Chapter 1: Baptism in Blood and Steam
The water was supposed to be soothing. The hot springs, tucked into a fold of the Blackthorn Ridge, usually steamed with a promise of relief for aching muscles. Tonight, the heat felt like a threat. The scent of wet stone and pine needles was thick in the air, a tangible blanket that Tori could almost see, could certainly smell on everyone else. To him, it was just air. Warm, damp, empty air.
He’d lingered at the edge, where the rocks were slick and the water was shallow, hoping to slip in unnoticed. His fine, dark hair was plastered to his forehead, his too-large eyes scanning the misty forms of other pack members laughing and relaxing in the deeper pools. He was a ghost here. A scentless, silent ghost.
“Well, look what the wind didn’t bring in.”
The voice was a razor wrapped in silk. Lilyanna emerged from the steam, her sleek form cutting through the water toward him. A few others followed, their expressions sliding from boredom to mild curiosity. A show was about to start.
“Can’t even smell you coming, stenchless,” she sneered, stopping just a foot away. “It’s unnatural. Like being near a void.”
Tori dropped his gaze to the swirling water, its golden hue from the mineral deposits looking like liquid fire. “I was just leaving.”
“You were just getting clean,” Lilyanna corrected. Her hand shot out, fingers tangling in his hair. They were deceptively strong. “You think water helps? Let’s see if we can wash that nothing off you.”
The world upended. His face plunged into the scalding water. Instinct flared—a panic more human than wolf—as heat sealed his nostrils and filled his ears with a thunderous, bubbling roar. He clawed at the slick rock beneath him, knees scraping raw. The laughter from the others was muffled, distant. His lungs burned, demanding air that wasn’t water.
Just as black spots began to dance behind his clenched eyelids, the pressure vanished.
He was hauled backwards, coughing, choking, water streaming from his nose and mouth. He blinked, vision blurry with water and tears. A new, immense heat radiated against his back. Not from the springs.
Jake.
The Alpha held him upright with one arm banded across his trembling chest. In his other hand, he held Lilyanna’s wrist, his grip so vicious her fingers were white and splayed. She wasn’t laughing anymore. Her face was a mask of shock and dawning fear.
The entire clearing had gone silent. The mist seemed to freeze in place.
Jake’s voice was low, a subsonic rumble that Tori felt in his teeth. “What,” Jake said, the word perfectly, terribly clear, “do you think you’re doing to my wolf?”
My wolf. The words didn’t make sense. Tori’s brain, starved for oxygen, stuttered over them.
Lilyanna tried to wrench her arm back. “Alpha, I was just—he’s unscented, he’s—“
Crack.
The sound was crisp, final. A dry twig snapping underfoot. Lilyanna’s shriek was sharp and brief, cut off as Jake dropped her wrist. She clutched it to her chest, stumbling back into the supportive hands of her friends, who were now just wary, silent statues.
Jake didn’t even look at her again. His attention dropped to the top of Tori’s head. His nose was buried in Tori’s wet hair, inhaling deeply. A low, possessive growl vibrated through both of them.
“You smell of heat and stone and fear,” Jake murmured, his lips against Tori’s temple. The intimacy of it was more shocking than the violence. “That’s what I smell. It’s enough.”
He shifted his grip, and before Tori could process it, he was being lifted. Cradled against the Alpha’s broad chest like something precious. His mind blanked. He was aware of the stares, the utter stillness of the pack, the way Jake’s footsteps crunched with absolute authority on the path leading away from the springs and up toward the private caverns.
The world narrowed to the solid beat of Jake’s heart against his ear, the faint, clean scent of winter air and power that clung to the Alpha’s skin, and the terrifying, thrilling warmth of those arms around him.
They passed Zak and Alex at the mouth of a larger cavern. Zak’s warm brown eyes widened, then softened with understanding. Alex, all tough-guy Delta, simply gave a sharp, approving nod and moved to block the entrance, folding his arms. No words were exchanged.
Inside, the air was cooler. The light was softer, coming from a single, high opening that let in the twilight. Jake knelt and laid Tori down on a bed of piled furs. The gentleness was disorienting.
“You’re shivering,” Jake observed. His voice had lost its courtroom violence. It was just a statement.
“S-scalding water will do that,” Tori managed, his voice a ragged scrape.
