Hot Springs Werewolf Complete Series (BBW Werewolf Erotic Romance) (33 page)

As we walked away, I saw Talia being helped off, Ruby at her side talking to her. Talia was nodding so fast it looked like her head might come off.

"The Finch Mansion is yours Harper. Alpha of the Finch pack."

I kissed Red on the cheek (quite awkwardly) and tasted blood and dirt and under all that, the scent of warm and spice.

"You can't just give that to me. You're the one who has been restoring it. You own it."

Red smiled and leaned into me. I felt his teeth gently nip my shoulder.

"Do as I say woman. I'm alpha of this pack and if I want to give a run-down decrepit mansion to my mate then that's what I'll do."

I looked at his bloody and mud-covered face and then he winked at me, his eyes flecked with gold.

Red, Red, Red...

My Red.

*

R
uby was true to her word. It took a few months but eventually the land that had formerly been Finch was returned to me. Me, Harper Finch, pack of one. I'd suddenly gone from poor waitress writing a book to poor waitress writing a book who now had a lot of land in Hot Springs.

Red healed with his usual lightning speed. His arm was broken as were his ribs. He had fractures in both legs and more cuts and bruises than we could count. We recuperated at a borrowed house, a rotating guard of werewolves keeping watch over the two of us.

Within a week I was almost back to normal and within two weeks Red pounced on me (quite gingerly) and we sank into the connection of our two bodies together.

Talia left Hot Springs and was mated to the Alpha of a pack two states over. Ana with the crazy eyes found a wolf on the other side of the country and moved away. I'd like to say that everyone was happy with Red changing the rules so they could mate outside the pack but attitudes change slowly. I kept Millie's diary to myself and the papers and so the Toulouse pack were spared a terrible fate. Donald Crisp helped me recover my work off my laptop and gave me a trying-to-be-stern lecture about backing up my writing.

Fen and Katy kept dating, the giant werewolf and the tiny pixie girl making a wonderful couple.

And as for us...

Time passed and our human and wolf sides moved along together.

I returned to the cabin to write my book and at nights shared my bed with Red. I went back to work at Greasy Manna and after Sarah giving me a short talk on turning up to work when scheduled, things returned to the pattern of the first few weeks in town. Red and his construction crew got to work on rebuilding his house and time swept us along with it.

*

O
ne year later...

"Has Fen told Katy yet?"

"I don't think he's had time to. I mostly see him drinking water and eating protein bars trying to recover his energy. He's working up to it."

"We're meant to not do this before the wedding."

"The wedding is in three days. Tonight will be the last time before then... if you can restrain yourself woman."

I pushed my fingers through his hair and then gave it a tug.

"Don't be naughty."

"But you like it," he mumbled into the side of my neck.

He brushed his lips across my skin and I sighed, feeling that familiar heaviness coming across me. The man was like a drug to me and I was well and truly addicted.

He kissed down my neck, making his way to between my legs and then pressed his mouth against my underwear. I sighed as I felt the intense heat of his mouth.

"Why are you wearing so many clothes," he murmured, slipping them off.

He stroked his fingers over me, leaving tingles of pleasure in their wake. We'd done this many times but each time felt new. He trailed kisses, moving from one thigh to the other. I gasped and sighed as his lips moved against me and then away to my leg. The man was nothing if not a tease.

Red slipped his fingers inside me briefly and then upwards, brushing them against my clit. I felt the urge to move my hips and resisted for all of three seconds. Between his tongue and his fingers I didn't have a chance and soon I was moaning and clutching the sheet in my hands.

Eventually I pushed Red's head away, feeling too sensitive and he sat up, his eyes gleaming gold. He moved forward and slipped into me as I pulled my legs up, my knees pressing towards my chest. I let out a long breath as his cock pressed into me. No matter what I wanted, sometimes my body had other ideas. Too sensitive to continue right now? Maybe take a break? No, let's have some crazy sex with Red pulling your hair instead. And so my hips moved and my body let go, sinking under his control.

