"You know I do."
He grabbed her hand. "I want to show you something."
She dropped her bag in the foyer before he led her through the house and out the back door. For a moment, she was confused. She looked around. "Are we still in Noctem Falls?"
The moment they walked through his back door, they'd stepped into a dark forest. Overhead, the night sky was clear, and the stars twinkled like bright diamonds. Soft grasses and fallen leaves cushioned her feet as she stepped farther into this impossible forest. She could actually smell the earth, petrychor, and the crisp scent of snow. Unlike the icy weather of her home city, she was comfortable enough that she didn't need a coat, even though the scents and breezes made her think of winter.
"Is this real?" she whispered. She spun around, looking for evidence that she was still in the caves of the vampire city.
"Yes, in a way." He led her deeper into the woods until they came upon a clearing with a trickling brook. "This is my place of solace." He sat down and gently pulled her down beside him. "Shifters don't do well in Noctem Falls when they first arrive. Our animals feel caged and trapped, me more than most because I had lived wild for so long." He laid them back and pulled her close to his body. "Micah must have noticed how many patrols I requested topside and asked if there was anything he could do to make my house more of a home for me. I flippantly requested a forest." He shook his head. "I should have known he'd see it as a challenge."
Sighing contently, Ellie snuggled closer. Grant's simple place of solace allowed him a safe haven where the world fell away, and he was sharing it with her.
"How'd they do this?"
"No idea. Micah is more of an air witch, and we didn't have the twins back then. I think Leif did most of the spells, since he's the best at earth magic. All my unit brothers contributed. They created barriers so that the only way in or out is through the back door. It's completely safe and soundproofed. After they finished, my wolf calmed down, and this really became his home."
"The sky looks so real," Ellie held up her hand, reaching as if to touch the moon.
"They pulled from some of my fondest memories."
In the background, the melodic howl of a distant wolf echoed through the trees. Moments later, the wolf was answered by many voices lifting to the sky.
She propped herself up on her hand to look at her mate. "The pack you lost?"
He nodded then broke out in a smile. "The poor alpha female had no idea what to make of me. Human but not, alpha evidently, but also a pup. She pulled me out of more scrapes than my father ever had."
"What about the male alpha?"
He turned to face her. "He was older, but still very strong. He let me run wild but bit my ass more times than I could count to keep me in line. Looking back, he was very tolerant of me."
Ellie hesitated, but wanted an answer from her mate. "Why do you think you're a monster?" She could tell him all day long he wasn't, but she knew from personal experience it was hard to change the way you perceived yourself.
He reached out and traced her lips with his thumb. "I learned that gesture just recently watching Declan with his mate." He let his hand fall away. "Even though I grew up human for the first twenty years of my life, I saw no tenderness between mates, especially my parents. My father routinely abused both my mother and me. He used his position as Alpha to get away with it." He rolled onto his back and threaded his fingers under his head. "The first gentleness I ever experienced, except from my mother, was from a pack of wild animals, and make no mistake, as much as I loved them, they were wild animals. We'd mercilessly take down the young of other species to eat and leave our own sick behind to die to keep the pack safe. They taught me to survive, not much more." He sighed. "You deserve so much more."
Ellie couldn't stand the sound of his pain a moment longer. Gathering her courage, she quickly straddled her mate before she lost her nerve. His eyes widened. "That makes you just about perfect."
He frowned in confusion. "Come again?"
"In showing you how to be mates, I technically will be teaching you exactly what my wants and needs are," she said. He still looked confused. "Okay, look at it this way: all your factory default settings regarding relationships will be optimized to suit me perfectly."
His expression cleared. "I never thought about it like that." He paused. "You really don't think I'm dangerous."
She laughed. "Of course you are." He scowled fiercely, and she leaned in to gently tease his lips. "But never to me or Benji or your friends or anyone else you care about. There's a difference between being a danger to society in general and being protective of the ones you love."
"I do, you know."
"Do what?"
"Love you."
She felt her heart pick up. "I love you too." Now it was her turn to be confused. "Isn't it too soon?"
He smiled one of his rare sexy smiles up at her. "I've heard that mothers fall in love with their babies the moment they see them, for some, the moment they know they exist. I've loved my mate from the moment I realized I might have one. When I saw you for the first time it was as if everything I had experienced and done led me to that one moment when all became right with my world. I was created just for you as you were for me. That one second in time became my own personal miracle. I'm a selfish, selfish bastard Ellie, because I am never going to let you go. I couldn't survive without my heart and soul, and you have become both and more. You have become the best of me. If I lost you, I would be a desolate shell, and I would fear for my brothers, for they would be the only ones capable of ending my life and sending me into your arms once again."
Ellie blinked, and tears fell from her cheeks to Grant's throat. He sat up and wrapped his arms around her. "That wasn't supposed to make you cry."
"How could that not make me cry? I'm not used to men even opening the doors for me, and you say something beautiful like that," she sniffled into his shirt.