A ghost of a smile touched Jake’s lips. “Smart mouth on a broken wolf.” His hands, which had just snapped a bone without a second thought, came up to frame Tori’s face. His thumbs smoothed over the arch of Tori’s cheekbones. “They see no scent. I see no distraction. Just you.”
Tori wanted to disbelieve him. He’d built a life on disbelief. But the way Jake was looking at him—like he’d been searching the mist for years and had finally found the one clear shape—it undid him. A sob hitched in his throat.
“Shhh,” Jake whispered. He lowered his head. His tongue, warm and slightly rough, swept over Tori’s bruised cheekbone where it had hit the rock. Tori flinched, then froze. The action was so animal, so profoundly careful. Jake was cleaning the wound. Tending to him.
The days blurred after that. Time melted into the rhythm of Jake’s care. The Alpha never left, except to whisper orders to Zak or Alex at the entrance. He brought small cups of bone broth and held them to Tori’s lips. He used a damp cloth to cool the fever that bloomed from Tori’s shock and shame.
And he licked.
Every bruise Lilyanna’s grip had left on his arms. Every scrape from the rocks. A path of gentle, deliberate attention that mapped every hurt onto Jake’s own consciousness. It wasn’t sexual. It was primal. A re-writing. With every pass of his tongue, Jake was erasing the mark of the pack’ cruelty and imprinting his own claim. Mine. Under my protection.
Tori slept in fits, always waking to find Jake awake, watching him, those black eyes reflecting the faint light like dark water.
On the third day, Tori could sit up without dizziness. The deep-seated chill was gone, replaced by a fragile warmth. Jake was across the small cavern, watching him.
“Why?” Tori asked. The question had been building for three days, a pressure in his chest. “I’m nothing. A defect.”
Jake moved then, crossing the space between them in two strides. He crouched in front of Tori, his presence dominating yet careful not to loom.
“You’re not a defect,” Jake said, his voice firm. “You’re a secret. One everyone else was too loud, too scent-blind, to hear.” He reached out, his hand hovering for a moment before he pushed a strand of hair from Tori’s forehead. “My pack follows tradition. They follow their noses. An Alpha,” he said, his gaze locking onto Tori’s, “follows his instinct. My instinct has been screaming for you since the first time I saw you lingering at the edge of the gathering, trying to become part of the shadows.”
Tori’s breath caught. He had done that. For years.
“My instinct,” Jake continued, “tells me that a wolf the world cannot smell is a wolf the world cannot predict. A wolf who belongs not to the many, but to the one who can truly see him.” His hand cupped Tori’s cheek, his thumb stroking the skin there. “You belong to me.”
It should have felt like another cage. Instead, it felt like the first true breath he’d ever taken. The acknowledgement was a key turning in a lock he didn’t know he carried.
Outside the cavern, a low whistle sounded—two short bursts. Zak’s signal.
Jake’s head lifted, his expression shifting from tender to focused in a heartbeat. The Alpha was back. He stood, pulling Tori up with him. Tori’s legs held.
“The pack is gathered,” Jake said, his voice dropping into that commanding register that made the air itself seem to listen. “They’ve had three days to wonder. To whisper. To let their fear of what I did to Lilyanna settle.” He looked down at Tori, a fierce, protective pride gleaming in his eyes. “Now you walk out with me. On your own feet. You don’t look at them. You look at me.”
Tori swallowed, nodding. The thought of facing them all was a cold knot in his stomach. But the solid, unwavering presence of Jake beside him was a heat source he could lean toward.
Jake led him to the cavern entrance. Alex stepped aside, giving Tori a slow, deliberate nod. Zak offered a small, reassuring smile.
Beyond them, the main clearing of the pack lands was full of wolves in human form. Dozens of faces turned toward the cavern mouth, a sea of expectant, wary expressions. The silence was heavier than the mountain itself.
Jake took a single step forward, pulling Tori into the open at his side. The sunset painted the world in blood and gold.
Every eye was on them. On Jake’s hand resting possessively on the back of Tori’s neck. On Tori, standing there, clean, healed, visibly unbroken.
Jake didn’t address them. He didn’t need to. His posture, his claim, spoke in a language older than words. He simply stood there, letting them look, letting the new reality sink in.
Then, he leaned down, his lips close to Tori’s ear, his voice for Tori alone. “See? Not a defect. A revolution.”
