Chapter 124

Evelyn

I held my breath as Logan and I stood together beneath the glow of the full moon. Even the world itself seemed to stop and watch on, as if nothing else but this moment between the two of us mattered.

In many ways, it was long overdue. Years ago, when I had first married Logan, I had hoped for such a moment to come. I had imagined a scene just like this, and then watched as time went on and the dream seemed to grow more and more distant, slipping like sand between my fingers. But now, we were here. Finally.

The bond hovered between us as it grew. The feeling we shared was charged with electric energy, tethering us with this growing bond. It was alive, vibrating, and aching to be sealed. I felt it filling in all of the hollow pieces of me so that I may be whole again.

Logan must have felt it, too. How could he not? His hands drifted up to frame my face with a gentleness that was surprising, given the warrior in him. His thumbs brushed away tears I hadn’t realized were there. My body was charged for this release. For the first time in so, so long, I felt something stir inside me that had been long buried: Peace.

“Are you sure?” he asked softly, though his wolf was already pressing against mine, desperate for the connection to be strengthened and sealed.

I nodded, my voice breaking as I whispered, “Yes. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

I had been certain of it from the start, in truth. Only time and doubt had buried it. But now it was unearthed and ready.

And then, in an instant, we let go.

Our wolves rose within us, answering each other’s call, howling their approval as they, too, realized that it was finally happening. I felt him flood into every part of me, not just flesh and bone but soul and spirit. The bond snapped into place so quickly that it was jarring, forcing the air from my lungs. I gasped, clutching Logan tighter as this new, strange feeling consumed me.

It was warm and right, this new sensation. As it solidified, I felt strengthened by its presence and the knowledge that came with it.

Logan was mine. And I was his. Forever.

The endless war of emotions inside me stilled, soothed by the bond’s presence and promise. Utter peace overcame me as well as a mounting pleasure, like the feeling just after a release. When I met Logan’s eyes, I could see the same satiated look in his eyes.

He kissed me, practically lunging forward to close the limited space between us, and it was different now. It was like I was feeling for two people; the pleasure and the hunger doubled with our bond. It made everything all the more intense.

The kiss was deeper and hungrier than any I’d ever experienced. Passion surged between us, shaping itself into something both fierce and tender. We gave ourselves over to each other, again and again, our wolves twined as tightly as our bodies as the bond pulled us so close we were practically one being.

I wasn’t even entirely aware of it happening; the movements were all so fluid, and everything felt so right. We were undressed quickly, just skin on skin, pressing and touching, until he lowered me down to the floor and we consummated this new eternal bond between us.

If we had felt in sync with each other before, it was nothing compared to this. It was like he was an extension of me, my pleasure answering and amplifying his. It was the most intense feeling I had ever felt, to the point where it was nearly blinding. I arched my back into it, bowing off the floor as much as I could to press deeper into him. I wanted to meld our bodies together the way our souls now were.

When we finally collapsed together, the night air cooling my sweat-dampened skin, I lay against his chest and listened to his heartbeat. It was still racing, but I observed the way it began to slow with time into a peaceful, at-ease rhythm.

“I’ll never let you go,” he murmured into my hair after a long moment where we basked in the intensity of what we had just done. And I believed him. For the first time, I truly believed that it was true. We were bonded now. There was no going back, not that I’d ever want to.

I hadn’t intended to drift off, but I was so at peace in his arms, and in that moment, sleep came like a soft tide, carrying me off.

The dawn woke me the following morning, with light streaming through the curtains and warming my skin with its brilliant glow. Everything was so peaceful, so utterly blissful that first moment I opened my eyes.

Logan’s arm was heavy around me, possessive even in rest. I moved subtly, intending to rise quietly and not disturb him, but the moment I began to squirm, a wave of nausea hit me like a blow to the stomach.

My mouth filled with saliva, and I knew that my churning stomach was only giving me a few minutes’ worth of warning. I jumped to my feet, still naked, and staggered, hand flying to my mouth as I ran to the adjoining bathroom.

I threw myself over the toilet and just barely made it before the sparse contents of my stomach came back up. I heaved loudly, my body rejecting something in me with violence.

Logan was awake and at my side in an instant, all warrior instincts flaring into worry. “Evelyn? What’s wrong?”

My stomach clenched again, and before I could answer, I was responding with a pitiful attempt to bring up more. But there was nothing in my stomach, only bile.

And then I realized. My weakened limbs started to quiver. It wasn’t just the sickness that made me tremble, but it was the sudden awareness, the instinctual knowing that bloomed inside me the same way the bond had last night.

I hadn’t had anything bad to eat the night before. Besides the nausea, there had been no other signs of an impending sickness until now.

I lifted my gaze to him, and in that heartbeat, I saw the truth mirrored in his widening eyes. He was understanding the origins of my sickness, too.

“Oh,” I whispered, my hand drifting to my still-flat stomach. “Logan…”

His chest rose sharply, a ragged sound escaping him as he covered my hand with his own, his warm palm washing a wave of comfort over me. “You’re—”

“I think… I think I’m pregnant,” I finished for him, my voice full of awe and fear and joy all at once. But there was fear there, too. I was not only newly bonded but also, now, newly pregnant. It involved a lot of significant changes at once.

Silence stretched between us, but it wasn’t empty. It thrummed with possibility, with the weight of something far greater than either of us had expected. We had gone to sleep expecting the bond to be our biggest alteration, but now, this unexpected development had upended everything else.

Then Logan’s face broke into a smile so raw, so unguarded, it undid me. He knelt down beside me and pulled me into his arms, holding me as though I were the most precious thing in the world. Even with the smell of vomit pungent around us, he held me like he couldn’t get enough of me or this moment.

“Our child,” he murmured, reverent, his lips brushing my temple. “Evelyn… our family. We’re going to start a family.”

Tears blurred my vision, but for once they weren’t borne of grief. They were borne of hope.

For the first time since the war began, I felt it in my bones: maybe we weren’t just surviving anymore. Maybe, while we were building, we were finally creating something worth living for. A life worth the price we had already paid.