Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Us, which is how I’m already thinking about myself. As though I’m already pregnant.
“It was like fate sent you,” Ramsey says. “All the way across the country, from coast to coast, and you happen to come to my city. And your scent...I couldn’t control myself.”
“But the fact he was a hunter too,” I whisper, kissing his sweaty skin.
“I know,” he sighs, his heart beating faster. “I’ve never been much into destiny. But that’s how I feel, Ruby, like something sent you to me. I know we’re meant to be together. That part isn’t even up for debate. We belong together. If souls are real, then your name is seared into mine.”
His voice cracks. I lean forward again, looking into his eyes, at the emotion there. His eyes flicker a little, mixing with the sunlight.
“Are you trying to tell me something?” I whisper.
He rolls over, suddenly on top of me, his hands propped on either side of me. Our naked bodies brush against each other, my nipples tingling against his chest. He smiles, leaning down, kissing me softly.
“I love you,” he says.
I gasp, joy clashing around inside of me, and then I say it back, quickly.
I say it before I have a chance to think myself out of those beautiful words.
“I love you,” I say passionately. “So much, Ramsey.”
He kisses me again, and I claw my hands over his back, holding onto his firm muscles, no anxiety threatening to bubble up now.
I got used to being naked with him very quickly after that first night in the barn.
“I want to take you somewhere. Later. When the sun has set. Will you come with me, Ruby?”
I smile. “As if the answer could ever be no.”
I sink my hands into his fur as he walks up the steep hill, his claws sinking into the earth. I’m sure I can feel love burning up through him, dancing in the air like it dances through me.
It’s so much love I can barely take it, making me ache with the depth.
He walks to the very edge of the hill, overlooking the ocean, and crashing waves below. The moon is big tonight, turning the ocean a deep iron color.
Ramsey leans down, letting me climb off, and then begins to change back. I wait for him, looking up at the stars, feeling like something very special is about to happen. Sometimes, it’s like I can scent too, but obviously, I can’t.
There’s a definite feeling, though. A sense that something’s going to change.
I hand the backpack to Ramsey when he’s changed. It makes more sense this way, rather than ruining his clothes every time. He dresses quickly, looking dashing in the shirt and the blue jeans, his silver hair messy from the change.
“It’s beautiful out here,” I murmur.
He steps forward, taking my hands in his, staring down at me with shimmering eyes.
“I had a dream in the barn. It was like this, like here. You were there. You were ready to start our life together, and then somebody tried to take that life. I can never let that happen, Ruby. I love you too much for that. I love you so much it hurts.”
“I love you too,” I whisper, tears sliding down my cheeks.
“You made me crazy, and then you fixed me,” he goes on passionately. “You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met. Just being near you makes me change in joy, something I never thought I’d do. Just being near you does something more, Ruby, something so much more too....
“It makes me realize I’m a person as much as a wolf. It makes me realize that we will be so happy and have a perfect life together. A family.”
“A future,” I whisper, my voice cracking with emotion.
“That’s why I need to ask you something. Something very important.”
I cried out in joy as he kneels, reaching into his pocket. He takes out a ring box and smiles up at me, his eyes love-red, my whole body shimmering with the heat of our connection.
“Ruby Nelson,” he says, opening the ring box and showing me an elegant yet full diamond set within a white gold band.
It glistens like a silver moon. It’s perfect.
“Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I say, singing out in love. “Oh, the ring is beautiful. Everything is so amazing.”
Ramsey slides the ring onto my finger and stands up, holding my hands as he smiles down at me, his face one of pure elation.
“I love you so much,” he says. “I always will, Ruby. For the rest of our lives.”
“I love you too,” I whisper, leaning up for a kiss.
EPILOGUE
THREE WEEKS LATER
Ramsey
I walk quietly into the office, slipping through the door and watching Ruby lean over the desk, marking something on her textbook.
My heart flutters when I think about how happy she was to get new stationery, her face lighting up.