And as the pack stared, Tori, for the first time in his life, lifted his chin and looked not at the judging crowd, but at the fading sun over the Blackthorn Ridge, feeling the weight of the Alpha’s hand not as a chain, but as an anchor. And he believed him.
The walk back to the cavern was a blur of sidelong glances and muffled whispers that dissolved into silence as they passed. Tori focused on the pressure of Jake’s hand on the nape of his neck, a steady point of contact that grounded him. It was a claim, yes, but also a guide. A tether to this new, terrifying reality where he was no longer invisible.
Once inside the smaller, private cavern, the weight of the pack’s scrutiny fell away, replaced by the intimate hush of stone and the soft crackle of the revived fire. Jake’s large hands were surprisingly deft as he helped Tori out of his damp clothes and into soft, dry sweatpants and a t-shirt that smelled overwhelmingly of Alpha—of crisp linen and deep forest. The fabric swamped Tori’s smaller frame, a literal cloak of protection.
Jake settled against a stack of furs, his back to the wall, and pulled Tori down to rest between his legs, his back flush against Jake’s chest. The heat of the Alpha’s body seeped through the thin cotton, a brand more gentle than any Tori had ever known. Jake’s arms circled him, holding him secure without restraint. Tori could feel the solid, steady drum of Jake’s heartbeat against his spine.
For a long while, there was only the fire’s whisper and the rhythm of that heart. Tori let himself relax into the embrace, the last knots of fear and disbelief slowly unraveling. This was real. He was here. He was being held.
Jake’s chin rested on the crown of Tori’s head. His breath was warm in his hair.
“Listen to me, little wolf.”
Jake’s voice was different now. Stripped of its public command, it was lower, a vibration that travelled through Tori’s whole body. It was thick with an emotion that made Tori’s skin prickle—raw lust and absolute devotion, woven together into something undeniable.
Tori held his breath.
“You are a boy, yes. You have no scent, yes.” Jake’s arms tightened, just a fraction. “But my wolf is screaming for you. When you’re all healed, I am going to put my mark on your neck, my ring on your finger, and my cock inside you. You are going to be my husband.”
The words were not a question. They were a decree, laid out in the quiet dark with the finality of stone. They should have been overwhelming. Crushing. Instead, a shuddering heat flooded Tori’s veins, pooling low in his stomach. It was desire, yes, sharp and shocking. But more than that, it was the utter certainty in Jake’s tone. The future was no longer a blank, terrifying expanse. It had shape. It had weight. It had him.
Tori turned his head, his cheek brushing against Jake’s stubbled jaw. He found the Alpha’s black eyes watching him, reflecting the firelight like dark flames.
“Your wolf…” Tori’s voice was barely a whisper. “It doesn’t… mind? The nothing?”
A low, possessive growl rumbled through Jake’s chest, a sound Tori felt more than heard. “It doesn’t mind,” Jake corrected, his lips brushing Tori’s temple. “It prefers it. All the other scents are just noise. Distractions. You…” He nuzzled into the space behind Tori’s ear, inhaling deeply. “You are pure silence. I can hear you. Only you.”
Tori closed his eyes, letting the words wash over him. He had spent his life as a void. Jake was telling him he was a sanctuary.
He shifted in the circle of Jake’s arms, turning slightly so he could see the Alpha’s face. The intensity there wasn’t just passion; it was a deep, settled knowing. It was patience. “I don’t know how to be… that. A husband. An Alpha’s… anything.”
A genuine smile, soft and devastating, touched Jake’s mouth. “You don’t have to know. You just have to be right here.” One of his hands came up to cradle Tori’s jaw, his thumb stroking the line of his cheekbone. “I’ll do the rest. I’ll show you. Every day.”
Outside, the wind picked up, whistling through the crags of the Blackthorn Ridge. But inside the cavern, wrapped in the heat of the one being who saw him, Tori felt, for the first time, truly sheltered. He leaned forward, a millimeter, until his forehead rested against Jake’s collarbone. A surrender. An acceptance.
Jake’s answering sigh was one of profound satisfaction. He pressed a kiss to Tori’s hair, his arms locking firmly around him. “Sleep,” he murmured, his voice already smoothing into a drowsy baritone. “I’ve got you.”
And Tori did.
And Tori did.
