Della, no," Leo said, one of his hands rising as though he'd reach out for her. "Not for… a while now. A long while. And nothing like this, ever."

"Good," Della said, knowing she looked dangerously angry but unable to control it. "Because I know how to turn someone's blood to acid and make whichever bitch I had to, burn and suffocate to death at the same time. I'm just saying."

To her shock, Leo responded by pulling her into his arms, stroking her hair soothingly. "Della," he said softly, then repeated the same words she'd used with him before, "I'm here, I'm here with you. I don't want anyone else. I hardly even see them anymore because they're not you."

The possessive creature that had reared its head inside her quieted down once more at the frantic note in his voice. She took a deep breath, in, out. In, out. "Sorry," she managed. "I don't know why I responded like that."

"Very wolfish of you," Leo said, a smile in his voice, still holding her close. "How you felt right then—that's the way seeing that Ian guy run his eyes over you made me feel. That's why I responded the way I did last night."

"It kind of makes more sense to me now, I guess," Della admitted. "I guess I'm not used to having those feelings over someone or having someone have them over me. Not in a while, anyway," she added, as the thought of Dane flickered through her mind.

"Hey," Leo said, holding her away from him so he could see her face. She realized she'd tensed up at the thought of her ex-boyfriend. "Where did you go then?" Leo asked.

"It's nothing," Della said, pushing away from him. She'd taken maybe two steps before she felt his hand catching hold of her arm.

"It's not nothing. Not if it takes you away from me."

"It was a long time ago," Della argued.

"That doesn't matter, not if it still upsets you like this." There was a pause as he seemed to put two and two together. "Is this why you got all cold on me last night? Is it the same thing?"

"Leo—" she protested.

"Della," he replied. "I need to know so I don't do it again. So, I can stop hurting you with these reminders of whatever it is."

She pulled her arm out of his grasp and turned away, walking a few paces before she stopped. Was she really going to do this? What if he looked at her the way everyone else did afterwards—like a victim, worthy of pity and needing to be handled like fragile glass, or worse, like it had been her fault, like she deserved everything she got and more? What if after he knew, he didn't want her anymore?

Hadn't she told herself, after Dane, she'd never let herself be controlled by fear again? Didn't she owe it to both of them to be honest about her past, about how it might affect the future of their relationship?

"I'll tell you," Della said, steeling herself as hard as she could. "But can we walk and talk? It'll be easier for me to discuss it that way."

She risked a glance back to meet his eyes as he said, "Of course," and they began to follow the semi-visible trail once more.

"I met Dane as soon as I left university," Della started. "He was a friend of a friend, a human who also worked in government, more than ten years older than me, but in my eyes that just made him look more experienced and worldly—appealing, to a girl who grew up barely leaving Mystic City. I guess I thought I could trust him, because he was friends with my friend and everyone who knew him seemed to have nothing but good things to say about him. He was a human, so there were a few raised eyebrows about that and our age difference, but mostly my friends were just happy to see me happy.

"And I was. He seemed to adore me, seemed to be happy with me no matter what I said or did. He was a little uncomfortable with my magic, so I just didn't use it around him, trying to keep us on an even footing as much as possible. I moved in with him after just a few months, and all he seemed to want to do was take care of me. I still went to work each day—he'd helped me get the job I had before I moved to my current one—but at home, he handled everything. I thought it was symbolic of his devotion, the way he helped me choose my clothes and what I ate and the books I read, and I just let him do it, not realizing he was completely taking over my life. We had a joint bank account, but I didn't touch it without his approval. After a while, when I did anything without his say-so, he started to get angry. Throwing things, yelling at me. And still, I was in so deep, I didn't think of it as wrong. He wanted to look after me, he would tell me, and how could he do that if he didn't know where I was, what I was doing, who I was seeing? He needed all the information, all the control over my life, so that he could make it as easy for me as possible. So, I wouldn't have to do anything for myself.

