If she’d had any lingering doubt he was her bear before now, his ripped ear put her at ease. Still, five feet away, she couldn’t make her legs move forward. She stood there frozen, fingers out, helpless to move toward him any farther.
Ian ghosted her a glance, then lowered his head and took two powerful steps forward, forehead against her middle. She stumbled backward and held onto his big, block head just to stay upright. There was a humming in his throat that filled the air as she slowly rested her cheek on top of his head, near the ripped ear. The nerves left her slowly as they stood there, touching. Animal and human, bonded so deeply that neither one of them could be whole without the other.
Slowly, Ian lifted an intimidating claw and wrapped it gently around her back, then settled back on his haunches and pulled her toward him. She didn’t fight him. Couldn’t. He was hers, and if he wanted to be closer, she understood the instinct. She couldn’t stop stroking his coarse fur. Her thin nightgown wasn’t meant to meet air this cold, but Ian sat up and pulled her against his massive chest as the gown billowed around her legs and her hair lifted in the chilly breeze. Here, in his powerful arms against his heavily furred torso, the chill was banished and her fear along with it. Ian was so big, so powerful and protective, she couldn’t help but feel safe from the rest of the world—Miller included.
Elyse tucked her arms between them and rested her cheek against his chest. His breath was deep and steady, and the drum of his heart beat had slowed to match hers. Neither one of them were scared here in the dark yard of their home.
Ian rubbed his giant muzzle over her face, and his lips lifted against her skin. His gleaming teeth grazed her, and as he eased back, he snuffled loudly against her hair. He scented her gown and between her breasts as if he was allowing his animal to put everything about her to memory.
“My mate,” she whispered.
Ian responded with another soft noise in his throat.
“Tell me you can Change back, Ian.” Tears burned her eyes and blurred her vision. “Tell me you aren’t Changed for the winter.”
Ian released her and backed away, shaking his head sharply. With a soft roar, he strode for the woods.
Baffled, she waited for her beloved to return. Without his warmth, the autumn air lifted her dress and chilled her blood, raising gooseflesh over every inch of her body, but still, she waited. And when Ian, human and naked, strode from the tree line, blue moonlight illuminating his bare torso and powerful legs, her face crumpled with relief. Her Ian was still here.
“I didn’t catch him,” he said in a gravelly voice. He looked sick about it.
Elyse held her arms open and sighed as he lifted her off her feet and spun her slowly. “I can’t protect you when I’m sleeping, Elyse.” The gravel in his voice turned to glass, and a slow, angry rumble vibrated against her belly.
“Oh, Ian. You don’t have to.” She eased back and cupped his cheeks, so certain of her destiny now. “You protect me during the warm season, but now it’s my turn to protect you. We’re a team.”
Miller’s threats had opened up something dark within her. Something fearsome that had only existed in the shadows of her soul before. He’d made threats on her mate and on her, but her fear had changed in those minutes she’d been waiting for Ian to return from hunting that damned wolf. If she wanted to keep Ian, she had to be his protector when he hibernated, just as he’d done for her this past month.
She’d always thought herself too weak for this life. It had been her greatest fear, but she’d been wrong. Ian had shown her how strong she could be.
As it turned out, she wasn’t the damsel in distress.
She was the knight.
And she’d be damned if anyone hurt what she and Ian had built here.
Chapter Twenty-One
Elyse’s boots splashed onto the beach as she jumped out of Ian’s boat and helped him drag it up the bank, out of the way of the changing tide. She’d never been to Afognak before, but even from here, she could see where the rumors of its haunting came from.
The morning fog rolled in waves across the pine forest, and the forest floor was like none she’d ever seen. Covered in moss and intertwined tree roots, it was a lush kind of green that only existed in dreams.
Ian didn’t speak, but then, she wasn’t surprised. He’d explained to her that the island required silence if they wanted to take red meat from it. Sitka black-tailed deer were abundant here, but so were brown bears. This island could give and take away so much.
Even Miki trotted silently beside her, brushing her leg every other step like the Velcro dog he was becoming.
It didn’t surprise her at all that Ian had called this place home. He was tough as leather and his inner animal was as wild as these woods.