He slept deeper than he ever had, wrapped in that impossible heat, and woke to the same. Days passed in a soft, guarded rhythm. Zak brought food, his kind eyes avoiding any lingering stares, placing the tray down with a quiet nod. Alex stood sentinel at the entrance, a silent, formidable statue whose presence shifted from wary to protective. The message was clear: this cavern, and the wolf within it, were under the Alpha’s direct guard.
On the fourth morning, Jake’s hand smoothed over Tori’s hair. “Get dressed. We’re going for a walk.”
It wasn’t a request. The ‘we’ held a finality that sent a nervous thrill through Tori’s stomach. He pulled on the clothes Jake provided—soft, dark jeans and a simple grey sweater that, again, smelled overwhelmingly of Alpha. He felt like he was wearing a flag.
Jake led him not to the main clearing, but up a narrower, less-travelled path that wound behind the caverns. The pines grew thicker here, the sunlight filtering down in fractured beams. They walked in silence for a while, the only sounds their footsteps on the needle-strewn path and the distant cry of a hawk.
“Where are we going?” Tori finally asked, his voice small in the vast quiet of the forest.
“To see my father,” Jake said, his tone straightforward.
Tori stumbled over a root. Jake’s hand shot out, steadying him with an effortless grip. “Your… the Alpha?”
“The same.” Jake didn’t slow his pace. “He stepped back from active leadership last winter. Gave me the pack. He lives in a cabin up the ridge now. Prefers the quiet.”
Tori’s mind raced. The former Alpha. The one who had presided over the pack while Tori was mocked and shunned. The one who had never once intervened. Fear, cold and slick, coiled in his gut. “Does he know… about me?”
Jake stopped then, turning to face him. He framed Tori’s face with both hands, his touch impossibly gentle for someone so strong. “He knows about me. That’s all that matters to him.”
The cabin was a sturdy structure of weathered logs, nestled in a sun-dappled glade. Smoke curled from its stone chimney. Before Tori could fully muster his panic, the front door opened.
The man who stepped out was an older, seasoned mirror of Jake. The same powerful build, though a little stiffer, the same piercing black eyes, though they were set in a face lined with experience and a surprising softness. He wore simple flannel and worn jeans, and he held a whittling knife and a piece of pine in his hands.
“Jake,” the man said, his voice a gravelly echo of his son’s. His gaze shifted to Tori, and it was appraising but not unkind. “And you must be Tori.”
Tori couldn’t speak. He just nodded, fighting the urge to hide behind Jake.
Jake’s father—Gareth—merely nodded back. “Come in. The coffee’s fresh.”
Inside, the cabin was warm and simply furnished. The air smelled of woodsmoke, coffee, and old paper. Gareth gestured to a worn leather sofa. “Sit.”
Jake sat, pulling Tori down firmly beside him, their thighs touching. A silent declaration.
Gareth poured three mugs of coffee, handed them out, and settled into a armchair opposite them. He took a sip, watching them over the rim. The silence stretched, but it wasn’t hostile. It was thoughtful.
“Jake tells me you’re the one,” Gareth said finally, putting his mug down.
Tori flinched. “I’m… I’m no one, sir. I have no scent.”
Gareth waved a dismissive hand. “I know what you are. I’ve known since you were a whelp. A blank spot in the noise.” He leaned forward, his eyes intent on Jake. “I also know my son. His instinct is sharper than any nose in this territory. If he says you’re his, then you are.” He looked back at Tori, and his expression softened. “The pack will howl. Tradition is a stubborn beast. But an Alpha’s will is law. And more than that…” He paused, looking at Jake with a pride that was deep and unshakeable. “A father wants his son happy. However he finds it.”
The simplicity of it, the sheer lack of drama, left Tori winded. There was no interrogation. No disgust. Just a tired, wise man seeing his son’s truth and accepting it.
Jake’s hand found Tori’s on the couch, lacing their fingers together. The gesture felt monumental in the quiet room.
“Thank you, Dad,” Jake said, his voice thick with an emotion Tori hadn’t heard before.
Gareth just grunted, but his eyes were warm. “Don’t thank me. Just be good to him. And be ready. Your first full moon as a claimed pair… it’ll be a storm.”