"I didn't realize part of the reason I'd become so biddable was that I was growing weaker. Physically, but mostly in my magic. I barely used it anymore because Dane had never been fully comfortable with it. At first, I thought it was romantic that he loved me even though I had what he might have perceived as a flaw. Even though we were different. But a witch has to expel some power every now and then—it's called siphoning off—or the build-up becomes uncomfortable. So, I encouraged the small garden of his house—our house—and that was it. Slowly, even that small act started to drain me, until I was exhausted all the time. I stopped going out, withdrew from my friends, could barely go to work. I did whatever he told me without question, accepted his words like royal decrees—even when he told me he wanted to start seeing other women, but I could not touch anyone but him, I didn't even question it. I was far too tired to seek out other liaisons anyway. I wondered if I might be pregnant and decided to visit my grandmother to find out, when I had the energy, since I was no longer confident that I was strong enough to reliably do the spell myself.

"He started spending more time with his other women, and less with me, telling me they were more interesting because I was so tired all the time, and I was lucky he hadn't just left me when I stopped being interesting myself. Like a sycophant, I accepted that too. I wanted him to be happy. I loved him, still. His absences turned out to be a blessing, because it meant he was away for dinner some nights, and though he still decided what I ate, he wasn't cooking it.

"I finally had my strength back enough to go see my grandmother, to find out if I was pregnant and ask how it would be different given that I might be carrying a human's child. Regular pregnancy tests don't work for witches; our magic interferes with them. There's a spell we can cast to find out instead, and I presumed she would just do that.

"When she saw me, she started criticizing me immediately, but that's sort of just Grandmother Elise's way with me. I was too thin, my skin had gone dull, I looked like I hadn't seen the sun in months. She was almost right. I'd barely had the power to continue encouraging the garden, and that I mostly did in the evenings, when Dane was out, so he wouldn't have to witness me using magic.

"She did the spell on me, and I promptly fainted. When she continued working magic to discover the cause, she locked me in the room I used to use when I slept over. Because she discovered that Dane had been giving me a powder of a plant called reroot in my food almost since I moved in with him. It can be useful in spells for astral projection if you burn it and inhale the smoke, but if ingested, especially in a powder, it dampens magic and causes an almost hypnotised suggestible state that he used to make me so wholly infatuated with him that I let him do whatever he wanted to me. And with long term use, it starts slowly poisoning the person consuming it. In his quest to increase his power over me, he'd been slowly killing me.

"My grandmother locked me away for almost a week, providing food and water and healing spells in the periods I wasn't frantic with the need to get back to Dane. Even knowing what he had done, I was so wholly indoctrinated that I wanted to return to him. I'd always known he didn't like my magic—why wouldn't he try to find a way to rid me of it, so he could love me more?

"Slowly, as the reroot was washed from my system, I began to regain a clearer mind. To realize what he had done to me, what he had been trying to do to me. To be terrified of seeing him again in case I fell back under his influence. I hadn't told him I was going to see Grandmother Elise, so he didn't know where to find me, thank the gods, but my work also didn't know where I'd gone. What I didn't know was that he'd told them I was ill, so no suspicion would fall over my absence, at least for a little while, as he tried to find me. What friends I still had were used to not seeing me for weeks or months, so they didn't question it. I had enough time to recover my mind, at least in part, before Grandmother Elise insisted on taking me to the hospital.

"What I didn't realize was that I looked like I'd been in a war camp, I was so thin, so pale and haggard-looking. When she explained that I'd unknowingly been dosed with reroot powder probably for over a year, the hospital went into high alert. They called the authorities; Dane wound up being arrested. They found his stash of the powder, and after all the tests they'd run on me, it was clear the accusation was true. He was charged with attempted murder.

"The trial wasn't until months later. My entire witness statement was read before the court, every detail of our life together and my failure to notice the signs that something was wrong. I saw him in the corridor just once, under guard, and he just stared at me as I stood, frozen in fear. I was still irrationally scared that just seeing him would be enough to break my mind all over again. But it didn't. He looked at me and I looked at him, and he said, 'I thought you loved me.' I told him, 'You were right. I did.' And then I walked away.

