Chapter 58

DAKOTA’S POV

“Happy birthday to you!” I smiled at the faces of my family and friends. Anna and Alan had flown out to surprise us. I couldn’t be more grateful. Orion and Kate had stopped by too, with a huge cake no less. The whole ambiance was friendly—the only non-friendly person in the room was Adam, and I made it a point to ignore him. No way was I letting a grumpy idiot ruin this day for my mate and me.

“Make a wish, guys…” Akela and I closed our eyes and made our wishes. I wished that I would take down Odin, and Akela and I would have a fairy tale ending. We opened our eyes and blew out the candles on the cake.

A small party ensued in the backyard of my mother’s house with lots of dancing, eating, and food. All the while, Adam stood in the corner like a bodyguard.

Turned out that my and Akela’s birthdays were a day apart, so we decided to just pick the day in the middle and celebrate together. And this was something I knew I was going to turn into a tradition. It felt better than when I celebrated my birthday with just my parents. It also seemed surreal that it was already a year that shit went downhill for me, and my birthday also signified that I was running out of time, and I needed to challenge Odin soon. I had put it off for long enough. I took a deep breath and focused on the celebration around me. I was nervous.

The festivities went well into the night. We had gotten a lot of gifts. Anna and Alan and my mother had gotten us cars!

Akela had gifted me his part of the moon necklace, and now it lay joined on my chest.

I stood from my seat and excused myself from my party, deciding that I would take a walk in the woods. The moon was high in the sky, and it was a full moon. It felt as though the moon goddess was blessing my birthday with her gift. And the moon called out to my wolf. I took slow steps into the wood until I came into a clearing. I sat on a fallen piece of wood and just looked up at the moon. I was so immersed in the beauty that I didn’t notice when Akela came up behind me.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” I turned my head and smiled at Akela, shifting to make space for him next to me on the log. He sat down next to me and placed a soft kiss on my cheek. My heart fluttered in my chest, and I lay my head on his shoulder.

“How was your birthday?”

“Our birthday.” He smiled. “It was amazing.”

“I’m happy you enjoyed it.”

“Did you?” Akela just shrugged.

“Well, I’m not a sucker for birthdays, but this one is different. This is the first one that I have spent celebrating with my mate.” I blushed again. We remained silent for a while, just watching the silent show that was the moon and the clouds that surrounded it.

“Do you want to go for a run?” I nodded. My wolf needed that.

I walked behind a huge tree in the distance and shifted, stretching my limbs and paws. I shook my head and licked my snout, everything in my line of sight now sharper and clearer.

I walked out and Akela was already waiting for me, laying on his back and playing with his tail. I huffed and rolled my eyes. He saw me and quickly rolled to his paws. He came over to me and licked my snout. He walked around me, rubbing his body all over mine. I gasped. He was scent marking me. I jumped away from him and playfully growled at him, and then took off running deeper into the woods. I heard his paws hitting the ground as he followed me, nipping at my ankles and forcing me to go faster.

We continued for what seemed like ages until we finally got to a small body of water. I slowed down and stood at the bank. The moon reflecting off of it made it look more beautiful. I lay down there, appreciating the beauty.

Akela came up beside me, and he must have noticed the beauty of the water too because he was mesmerized for a bit. Then he ran back. I looked behind me to see where he was running to, but he vanished from sight, and I was too tired to follow. A few minutes later, he came back with our clothes in his mouth. He dropped mine over my body and went into the trees again to change. I picked up my dress and did the same. We both returned to the same spot.

The moonlight caught on his skin and made him look like some sort of Greek god. I didn’t know when I got so close to him until he pulled me into his arms and kissed me. I wrapped my hands around his neck and surrendered to the kiss.

His lips traveled down my neck and stopped on the spot where his mark would be and nibbled on it.

“You smell amazing…” he mumbled against my skin, sending shivers down my spine.

“I smell of sweat and sand right now…”

“…and cake, and sweet, sweet steak…” I threw back my head and laughed.

“Nineteen looks so good on you.” He brought his head back and looked into my eyes with a smile.

“Nineteen looks good on you too,” I replied.

“Are you ready?”

I swallowed loudly. He heard it and mistook it for unwillingness to start the mate bond.

“It’s okay if you don’t want us to mark each other. We have all the time in the world to do this…”

“No, no. We’re doing it now.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been surer of anything else in my life.”

His lips trailed down the side of my neck again, settling on the spot where his mark would be. He lingered there for a bit, breathing heavily against my neck.

I felt his canines extend. I gasped and closed my eyes as they broke through my skin and settled into my neck. He carefully removed his teeth and licked the spot where he marked. I moaned at the sensation.

“Your turn…” he said, smirking at me.

Without much ado, I pulled his head back by his hair and bit into his neck. I let my hand roam his back, feeling the muscles tense and buck as I licked the mark.

I could feel the connection between our minds and our wolves. We stood under the moonlight, smiling at each other.

A lot of people had described the experience as the most incredible thing to ever happen to them. No one said anything about the feeling of belonging you begin to feel or the incredible love that suddenly floods your chest. I love it here.