Thorn (Werewolf) ✔

Chapter Forty-Six

I tug at the end of the long, white gown as we walk half a mile away from all the talks and stares. "What am I wearing?"

"I think it belongs to Sky."

"Clearly."

I press my fingers into my stomach, feeling the faint scarring of stab wounds. It hasn't even been that long since it happened and the wounds are already healed. Thorn stays silent as I cock my head to try and glimpse my shoulder. The bite from the wolf last night has healed too.

"Did you use the herb?" I say.

"No," he says. "Werewolves heal faster than humans. Now your gene is activated, you will heal as quickly as us."

"Thorn." I pull back on his hand as he tries to turn away. I can't look at him, I keep my eyes on the ground. "Did you bring me back in the same way that Lyle brought me back?"

"No."

My eyes lift slowly. "Tell me. I can handle it."

He holds my hand a little tighter as he moves closer. It doesn't make any sense. The first time I died, I heard so many things. I heard the sounds of angels and I saw glorious bright lights. I felt safe and warm. This time I felt nothing. I remember nothing. The last thing I remember is telling him to be free before my body gave up and I fell asleep.

"Malese put you under a spell," he says. "She called it a protection spell. You were meant to die today. Cole was meant to kill you. She prevented that."

"But if she prevented my death then hasn't she screwed up something big? I should have died."

"You did die, Devon. Your heart stopped, your body started to decompose. We were. . . we were talking about damn funeral arrangements." He rubs his eye and then takes a deep breath, looking back to me with both sadness and love. "You died and I couldn't. . ."

"Hey, it's okay." I wrap my arms around him and I rest my face into his chest. He holds me closer, tightening us together like laces. "I'm alive. I'm here."

He calms himself and kisses the side of my cheek. "Just promise me that that's the last time you ever die on me."

"I promise," I say. "I died twice in one day and I'm still here. I must have a guardian angel or something."

"If you want to class a psychotic witch as a guardian angel then be my guest."

I smile. My hands hang around his shoulders. "I love you."

He blinks for a moment. "You finally said it."

"I've said it before."

"No, you wrote it down on a piece of paper."

"Oh."

"Say it again."

"I love-" My smile gets bigger as he kisses me.

He picks me up and I straddle his waist, we kiss so powerfully that we drop to the floor. My skin catches fire as his hand trails up the gown. I'm getting hotter. My fingers claw into his chest. I smile to myself as I look around. He kisses my throat, his hand moving up my spine.

"You were right," I say. "Being a wolf, it's the best feeling in the world. I don't think I want to give it up just yet."

"We have all the time in the world to talk about that." He flips me over so that I'm underneath him and he continues to kiss my throat before making his way down to my thighs.

"Doesn't it bother you that our wolves will never meet?"

"No. Should it?"

I lean my head back with a sigh. "I just wish that my transition doesn't have to happen through you. Why can't my gene just activate in a normal way?" I play with the seal on my chest, rubbing it slowly in my fingers.

He parts his lips from my stomach to grin at me. "Because you're not normal." He pauses and looks around, listening out for any noises before he tugs at my underwear—or rather, Sky's underwear—and slides them down my legs. "Oh, you've. . ."

"Yeah, I shaved in the motel room." I push myself up. "Thorn."

"Devon."

"They've probably found Lyle's body by now. Do you think the King knows that it was me?"

He leans back and falls onto his backside. I wiggle my underwear back up my legs and I crawl over to his lap. "I don't know," he says. "Maybe. The King is most likely too busy counting the pile of dead soldiers that are being carried and dumped on the road."

"Do you think he'll attack again?"

"I don't know," he whispers, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear. "What's really bugging you?"

"You're going back to England, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"And you're assuming that I'll be coming with you?"

Something changes in his eyes. They become agitated and uncomfortable. His nose twitches as he stares over my head.

"I would never ask you to choose between me and your family," he says. "I know how important getting to know them is to you. Now that Cole's gone, you can have a life here. But please don't expect me to be a part of that."

Is it selfish of me to want that? To expect him to stay for my benefit? I don't know what to do. I've only just found out about this whole other family and I've only had days to really let it sink in. How can I just walk away from them?

"I'm not saying that leaving you is an easy choice," he says. "It'll be the hardest choice I'll ever have to make. But I can't stay here, Devon. It's. . . it's suffocating me. It's suffocating my whole pack. You understand that don't you?"

"I understand. I guess there's no easy way out of this."

"I'll respect whatever you choose to do."

"I've already chosen," I say. I smile at him as I touch his cheek. "They might be my family but you are my home. That life in England, the one you described to me in that waterfall cave, I want that with you. And besides, they can always visit."

He grins and kisses me, rolling me beneath him. "As long as they don't mind the long swim through the ocean."

"Actually, I've been thinking about that. I may have a solution."

"What solution?"

"You'll see."

"I get turned on by secrets you know. Just a warning." He grabs my waist and jerks me into him.

We kiss for a while, his hands claiming parts of my body that have been cold for so long. He brings those parts back to life, he makes me appreciate being alive. We can't stop touching each other. We can't stop smiling. I love him and he loves me. Nothing could ever be simpler than that.

"I guess we're going to England," he says.

I claw my nails into his shirt excitedly. "I guess we are."