His eyes warmed as he took her hand, threading their fingers together. “She did? I love that she’s said it already. She’s beautiful, by the way. Both of you are, human and animal form alike. You’re gorgeous.”
Smiling, she tightened her hand around his. “You’ve already said that, but thank you. I think the same of you. Well, you’re not beautiful, exactly. You’re gorgeous and sexy, and your dragon is stunning and fierce. But you still didn’t answer the question.”
Chuckling, he leaned in to kiss her, nipping her bottom lip in the way she loved before he pulled back. “A mate is very special to a shifter. They’re rare, and that makes them all the more precious to us. Our human sides can love as many people as we want, but there’s only one true mate for each of us, and it’s our animal who tells us who they are when we meet them.
“Once we meet our mate, that’s it. We’re theirs for life, whether they want us or not. We’d do anything for them—lie, cheat, steal, kill, die. Anything to keep them safe and happy. Their happiness and safety are our main priority. They’re our world, our life, our everything. That’s what you are to me. Everything I just said, I feel it burning deep within my chest for you.”
Katia’s eyes misted over, and she blinked rapidly, trying to hold the tears back. Everything he just said was beautiful, and she felt it burning in her chest, too.
“I feel that. Everything you just said. I feel it for you. God, I love you. It happened so fast, but I can’t imagine my life without you now.”
“It’s like that for shifters,” he said softly. “When we meet our mate, it happens just like that. For some humans, too, but not always. Some are more resistant. I lucked the fuck out when I got you for a mate, Katia. You’re more than I ever imagined I’d find, and that you were so open to me, to my world… I’m the luckiest mand in the world. I love you too, sweetheart, more than I could ever express.”
Leaning in, she kissed him softly, her heart damned near bursting with love and happiness. She was the lucky one, but she knew if she told him that, he’d argue with her until the end of forever.
Which was exactly what she had with him. Forever.
When she pulled pack, she sighed dreamily, unable to help herself. “What’s your ranch like? I imagine it’s beautiful. I can’t wait to see it. Soon, hopefully.”
He looked at her with surprise in his hazel eyes. “You want to go there with me? What about school?”
“I mean, I’m not willing to give up all my hard work over the past few years. But I’m sure there are colleges near you that I can transfer my credits to. Besides, while it’s still a goal I want to achieve, my dream has shifted. It’s now a life with you, building the Rogues, building our life together. I’m not willing to put that on hold, especially for a goal I can accomplish in Montana.”
He stared at her in silence for a drawn-out moment, his eyes flickering with his dragon. She felt her owl respond, and she put her hand on her chest, reveling in the sensation.
“You’re one hell of a woman, Katia,” he said softly. “Let’s stay here long enough to make sure there’s a college near me you can transfer your credits to. As soon as we find one, we’ll go to Montana. If there’s not, we’ll stay here. I’m not willing to let you put off your goals for me, even if your dreams have shifted.”
She smiled, confident they’d be going home soon. Yeah, it was weird, but his ranch already felt like home to her, even though she’d never seen it. But maybe that was just because of him. She’d feel at home wherever he was.
Standing up, she moved to straddle him, pushing his cowboy hat off. “Now that that’s settled. My owl is on me to claim you now, and I think it’s an excellent idea. You had your turn,” she said, reaching up to trace a finger over her claiming mark, “and now it’s mine.”
His eyes instantly turned hot, and she fused her mouth to his as they fell back onto the bed. Her body was on fire for him, her heart was full of love, and she was so happy, she was sure it radiated from her pores.
This moment was the beginning of her future with the kind, protective, sexy, absolutely amazing man currently kissing the breath right out of her.
It was the beginning o
f their forever—and what a beautiful life they were going to have together.
She could see it already, and it was the most breathtaking thing she’d ever seen.
Epilogue
Colton straddled his motorcycle, waiting on the man he was looking for to leave the gates of the Enforcers Academy—the training facility. Skylar’s first recruit for the Rogues was Maxwell Carter, a black falcon shifter. He’d been injured during flight training, and as a result, wasn’t allowed to finish Enforcer training and become a true Enforcer.
But Colton thought with some rehabilitation on his injured wing, he’d be perfect for the Rogues. He had everything else going for him. He just needed to say the word, and he’d be one of them. But how Skylar managed to find out about him so soon after he was rejected, Colton had no idea—and he honestly wasn’t sure he wanted to. Knowing Skylar, it probably involved something illegal, especially since Maxwell hadn’t even had a chance to leave the facility yet.
Looking down at the inside of his forearm, he traced his fingers over the tattoo he’d gotten last week. Katia had drawn an image in black of his dragon’s face, complete with blazing green eyes, and added Rogue Enforcers to a ribbon above it.
It was completely badass, and her talent still had the ability to surprise him, although it probably shouldn’t. Everything she drew was amazing.
She, Justin, and Skylar had decided it should be the Rogue’s logo. He went along with it, but to him, it would always be a representation of how his mate saw him, and he loved it for that. So much that he had it tattooed onto him.
The others wanted all Rogues to get the tat, but he wasn’t sure about making it a requirement. It felt a little arrogant, but they had a point with why they wanted to—they’d decided that the Rogues didn’t need to be a tight knit group. Just a bunch of shifters, doing their best to keep the world safe, and they could be where they wanted to while they did it, as long as they went through training with him first.
But if they were a loose knit group, even if they did all answer to him—which was still hard to swallow, the fact that he was now the leader of a group like this—then they needed a way to recognize another Rogue when they saw them.
The last thing they needed was Rogues killing Rogues on accident, because they didn’t know they were on the same team. Then the true Enforcers would definitely be hunting them and taking them out.