“Always mine,” he grunted.
I didn’t mind the possessive words. They were the words of a Dire, and that was what Gage was now. “Always.”
The pleasure that washed over me was like nothing I’d ever felt before, and moments later he reached his own release. He shuddered and rolled off to the side of me. “That was unreal.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
He brushed some of my now damp hair away from my face. “I love you, Mary Anne.”
“I love you too.”
“Even though I’m not human anymore?”
I ran my hand over his chest. “You’re still you.”
“And you’re still you.” He brushed his lips against mine.
“Can this happen again? I mean what if Hunter won’t finish changing you?”
He lightly bit down on my lip. “I don’t care anymore. I don’t know what to believe, but I know I’m not giving you up.”
“And I’m not giving you up. How can you expect me to be okay with you dying?”
“We don’t know for sure that there is anything else required. It might be a lie. For all we know everything is a lie. ”
“I’m scared.” The words slipped out without me meaning them to.
“Everything is going to be okay.”
“We stay together.” I needed to hear him say it.
He smiled. “We stay together forever.”
So much had changed in such a short period of time, but two things were clear to me in that moment. One, neither of our lives were ever going to be the same again, and two, I was completely and utterly in love with Gage Marshall, and there wasn’t a chance I was spending my life with anyone else.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Gage
We’d been back for a few hours when a knock on the door had us both freezing. Then reality dawned on me. Anyone who wanted to do us any harm wouldn’t knock.
“Are you guys dressed?” Denny called.
“No,” I replied, running my hands down Mary Anne’s back. Touching her was even more amazing now that my senses were heightened.
“Could you get dressed?” He called from the bottom of the ladder.
“Yes!” Mary Anne jerked out of my arms and was up and pulling on her clothes in less than two seconds.
Despite the situation, I laughed. Some things never changed. She was still Mary Anne. “Couldn’t wait to get away from me, huh?”
“You know that’s not it!” She pulled on her boots.
A minute later we headed down the ladder to the main floor of the cabin.
Denny shook his head as I wrapped my arm around Mary Anne’s waist. “Not to break up this reunion , but we’ve got things to discuss.”
“Aren’t you going to yell at us for what we did?” Mary Anne leaned into my side.
Denny shook his head. “I don’t care who you sleep with as long as you help us, and honestly Hunter would probably say the same thing.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” I said under my breath. “But I don’t care.”
“We don’t have time to discuss this now.”
“Then let’s get to business.” A few hours with Mary Anne had me reinvigorated even though I knew fighting against The Society wasn’t going to be easy. “Where is everyone else?”
“Hunter sent the nomads away before the trial. They’re waiting for his next command.”
“What is that command?” Mary Anne asked quietly. “Where is he?”
“He didn’t make it out.”
“What?” Mary Anne tensed. “How is that possible?”
“Hunter’s one hell of a strong guy, but he was no match for the group of Pterons that came after him. He covered me to get me out. He sent me to find you.”
“And Marni? Chet? Semi?”
“They’re with Hunter.” Denny looked down. “I didn’t want to leave, but Hunter made the command clear.”
Mary Anne paled. “What’s going to happen to them?”
“Now that The Society knows we’re Dires, they’re not going anywhere. At least this king doesn’t seem to be killing Dires. He’s just locking them up.”
“And you just got here?”
“I tried to find the rest of the pack myself, but they’re long gone. Then I thought I’d give you guys a few hours, and let you get that out of your system.”
Mary Anne blushed. “A few hours before what?” She asked nervously.
“Before you run.”
“Run? How can we? We need to get everyone out so Hunter can finish changing Gage!”
“You need to get everyone out anyway.” Denny’s eyes were gentle. He didn’t seem surprised by Mary Anne’s reaction. “We need you to end the hunt. If you do that we’ll all be indebted to you, including Hunter. He’ll do anything you want. That means changing Gage and releasing you. And then you guys can live your life. Maybe even go back to your old one.”