"He was found guilty, and he's currently in prison and will be for years. I begged off from attending the sentencing and went into work instead. Everyone knew what had happened, because it was in the papers, and to them, I had become this great victim figure, fragile and breakable. In part, they were right. It was the best part of a year before I fully recovered from what he'd done to me—physically, at least. Longer, for my magic to recover. And I swore I would never allow myself to become so fully in someone's power again. I must never let myself become someone's object, their possession, allowing them to define what I do or where I go or how I eat or dress. I need to always remember that I belong to myself before anyone else."

Finally, she stopped talking, stopped walking. "And that's my story," she said softly. "I haven't told anyone that for a long, long time."

Leo stood several arms' lengths away from her, and when she managed to work up the courage to look at his face, she almost flinched. She'd never seen that kind of anger in someone's expression before, such livid fury. "I'll kill him," he said without preamble. "Tell me where he is, and I'll kill him. I'll make it hurt, like he hurt you."

"No," Della said, keeping her tone even. "That's not your decision to make. It's mine, and I say it's better if he rots away in jail, powerless and surrounded by the magic he hates, than to have an easy way out like dying. I want him to spend all these years knowing that I am out here, living a good life and using this power I've been gifted however I want, because that will be the worst kind of torture that I could possibly inflict on him. Knowing that in his bid to rid me of my magic, he just made me more powerful, and I will change the world to make sure hatred like his can't fester between species in the same way, ever again."

In the span of a few moments, the fury melted from Leo's features—not gone, but controlled. Instead, the look on his face as he took her in was awestruck. In a blink he was before her, pulling her close and burying his face in her hair.

"You're the furthest thing from a victim I've ever met, Delphinia Greenbranch," he said quietly. "You are a survivor of the worst kind of hell, and I'll always be grateful that the universe brought me to you."

***

Hearing Della's story had sent Leo deep into what the older werewolves had taught him as a pup was called the 'killing calm'—when one became so angry that it went beyond fury and into a kind of rage so severe it was quiet. In that moment, if the man who'd hurt her had been standing in front of him, Leo would have torn the bastard limb from limb and made him watch his own dismemberment, consequences be damned. But her words made sense—enough that he could leash the fury and focus on her, at least. On what it had cost her to reveal this part of her history to him. On how he could possibly find the means to show her what it meant to him that she trusted him this way.

"Thank you," he managed to say out loud as she wrapped her arms around him in return. "Thank you for telling me."

Della buried her face in his chest, and they stood there, unspeaking, surrounded by the sounds of the forest.

"I don't want your pity," she said eventually.

"Good," Leo said, "because I don't have any for you. All you have is my admiration." He felt her smile against his chest. "I'll leash it," he promised. "The werewolf part of me, the… possessiveness. I'll keep it in check."

"I don't want you to be anyone but yourself with me," Della said. "I don't want you keeping parts of yourself 'leashed'. And as we've seen, I have it too, I just—if I react badly, sometimes, now you know why."

"No," Leo said with finality. "I won't do it; I won't do anything that reminds you of him. I won't let myself do that to you. To us."

Della pulled away far enough to meet his eyes. "I know you're nothing like him; of course, I know that. It's just the memories. Most of the time, though, I like it. I like that I mean enough to you for you to feel that way about me." A small smile graced her features. "And I think we've ascertained beyond question that I more than like the ways you show it when we're alone." She pulled his head down so she could kiss him, even the light touch of her lips pressing against his sending lightning through his body.

"We'll work it out," Della said when they broke apart. "I won't let him, or even memories of him, define what I'm allowed to do or enjoy or who I can be with." She took a deep breath. "I know we said we wanted something casual, Leo, but—"

"It's more," he finished for her. "You think I don't feel it too? This is everything, Della. You are everything."

"Everything," she echoed softly, and this time it was she who pushed him backwards until his back was against the thick trunk of a tree, her hands tangling in his hair as she pressed their bodies together like she could meld them into one. Her touch raced over him, pushing up his t-shirt and scraping over the flesh beneath, her nails digging lines into his abs. He found himself grabbing at her like she might be taken away from him, cupping and squeezing her breasts, the curve of her ass.

She broke away, panting, long before he was ready to let go of her. "So, these waterfalls?" she asked breathlessly.