We kissed and bit and fucked like crazy and when it was done, we breathed each other in, the tips of our fingers touching and I felt all things at once.

He was my mate. I was his.

*

E
pilogue

"Are we going? Why are we waiting?"

Our daughter, Ruby, jumped from one bare foot to the other with her "I'm bored, can we please go?" face on.

Red was packing the picnic basket but it apparently wasn't fast enough for her.

"You need to put your shoes on first. Go find them," I told her. She sighed and ran off while Red smiled to himself.

"Your daughter. So impatient."

"
My
daughter?"

Red continued packing while I leaned back against the kitchen sink and looked around the room. It had taken a little longer than planned but eventually Red and his crew had finished rebuilding his house and we'd moved in about a year ago. It was almost the same as the original but with a few modern upgrades like radiant heating and skylights that would open and close on their own. Red had even restored the bookcase, scouring second-hand bookshops until he reassembled his collection. Sitting in the centre was Millie's book
The Fire Complete
and next to it was mine,
The Good Boy
.

The title was a private message between Red and I and had come from Millie's letter to me.

A week or so after the Call, Donald Crisp finally presented me with a copy of her letter. The original had been destroyed (probably by Edward Toulouse, who'd left Hot Springs for parts unknown after Freyr died) but the copy had been perfect.

I'd held it in my hand for the longest time before I could bring myself to read it.

My Dearest Harper,

Years ago I made a terrible mistake and chose fear instead of love. I've included my diary so you can understand my mistake. I've also sent you some papers that I want you to give to Donald Crisp for his archives. They're land transfer papers but don't worry about that.

I'm sending you to Hot Springs because there is a good boy there. His name is Red Guile and he lives up the hill.

Have dinner, dance, drink - whatever you want. Whether he is the one for you or not, I want you to be brave and choose love instead of fear. Be bold and don't choose the half-life that I did.

Love,

Millie.

p.s. Look up my old friend Ruby. She's in the diary. Try not to blush when you meet her.

xx

My reverie was broken as a little wolf ran in and nipped Red on the ankle before bolting away.

"I'm going to get you!" Red called out, laughing, as our daughter shifted, opened the door and ran outside, completely naked.

"
Your
daughter," I said and went to find her clothes before we left.

We went out the back door, through the garden and down the hill, following the path through the forest. The green leaves whispered around us; the day warm and perfect and beautiful.

Ruby slipped between the trees, stalking us.

We finally reached the clearing and Red put down the basket and wrapped his arms around me.

"Do you remember the first time we came here?" he whispered in my ear.

"I do."

Years ago now and I'd come to this beautiful clearing with a wolf stalking me. We'd made love on the grass and then he'd asked me to be his mate and I'd said no.

I'd been a different person then. Afraid. Of him, of love, of my own power. Millie had seen who I had been and sent me here so I could be bold.

So I could choose love instead of fear.

So I could set free the wildness inside me.

We'd returned many times since then. Sometimes we got Fen and Katy to babysit (which Ruby loved because she could play with their daughter, Iris) and we shifted and chased each other through the trees. Even if we couldn't do that right now, there would be tonight in our room, being quietly wild.

My eyes must have changed color because Red gave me a look that sent a shiver through me.

"Later," he whispered.

I looked over his shoulder and saw Ruby's face sticking out from behind a tree, watching us.

"She's stalking us," I whispered.

Red undid his jeans and kicked off his boots, before stripping off entirely and shifting.

He suddenly turned, gave a howl and started stalking in her general direction. Our daughter squealed and took off, her bare bottom flashing white, sprinting through the forest.

With the chase underway, I undid the buttons on my dress and breathed in the warm air. There were sandwiches and fruit and a bottle of wine and tonight there would be Red, my alpha, my husband, my mate and his scent in the dark. For now there was the thrill and rush of the chase.

I heard Ruby laughing from behind a tree, naked, before she turned back into a wolf and ran away. Red followed her, pretending to not know where she was.

"Thank you Millie," I whispered and changed.

Then,

I ran.

***

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