voice was sleep-rough and growly, a verbal affirmation of his secret, but while the syllables sensitized her skin, it was the happiness in his tone that caught her attention, had her turning her head to verify with her eyes what her ears swore was true.
Above her Iron loomed, the lines of his face relaxed in a way that she hadn’t seen before, almost boyish as he gazed down at her with a smile both on his lips and in his eyes. Awe burst through her, that she was responsible for this look, that she had been the one responsible for it having been missing for so long. With trembling fingers, Bella stroked his face – across his eyelids, the strong plane of his jaw, the straight line of his nose, memorizing this happiness with every sense available to her.
He caught her hand, brought it to his mouth and began kissing her fingers, light and loving and devoted. There was nothing sexual about this act, not like his teeth in her neck. This was adoration, and if there had been any shred of hesitancy, of doubt over her decision, it would be obliterated under Iron’s gentle ministrations.
Bella disentangled her fingers from his, reaching behind his neck to curl them into the short hair and bring him down, anticipation rocketing through her as Iron’s expression morphed, the love never leaving, but something else – fierce and ferocious – joining it as he looked down her body, the thin sheet barely clinging to the curves underneath.
And that look reminded her… “I’m not on birth control anymore.”
His eyebrows shot up as his eyes met her. “What?”
“I want kids, so I am not on birth control. I could lie and say I only want one or two, but really it’s more like four or five, maybe six. So if you don’t want that many kids, you need to stock up on condoms.”
Even if she didn’t know Iron wanted a big family, the huge smile that broke out over his face would have clued her in.
She was a werewolf, mated to the man she loved, a soon-to-be a doctor for the pack, and was going to have lots of babies. Life could not possibly get better.
Bella’s cell phone rang, the electronic wind chimes heralding Mel on the other side of the call.
Iron groaned against her throat. “No. Leave it. I have you to do.”
He tried to capture her mouth again, but Bella pushed him away, the smile on her face etched so deeply it would be impossible to get rid of. “If it was anyone but Mel…”
Iron huffed, flinging back onto the mattress. “Fine, but hurry up.” He spread his legs then, reaching down to stroke his half-hard dick. “I have plans for you. They include knocking you up and starting on our family.”
The phone chimed again. Anyone but Mel… “Yeah?”
Iron was hers . It had taken twenty years, but the stubborn ass was hers now, and she was going to revel in every moment of her good luck from here on out.
He would never get away from her. Never, not now, not when she knew how good it was to be with him, how her world had righted itself. It had been waiting for that final puzzle piece. It had been waiting for him.
And then Mel’s words penetrated the haze of happiness surrounding Bella’s brain.
“Wait… What?! ”
“I said…I’m walking on Millers Road with a jacket over no shirt and two wolves who will be up soon and I guarantee will not be happy I’m not still in bed with them. Can you come and get me?”
The End