"Not much farther," Leo said, catching the look of self-satisfaction that slipped over her face when he had to adjust himself to keep walking.

Perhaps he'd become immune to the beauty of the falls because his quiet appreciation of them was nothing compared to the way Della gasped when they reached the clearing. She stumbled over a rock, she was so busy staring, and when he caught her, she clung to his arm. "Leo, it's beautiful," she said breathlessly.

The falls cascaded some forty feet into a pool surrounded by low rocks that was home to fish, frogs and other creatures that could avoid being washed down the small stream they fed. The sun was breaking through the trees of the surrounding forest at just the right angle to send rainbows shooting from the tumbling water. They seemed magnetized to Della, lighting up her brilliant smile with a myriad of colors.

"Can we swim?" she asked.

"I don't usually in my human form, but I don't see why you couldn't," Leo said. His mind flickered to the nights he'd spent here in the past, knowing that they would now always be classified in his head as "before"—before he'd brought Della here and seen the beauty of the place through her eyes.

"I can stand watch if you want to try it without all those clothes on," Leo offered, raising an eyebrow.

"Sensor spells," Della said. "I can set them far enough out that we have time to get dressed again before anyone comes close." She stripped off her shirt, and Leo was momentarily struck dumb by the sight of her perfect breasts encased in lace.

"Wolves can move pretty fast," he managed.

"I'm familiar with the concepts of time and space, Leo," Della teased. "I'll set the spells far enough away, don't worry." She pulled her leggings down her legs and closed her eyes for a moment, making a spreading motion with her hands. Magic rippled from her. "There. Good to go. Now if you felt like joining me…"

Leo had stripped down to his underwear in a bare moment, reveling in the way she took in his body, in the hungry look in her eyes.

"Why do you still have underwear on?" she asked.

"You do," he pointed out, "I thought that was how you were planning to go in," and wondered if she was uncomfortable being naked around him after her revelations.

"Maybe I was just waiting for you to take them off me," Della offered, and with a growl, Leo was upon her.

He had to consciously restrain himself to avoid shredding her underwear again in his rush to have her bare before him, especially as her own hands were tugging off his boxers. When he had her breasts bared, he leaned down and took each of her nipples in his mouth, just for the pleasure of hearing her gasp and moan. He would never get over the taste of her, the feel of her skin on his tongue. His cock was begging for her touch, but he ignored it as he swung her up into his arms and, with her breathless reprimand of "Leo!" ringing in his ears, jumped into the water. It was cold enough to steal his breath, and when they resurfaced, Della was laughing and sputtering all at once, clinging to him with all four limbs.

"My gods, it's freezing!"

"You definitely feel the cold less when you're swimming as a wolf," Leo admitted. "I haven't been in here in this form in a long time."

Della kicked over closer to the waterfall itself and ducked under the stream. Leo found a rock by the edge and perched himself on it. When she resurfaced, she returned to him and wrapped herself around him. "Yep, it's even colder under there."

"I could have told you that," Leo said, wrapping his arms around her.

"It was more fun to find out for myself," Della grinned. "I love this place already. It's gorgeous. Thank you so much for bringing me here."

"Can I get you out and into the sun? You're shaking."

"In a minute," Della said, kicking off from him to dive deep under the water. Leo followed her, opening his eyes beneath the water to see her looking like some sort of water nymph, her hair spread out around her head as she explored the depths of the pool. He would have been content to watch her for hours, but soon enough they were both shaking and blue-lipped and Leo dragged her out and onto a flat stone in a patch of sunlight. Della laughed and flicked her fingers, drying them both immediately. The sun warming his bare skin, Leo lay back and soaked in the moment, Della's head on his chest.

"This must be what paradise feels like," Leo mused.

Della replied only with a contented hum, tracing patterns on his chest with her fingertips.

"So, you normally swim in there as a wolf?" she asked eventually.

"I haven't been here for a while," Leo said, "but we used to. You don't feel the temperature so much that way. I'd forgotten how bloody cold it is."

