Nodding, he took a deep breath and focused, using the same amount of power. Moments later, Noah’s lion was in his place. He looked much like Luke, except he had no black in his mane.
“My turn,” Liam said, his Irish accent thicker than usual, directing his attention.
With a nod, he repeated the process. And just like before, the shift happened without knocking him out or killing him. Liam was a flight shifter, and he flapped his gigantic white wings, soaring into the sky. Liam was a white raven—the only one Luke had ever met—and watching him in flight always left him feeling a little in awe.
“Do you need our help?” Dmitri asked quietly, flicking a quick glance toward Georgie.
Luke shook his head, a little overwhelmed by the offer. Dmitri and Damara kept their animals’ existence a closely guarded secret. Only the other Enforcers, and now Tarun, knew what they were. The fact that they were willing to expose themselves in front of a human, all in the name of helping him, meant more than he could express.
“I appreciate the offer, I really do. But I think I have it now. I’ll force the others back into their human bodies just to make sure, but I think I’m good.”
He could have sworn he heard Noah groan, and he looked over with a grin he’d be the first to admit was a little on the sadistic side. It seemed like he really had found the right balance, and since he wasn’t worried about maiming or killing them, he was looking forward to it.
One by one, from Noah to Blake—only pausing long enough for Liam to land so he didn’t plummet to the Earth when he shifted—Luke forced them back into their human skins, leaving them all, Blake included, panting from the pain of their shifts.
The sound of running footsteps came to him, and he turned just in time to catch Tarun as she threw herself into his arms. Holding her closely, he spun her in a circle as she threw her head back, laughing with abandon.
“Look at you,” she said breathlessly as he brought them to a stop. “I knew you could do it, but you got the hang of it so quickly once you believed you could do it. I’m so damn proud of you.”
He eased her down until her feet touched the ground. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”
Before she could reply, he kissed her with every ounce of everything he was feeling—surprise, elation, relief, and, most importantly, love. They kissed for what felt like forever, until everyone else had gone back inside and they were the only ones left.
When he pulled back, her lips were shiny and swollen from his kisses, and the look in her gorgeous hazel eyes stole his breath. Her gaze roved over his face as the green rims slowly overtook the hazel, and when she met his eyes again, the look in hers stole the breath he’d just gotten back.
“You dropped a bombshell on me earlier and then just walked away. You didn’t even give me a chance to say it back. I love you too, Luke Carlisle. Sometimes I have a hard time believing just how much. It’s almost impossible to comprehend. You mean absolutely everything to me.”
Fuck, what those words did to him. He shook his head silently for a moment, trying to find his voice. “I think this might be the best day of my life so far. I found the control I need for my gift, and the most amazing woman in the world just declared her love for me. I can only think of one other thing that could make it better.”
She cocked her head, a small smile playing on her lips. “What’s that? Because if it’s in my power to give, it’s yours.”
A grin stretched across his face as he leaned down and scooped her up in his arms. She squealed, laughing as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“What are you doing?”
Winking, he leaned down and grabbed the door handle, managing to get it open, then took the stairs two at a time. “You said I could have whatever I wanted if you could give it.”
“Well, yeah, but what—” her words trailed off as he reached their bedroom and opened the door, letting her slide down his body once they were inside. “Oooo
h, okay. I think I get it. I’m totally on board with that plan.”
“And I’ll make sure you don’t regret it,” he murmured against her lips.
He kissed her for a long moment, easy and chaste, before slipping his tongue inside her mouth. Fuck, what a simple kiss with her did to him. It was unreal. He’d always heard that everything was better with a mate, but the fact that she could make his blood boil and his knees weak with the simple press of her lips to his was mind blowing.
Her body was plastered against his, making it hard to touch her, but he didn’t let it slow him down. He trailed his hands down her back, slipping them easily underneath the waistband of her stretchy yoga pants. He kneaded the soft skin of her ass before squeezing it and pulling her into him. His dick thumped against his thigh as he felt her pressed so intimately against him, and he groaned deep in his throat.
He hadn’t had a chance to replace the clothes he lost in the fire yet, and he was still wearing borrowed sweats. It’d been aggravating, but in that moment, he was thankful. Between his sweats and her yoga pants, there was no stiff, scratchy material between them, and they were both feeling each other better than they would have otherwise.
Easing his mouth away from hers, he made his way to the soft skin of her neck. He knew it was a trigger spot for her, and he loved the way it felt against his lips and tongue. He started suckling on her skin, reveling in the way her breath stalled before she heaved for air.
Her hands reached out, tugging the hair tie from his hair, and he felt her fling it aside as she tunneled her fingers in the strands, holding him to her neck as she arched her body even tighter to his.
“I want to claim you. I want you to claim me. I want us to claim each other.”
Freezing at her softly spoken words, he reared back to search her eyes. They were fully green now, her tiger showing through clearly, and hazy with desire.
Swallowing hard, his lion, his body, hell, his whole being yearning to give her just that, he forced himself to speak, not surprised in the slightest when the words came out husky and strained.