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Chapter Seventeen
Overcome with emotion, Alani all but threw herself at Ivo. She hadn’t expected him to be so immediately accepting of her situation, even if she had been willing to go with the whole hi-honey-I’m-a-shifter thing. But there he was, open and willing and patient, and she just couldn’t help herself; she couldn’t find another way to express just how deeply that affected her without kissing him. Their lips parted on impact, his tongue sweeping into her mouth, warm and coaxing, and her fingers threaded through his hair rougher than she meant to.
His full-bodied cringe made her pull back. Her hand flew to her mouth for a moment, smothering her soft giggles and hiding an expression that would have told him she was shocked at her own actions. Straddling his hips, they were seconds away from ripping each other’s clothes off if the heat in Ivo’s stare said anything about it.
“I’m so sorry,” she murmured. Alani had been so wrapped up in the words and emotions flying around that she had completely forgotten that he was in a world of hurt. Maybe this wasn’t the best time to initiate anything, as much as she wanted to. “Did I hurt you?”
Ivo shook his head, grasping her suddenly by the back of the neck.
“Not even a little,” he growled as he dragged her mouth back to his, claiming her lips with a ferocity that startled her—startled and thrilled her.
Alani threw herself back into the fray, willing to let herself fall, but she was a little more mindful that he was in pain this time. She stopped tugging at his hair. When he hissed in a breath of pained air at the feel of her hands questing down his muscular chest, Alani pulled back and made a note that this area seemed particularly painful.
“We can stop,” she said, chest heaving from the effort of restraining herself, “or just press pause and resume later—”
“No.” Ivo scooped her up as he stood, forcing her to wrap her legs around his hips. “No, I don’t want to stop.”
She bit her lip for a moment to hide her grin. When he smirked at her, hands cupping her ass, kneading the plump flesh, she shrugged and murmured, “Well, neither do I. I was just thinking of you.”
“So thoughtful,” Ivo teased as he carried her straight into the bedroom. “I knew there was something I liked about you…”
She nipped at his lower lip in a chiding response, which only made him knead her ass harder. He all but kicked the door down to get into her room, and seconds later she was tossed on the bed like a ragdoll. It was at that moment, as she arched her back and Ivo crawled up her body—all heated glances and hot breaths— that Alani wondered if shifters were stronger than humans. If so, the idea of sleeping with a being more powerful than her, yet one who handled her with an immense measure of restraint—well, it was a bigger turn-on than she had expected.
The towel was tossed aside with ease, already half-falling off his hips from her writhing torso, and both Alani and Ivo made quick work of the rest of her clothes. In his haste, Ivo even snapped one of her bra straps in half, which he sheepishly apologized for—all the while looking in heat as he watched her revealed figure come to light.
No man had ever made her feel so desired, so wanted before. Ivo looked at her like she was a goddess. Even if it was his biology that made it so, Alani found herself dissolving into a hopeless puddle of want and need by his stare alone.
While Alani was eager for desperate passion and unrestrained want, she knew Ivo ached from his run-in with the ram shifters—as strange as that was, of course. So, she acted accordingly, careful around his wounds, cradling his face delicately in her hands when she kissed him with such softness that it almost pained her. Ivo responded in kind, and they made love on the edge of her bed, slow and deep, nothing like their first time.
This was like the coming together of souls, not just two physical bodies. She was able to stare deep into those dark eyes, rooting out the pain and the loss, but also the love and the compassion.
She wanted all of it—all of him. Not just the good. Certainly not just the bad. But Alani wanted every part of him to be hers and vice versa. If they were somehow paired together by an unseen force in the world, then they deserved to relish every facet of each other.
When they were through, her body tingling from the aftermath of an orgasm she swore she felt in her marrow, they climbed into bed together, emotionally and physically exhausted. The second she closed her eyes, Alani was lost to the darkness of sleep, wrapped up in the arms of her—confirmed—soulmate.
And never had she felt safer in all her life.
***
Apparently good things could happen to him. Ivo awoke a few hours later in disbelief of all that had happened. Sure, Alani was in his arms, her head on his chest as she dozed, but he still had to pinch himself hard to confirm this wasn’t a dream. He had spilled his guts out to this woman, told her everything, and she was still here. She hadn’t so much as looked toward the door for an escape route at the mention of fated mates.
Every time Ivo imagined telling her about their entwined destinies, he always pictured a major freak-out. How could he not? Who wouldn’t? The news was life-changing. Yet she had stayed. She had brought him back to her bed and made him feel like the luckiest guy in the universe.
Alani had made him feel safe, treasured, like he didn’t have to put on some obnoxious front to hide his true emotions. For the first time in his life, Ivo ditched the sarcasm and snark in favor of bearing his soul—and the incredible woman in his arms just accepted him as is. No tears. No running. No laughter. Just pure, open honesty.
If this was what true love felt like, he only wished he had found it sooner. Hell, if he’d headed for Hawaii, like his teenage self had wanted back in the day, maybe he might have met her years ago before another man had given her cubs and then abandoned them.
Back then, Ivo had considered Hawaii because hotels were always hiring busboys, and the tropical weather sounded amazing after years in the dreary east coast, but he didn’t have the money to get there. New Mexico was the cheaper, easier option.
Still, regardless of his past mistakes, all of it had led up to this moment. Ivo kissed the top of her head and smiled, drawing her closer when she stirred softly. His ribs protested the slight weight resting on top of them, but he could handle the pain. In fact, his whole body still felt like the snot had been beaten out of it, but the physical appearance of the wounds had improved drastically while they’d slept.
If Ivo had it his way, he’d stay in bed with her forever. But at that moment, he knew he couldn’t. While he had pushed the bighorn rams away from his clan’s mountain, there was no telling when they would return.
Miguel was right; the rams had a large group of strong males, all the right age to cause trouble, and it wouldn’t be right for Ivo to cuddle in bed with his fated mate while the clan’s safety hung in the balance. No one could blame him for wanting to, of course, but since nothing was broken anymore, his mind was clear, and his senses were on full alert, Ivo needed to leave.
While his inner bear grumbled with discontent as Ivo slipped out from under the covers, the animal within also understood the need to protect the clan. Just a fleeting image of those rams crossing Ivo’s mind made his inner black bear snarl. The rage they would both feel if something happened to the clan—to the innocent cubs and elders, to the women unable to fight—would be cataclysmic. Most of them were jerks, but the Angel Fire bears were a clan of his jerks. No one but Ivo got to pick on them.
And no one, ram shifter or otherwise, was allowed to hurt them. Not on Ivo’s watch.