"Good excuse to lie in the sun afterwards," Della pointed out contentedly, her bare skin pressing against his as she shifted. She leaned back to meet his eyes with a smile, then bit her lip. "Do you think I might be able to see your wolf form someday?"

"Of course," Leo said, taken aback. "Whenever you want. I guess… I guess I didn't think you'd be interested in it." Wouldn't want to see me when I'm so profoundly inhuman.

"Leo, my job is in youth interspecies integration. You have to know it's not going to upset me to see you shift. You've been seeing me do magic all the time, and it doesn't seem to bother you. Why would your wolf form bother me?"

"Do you want to see it… now?" Leo asked. Despite her words, worry coiled in his belly. What if she didn't want him to touch her once she'd seen him as an animal?

Della sat up, taking his hand, and pressing it to her face. "If you're happy to show me. I don't want to push you."

"I want to show you," Leo said, slightly surprised to find that the words were true. "I want you to see me."

Della sat back, watching him with wide eyes. "Do you have to be naked to shift?"

"No, if you're wearing clothes, they just kind of… disappear as you shift. And then they come back when you shift back to human."

"Magic of the universe," Della said, as though she was confirming something she'd already suspected.

Leo climbed to his feet and across a few rocks, away from her. "Just don't be scared when you see me," he said. "Remember it's still me in there—it's just a different part of me that's leading. Remember I'll never hurt you, no matter what form I'm in."

"I know," Della said. "I won't be scared."

With a brief prayer that she still wanted him the same way afterwards, Leo reached within himself to his wolf and let it come to the fore.

He'd long since become used to the strange, somewhat painful sensations of his bones shifting shape, of his jaw elongating to fit extra teeth, of the fur bursting through his skin. As a pup it had scared him, but now it was second nature to set the wolf in him free and let the shift roll through his body.

He settled onto his four paws and took a deep breath, relishing the improved sense of smell he had in this form. The forest and the water were both deep and green, but mostly he smelled Della—and reveled in the fact that the sex-and-spices scent of her was now mixed with his own scent.

She was staring at him, but not in fear or disgust as he'd been afraid. She was taking in every inch of him, from his nose to his tail, a look of utter fascination on her face. She rose to her feet, the sun gilding her naked skin, and stepped towards him, slowly. The wolf part of his brain, so much more powerful in this form, wanted to howl its pleasure at her approach. He kept it in check, but barely.

"Can I… can I touch you?" Della asked hesitantly, and Leo inclined his head. There were some drawbacks to this form; he couldn't tell her that he'd relish her touch no matter what body he was in. Her hands came up and started with the fur between his ears, stroking down his neck and to his back and sides. She alternated between weaving her fingers into the thick fur and petting him the same way she stroked his chest when they lay next to each other. Leo closed his eyes, reveling in her touch, until she tapped his nose with one finger. The man in him loved that she was completely unafraid of him.

"Could I have human Leo back now, please?" she asked, all politeness.

Leo gave the wuff of breath that passed for a chuckle in his wolf form and shifted back. Della smiled up at him.

"What are you thinking?" he heard himself ask.

"That you're beautiful in that form," Della said quietly. "And deadly, I'm sure. I didn't expect you to be quite so… big."

"Not every wolf is. And the females are smaller." He paused. "You really didn't mind it?"

"Mind it?" she asked, sounding shocked. "Leo, your wolf form is stunning. I want to cuddle it like a huge teddy bear and go to sleep curled up next to it."

A massive laugh burst out of Leo like a balloon popping. "Okay, that is not the response my wolf form usually gets."

Della's laughter joined his own. "I'm sorry, what would you prefer? You're terrifying, so big and scary, I'm shaking in my boots?"

"I mean," Leo said, still laughing, "that is the usual reaction."

"But I know you'd never hurt me," Della said, stepping close enough to run her hands over his pecs and twine them up around his neck. "I have no doubt that you're utterly deadly in that form, as I'm sure you are in this one. But why would I be scared of you when I know you won't hurt me?" She pressed her body against his, her skin warmed by the sun. He tried to hold back the growl that came from their skin touching, and almost succeeded; it came out more as a rumble deep in his chest.

