the sheets. His face was relaxed, and she hesitated to wake him. Never had she seen him look so untroubled. He probably hadn’t slept this well since the night before he saved her and Lana from the werewolf that killed Marianna. It seemed as if the pressure had been lifted from him. The weight he had been carrying on his shoulders must have been substantial. She would be there for him now to try to make it easier, because no matter how easy he made things look, the amount of responsibility he managed could be crushing. He would be an alpha by night’s end. She inhaled happily as pride hummed through her body.
Grey stretched his legs and pulled her closer. “Your thoughts are so loud, I can almost hear them.”
“Okay, then what am I thinking, Black Wolf?”
Opening his eyes, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “How happy and proud you are.”
So their bond meant he could read her mind? That was disturbing. “Huh, good guess.” She squinted and tried to expel any embarrassing inappropriate thoughts about how good it felt to wake up to Grey’s erection pressed against her belly.
“I can’t read your mind, but I can get a sense of what you are feeling.”
Perhaps that is what she’d been doing right before he woke up—sensing his emotions. Certainly, she had felt something…relief emanating from him.
“I think I can, too. Is that normal? I mean, does that happen to other pairs?”
His chuckle reverberated against her cheek. “Dean told me about it happening to certain couples. It depends on the intensity of the bond.”
They lay there for a while in contented silence as she traced the smooth planes of his shoulder. He would be branded tonight and this was the last time she’d see his upper arm unmarred.
“Grey? That wasn’t like anything I’ve ever…” She tried again. “It was…” There was no way words could do justice to how he made her feel. “Being with you was amazing. It’s like you were made just for me. Your body was made to fit my body.”
“I know,” he said with a smile in his voice. He kissed her softly. “For me, too.”
Her stomach, apparently unimpressed with the tender moment, growled loudly. “All right, smarty-pants, what am I thinking now?”
“I bet I can take a guess. I think the caterer put the leftovers in the fridge.”
“Okay, dinner would be nice, but first I want to get all of these pins out of my hair and take off all this makeup.”
“How about we take a bath first and then get food?”
She hesitated. “I know it’s silly, but will a bath wash any of your smell off me?”
He shook his head slowly. “Not even a little. And even if it did, I could put my scent back in you.”
She nodded, satisfied. “A bath and then food.”
* * * *
Morgan wore pink flannel shorts with a gray tank top and bright pink bunny slippers that dangled lazily from where she sat on the countertop. Grey smirked thoughtfully at her house shoes.
“Whatever happened to Bucky?” he asked, taking another forkful of tenderloin from the plastic storage container.
“Oh, Lana’s pet bunny? Logan ate him. I didn’t tell Lana that, though. I told her he was running free in the forest. He offered to buy her another one, but I don’t want to put another pet store bunny through that. I think we’ll hold off on pets for a while because they are too appetizing for the company we keep. Is it going to hurt?”
“What, the branding ceremony? Yeah. I haven’t ever been branded, but I know how a silver knife felt in my back when I fought the Montana pack. It’s not like a normal cut. It burns, but I’ll do it quick. Dean showed me a few tricks to get a good scar out of it without damaging the muscle. When he brings Marissa over, he is going to do mine first.”
“What kind of knife are you supposed to use?”
“A traditional ceremonial knife coated in silver. They are thinner, like a letter opener to carve a smaller line. A challenger made us miss the first meeting with the silversmith, so Dean picked ours up after the wedding. It will be the knife I use on all of our pack members from here on.”
He slid off the counter and closed the gap between himself and his mate. He pulled her legs apart so he could stand in between them and took a long drag of the