Page 33 of Lukyan

epilogue

Lukyan kissed his way down Norah's chest. "I love you." He kissed the area right above her heart. He moved further down. “I love you,” he said as he placed a kiss on her lower rib. Edging lower so that his face was above her round belly, he laid a final kiss on the swell. "And I love you, little bean." He kissed the bump once more. Norah never tired of hearing him tell her that he loved her. Those three words had been her constant companion the past three months, and she knew, without doubt, they would be her constant companion for the remainder of her life. How could she have ever distrusted his love for her? Now that her blinders were off she could see their relationship for what it was, for what it hadalwaysbeen. He loved her as completely as she loved him.

"I love you too. So does little bean, by the way. He kicks every time you talk to him." Now in her eighth month, Norah's belly was in full bloom. She was past the halfway mark for a wolf shifter pregnancy, but the majority of her growth had ended at this point. According to the experienced shifter mothers in the pack, she would not get much bigger.Thank Goddess, she thought.How could I move this body if it were bigger?

Lukyan seemed to have no qualms with her growing size. He spent hours every day rubbing and kissing her belly, massaging her aching back, and rubbing her feet. She didn't know who liked it more, her or her wolf. To be fair they were both pretty infatuated with him.

"You know, we still have six months until this baby, but that's gonna go a lot faster than we think. We have got to decide on the bean’s name, Lukyan." Norah ran her hands through his wavy hair while he rested his cheek against her belly.

"It isn’t that we haven’t settled on his name, it's that you have not yet given me any good options." She could feel his smile against her skin.

"I've given you plenty of great names. Jack was my favorite but you marked that off the list very quickly." She tugged his hair playfully.

"Jack isn't as bad as I had originally thought, but I think we can do better. Give me a few more ideas." He raised his head and cocked an eyebrow at her. She loved it when he gave her that arrogant look. It was something that was so rare for him to share with other people, but so common when they were together alone. She liked that he showed her the most comfortable part of him.

"How about Edward? Such a dreamy name."

Lukyan snorted, "Edward? Norah, give me a real option. Just think of all the ways people could torture a kid named Edward. One: Give Head Ed. Two:Eddie." He made a face at this one causing Norah to laugh.

"Eddie is an actual name, Lukyan. Not a nickname. Lots of people go by Eddie. I went to school with an Eddie and he was a great guy." Lukyan cocked his eyebrow again.

"Not my child. Three: No Good in Bed Ed. Four: Never Gets Head Ed. Five: —" Norah was in full giggle mode now.

"Okay, okay. I get your point. You don't like the name Edward because you can rhyme other words with it. This list could go on forever. Said, red, dead, meds, lead, street-cred.” She laughed at the last word on her list. “But Edward was one of my favorites. Plus, my mother said it was my great-great-grandfather's name.” She picked up her head and looked at him. “We can always name him Luke, after you." She gave him a slight smile. He smiled back which made her heart flip-flop.

"Or, we could name him Norman, after you." He winked. She laughed again.

"I don't need to make a list to explain why we will not name our child Norman." Lukyan crawled up the length of her body so that his face was above hers and his hips were pushed between her thick thighs. He rested his weight on his hands so that her delicate stomach didn’t take any of his weight.

"We still have a while yet to think about the baby’s name. What we don't have is much more time to ourselves. I talked with Dimitris yesterday and he thinks that it is safe enough now for us to do a bit of traveling. I haven’t had you completely to myself since those two days in the cabin. Since the moment I looked in your beautiful turquoise eyes, I have dreamed of taking you to the Caribbean. How about we go away for a little vacation, just the two of us, before little Luke or Norman makes his debut into this world?" Norah pulled her legs up a bit so that she could wrap them around her mate’s hips and waist. She tightened her muscles, effectively pulling his erection so that it nuzzled against her core. They had just made love, but she was ready for more.

"You've been wanting to take me to the Caribbean since we met eight months ago?" She smiled at the thought of her big sexy mate romanticizing a getaway with her.

"Yes, I told you I loved you from the first moment. I knew right away that I wanted nothing more than to spend every day with you for the rest of my life, and that includes magical getaways on tropical islands." He leaned down and kissed her. She sucked on his tongue for a long while before breaking the kiss.

"So you really knew, right away?" He gave an earnest nod of his head. "It took me a little while longer." She tried to cock an eyebrow but found that both her eyebrows moved up instead of just the one. It seemed that being cocky in the bedroom was Lukyan's thing, not hers. He leaned down again and kissed her cheek.

"Oh yeah? Like how long?"

She sighed, "Only a day. I knew from the moment I met you that you were special, but I didn't want to admit how much so. I had been so foolish about love before you, and after you, that I couldn’t bring myself to believe what we had with one another. But that moment when your wolf launched himself at me from the door, and then you landed fully naked and completely erect on top of me, that’s when I knew for sure that I loved you." Lukyan laughed.

“So was it my nakedness or my erection that made you fall in love with me?" Norah slapped him playfully on his shoulder.

"It was neither. It was knowing that you were struggling with your wolf to maintain control. I could see how much pain you were in trying to fight him. But you were the stronger one. You gave me a choice. You didn't have to. Your wolf clearly didn't want you to. Now that I am a shifter I understand the power that the wolf can have on us. And yet, you did it. I knew in that moment that I loved you and that there would be no other man on earth for me." He leaned down and kissed her again, gentler this time. His tongue stroked her mouth in lazy circles before moving to suck on her upper lip.

"So you will go away with me? To the Caribbean?" Norah nodded her head shyly.

"Yes. Of course. I would go anywhere with you, Lukyan, but can we wait at least until after the full moon?" Lukyan pulled back and gave a questioning look.

"Why after the full moon? I was thinking that we would go next week if you can manage your work schedule. The full moon is over two weeks away."

Norah gave him her sweetest smile. "Do you remember the dinner we all had after my heat ended? The one where everyone was invited and we had roast beef and mashed potatoes — which, by the way, may have been the best meal I've every in my life?" Lukyan groaned.

"Of course, how could I forget that disastrous dinner?"

Norah massaged his thick shoulders and tightened her legs, pulling him even tighter against her center. "I don't think it was disastrous, at least not now that I can see clearly. I think it was very sweet. Do you remember asking me about renewing our mating ceremony?" Lukyan kissed her swiftly.

"You want to renew our mating ceremony? With witnesses?" The hopeful look on his face made her imagine what their child would look like. Would he, too, give her looks filled with hope and desire? She hoped the little bean looked just like his father.

"I would love to renew our mating ceremony. I love you and you love me and I would like for us to share that with the entire pack. I mean,” she hesitated, suddenly unsure of herself, “if you still want to."

Lukyan didn't even bother to answer. At the same time that he ducked in for a hard kiss, he filled her completely with his hard length. Given her size, the position was awkward, but Norah didn’t mind that her belly was in the way. She liked how his body covered the length of hers and how strong his legs and back felt as she wrapped around him. This time their lovemaking was swift and passionate. They both came quickly. Afterward, he rolled her over so that she was spooned against his chest. He gently massaged her scalp, pulling her hair slowly away from her face as he kissed her temple.

"You make me so happy, every single day. I love you. And I cannot wait to mate you all over again."