"Sweetheart, unless you're looking to get fucked on one of these rocks, I'd be careful what you do with that body."

Della pressed her lips to his collarbone. "And if I am?"

He wrapped a hand in the darkness of her hair. "Just confirm for me first that this isn't because you're turned on by my wolf. Bestiality is not on my kink list."

"I promise it's not because I want to fuck your wolf, Leo. I just… I love that you trust me enough to show me that part of yourself." She pulled back far enough to meet his eyes, a hint of a smile playing around her perfect lips. "So, what is on your kink list?"

Leo pulled her down onto the largest of the rocks, turning them so his body hit the hard surface. "For starters," he said, rolling his hips against her so she could feel the extent of his arousal, "I want to watch your gorgeous tits bounce while you ride my dick beside a waterfall. Think that could be arranged, sweetheart?"

She licked her lips, sending even more blood shooting to his swollen erection. "Oh, I think we can manage that."

She sat up on top of him, scoring her nails down over his pecs, his abs, all the way to his throbbing cock. The sight of her hands, so much smaller than his own, wrapping around his length and slowly moving up and down in a mind-blowing glide action made his head spin. "That's right, gorgeous, jack my cock. Let me see how much you like playing with it."

Della flicked her fingers and with a ripple of magic, suddenly there was a condom in her hands, drawn from who-knows-where. Had she packed them when they were getting ready? Had she been planning on taking his dick by the water this entire time?

All semblance of thought left his head as she rolled the thin latex down his length and positioned him at her entrance. "This much," Della said, looking like a primitive forest goddess as she rose over him. "This is how much I like it." And without giving him a chance to breathe, to even think, she sank down on him, engulfing him in the tight, hot wetness that he knew in that moment he would happily kill or die for. She bit her lips at the sensation of him filling her, and he couldn't help himself from pulling her down to cover her mouth with his own. She rocked her hips, moving atop him as their lips met, and her tongue flicked over his in sweet strokes matched by the way she took him shallow and deep, her hips rocking against his.

She released his mouth with a moan and pinned him to the rocks with her hands braced on his shoulders as she rose over him once more, using their position for resistance so that she could move her hips ever faster, ride him even harder. Half his instincts said to flip her on to her back and pound the boundless ocean of lust inside himself into her, but the other half was enamored beyond words with the perfection of her sun-gilded curves, the way her body moved atop his, the sounds she made when he bottomed out inside her, his skin meeting hers. This woman was his, his wolf insisted—his heart insisted. And now she was claiming him too, her nails digging into his shoulders as her moans became higher, sharper, her movements even faster.

"Leo," she gasped, meeting his eyes, and then she was throwing her head back as she shuddered around him.

Leo's control snapped. With a snarl, he palmed the curve of her hips to force her to take his thrusts as he arched up off the rock beneath them, dragging her as close as he could as he drove into her over and over.

His release struck him like a blow, and he was almost unconscious of dragging Della down to bury his face in her neck as he roared his pleasure loud enough for the whole world to hear.

They lay there for a long moment, the spray from the waterfall mixing with the dampness of their skin. Feeling Della's breath against his chest, her heart pounding as fast as his, her slick skin pressed to his own… there were no words for the feeling that filled Leo's chest so completely that he half thought he might burst with it. Or perhaps, there were a very specific three.

But surely, it was far too soon to use those words, especially with a woman who'd been so brutally betrayed by someone who should have protected her in the past.

But he couldn't keep himself from muttering into her hair, so quietly she could claim not to have heard it over the rush of the waterfall if she wanted, "I'm yours, Della. And someday, when you're ready, I hope you can say those words back to me."

Della tilted her head back to stare at him, her eyes wider than he'd ever seen them. Surprise, or fear? What had he just done?

"And if I'm never ready?" she asked, her eyebrows drawing together.

"Then that won't make what I said an ounce less true," Leo said. "I will still be yours, no matter what."

For a long moment, all she did was hold his gaze. And then she bent her head to press a kiss to his chest, right over his heart. Impossibly, the emotion filling Leo's chest expanded even further, making it hard to breathe.

Especially when she pressed her lips back to his and whispered, "Mine."