Page 90 of Come for Me
I stop kneading.What did his father do?
“Story for another day.”
Not wanting to push, I resume massaging him.
I think back to his royal family portraits in the hall. Besides River, who’s never home, Dax is all alone.
I, at least, had Jemma, Taya, and the Wallers.
Then it hits me.
Here goes nothing.
“I’ve been thinking... and I want to visit my old pack.”
He nods and groans at my touch. “I’ll have guards ready to accompany you.”
I blink rapidly, having expected a fight. Gritting my teeth, I brace myself for my next question.
“Will you come with me?” I chew on my bottom lip, uncomfortable with the vulnerability.
Dax faces me, his eyebrow raised. He searches my face for the punchline, then clears his throat. “You sure?”
My hands in my lap, I pick at my fingers, avoiding his gaze. “Yeah, you can see where I grew up, Jemma, and...”
Dax takes my hands.
I peer up at him.
A boyish grin replaces the puzzled look from before. My heart flutters at how something so simple could make him beam the way he is right now.
I lie back against the sheets as Dax crawls on top of me.
“Is my mate asking if I’ll go with her to meet her family and see her hometown?”
I cover my face with my palms.
Laughing softly, he pulls my hands from my face. “I’d be happy to.”
My wolf soars.
“Get ready. We leave in an hour.”
* * *
After hours of running in wolf form, we finally arrive at my old pack. Dax’s wolf’s fur ripples with the wind. The air permeates rain and honeysuckle.
I’m home.
Dax’s large wolf towers over the pack members guarding the borders. They step in front of him, not recognizing their king. Dax lets his dominant aura radiate from him, and security recognize his identity immediately. Liaisons are often sent in Dax’s stead, so they wouldn’t have known, just like I didn’t when he hunted me that first time. At the realization, the guards lower their heads, stepping aside, baring their necks in submission. The royal treatment has my cheeks hot.
My paws pound on the moist soil of my old pack grounds as my wolf takes off past the guards. The bright green trees towering over the lands are a blur from the sides of my vision. It’s a familiar sight, one that reminds me of childhood as I race hometo Jemmaand to a life I’ve fought for weeks to return to.
Scurrying animals along the forest floor are more hurried than I recall, the quiet patter of their feet now a soundtrack to our pursuit. The king’s aura threatens the wild, unsettling all creatures dare to cross the same path as his thundering footfalls beside me.
Dax searches for danger and sends out his power and strength before us as a warning, his protective instincts daring even the smallest of insects to challenge him.
Dax’s watchfulness and defense increase with each step, and my own diminishes as we near home and deeper into the forest. I bask in rain and honeysuckle, my shackles dropping, my wolf soothed by the native essence.