They talked a while longer, of simple things—the cabin, the coming winter, the pack’s patrols. Gareth treated Tori not like an outcast or a curiosity, but like Jake’s. It was the most terrifying and validating feeling Tori had ever known.
When they left, the late afternoon sun was slicing long shadows through the trees. The walk back was different. Lighter. Something heavy had been lifted from Jake’s shoulders, Tori could feel it in the looser set of his arm, in the way his thumb stroked absently over Tori’s knuckle.
Instead of returning to the communal caves, Jake led them to his own private den. It was a spacious, single-room dwelling built into the mountainside, furnished with a large bed, a desk, and shelves of books. It was starkly masculine, but clean and ordered. The door was thick, heavy wood. When it shut behind them, the outside world ceased to exist.
Jake turned to him. The casual authority from the walk, the respectful son from the cabin, was gone. In its place was the pure, unvarnished Alpha. His eyes were dark pools of intent.
“You heard my father,” Jake said, his voice a low hum that vibrated in the quiet space. “The pack will howl. The moon is in two nights.” He stepped closer, erasing the distance between them. “I won’t let them howl at a ghost. They will see what is mine.”
Tori’s heart hammered against his ribs. He understood. The time for waiting, for healing, was over.
Jake’s hands came up and gripped the hem of Tori’s sweater. In one fluid motion, he pulled it over Tori’s head and dropped it to the floor. The cool air of the den brushed Tori’s skin, raising goosebumps. Jake’s gaze was a physical weight, traveling over his bare chest, his arms, lingering on the faint, yellowing bruises that remained.
“They’ll see my mark,” Jake murmured, more to himself than to Tori. His fingers traced the line of Tori’s collarbone, then drifted up to cradle his jaw. “Right here. Where every single one of them will see it every time you turn your head.”
He leaned in, his breath hot against Tori’s lips. “Do you understand what I’m going to do to you?”
Tori could only nod, a sharp, jerky motion.
“I am going to fuck you,” Jake said, the crude word landing in the space between them like a struck match. “I am going to take you on that bed and make you feel so full of me you’ll forget your own name. And while I’m buried deep inside you, while you’re coming apart around my cock, I am going to sink my teeth into your neck and mark you. Forever.”
A violent, desperate shiver ripped through Tori. It was fear. It was want. It was a dizzying surrender.
Jake didn’t wait for permission. He claimed Tori’s mouth in a searing, dominant kiss. It wasn’t gentle. It was consuming. A preview. His tongue pushed past Tori’s lips, exploring, claiming, as his hands worked open the button and zipper of Tori’s jeans, pushing them and his underwear down in one rough, efficient shove.
Tori gasped into the kiss, his own hands fluttering to Jake’s shoulders, unsure whether to push or pull. Jake broke the kiss only to strip his own clothes, his movements swift and purposeful. The sight of him, fully naked and gloriously aroused, made Tori’s mouth go dry. He was powerful, carved from stone and corded muscle, and his erection was thick and flushed, curving heavily against his stomach.
Jake guided him backwards until his knees hit the edge of the bed. “Lie down.”
Tori obeyed, scooting back on the soft furs until he was centered. Jake followed, a predator gracefully claiming his space. He knelt between Tori’s spread legs, his hands sliding up the insides of Tori’s thighs, pushing them wider. The cool air kissed Tori’s most intimate places, the exposure making him tremble.
“So fucking perfect for me,” Jake growled, his eyes drinking in the sight. He leaned down, and instead of kissing his mouth again, he went lower. His lips trailed down Tori’s stomach, his tongue dipping into his navel, moving inexorably downward.
Tori jerked when he felt Jake’s mouth on him, hot and wet and shocking. A choked cry escaped his lips as Jake’s tongue laved over the head of his cock before taking him deep. The sensation was blinding, too much and not enough. Jake’s mouth was a furnace, his suction relentless. One of Jake’s hands slid under him, cupping his ass, a finger pressing firmly against his entrance.
Tori arched off the bed, a strangled sound tearing from his throat. Pleasure, sharp and electric, shot up his spine. Jake worked him with his mouth, skillfully, ruthlessly, until Tori was a writhing, panting mess, his fingers tangled in the dark fur of the bedspread.
Just as Tori felt the coil of his orgasm tighten, Jake pulled off with a wet sound. He loomed over Tori, his own need etched into every strained muscle of his body. He reached over to the bedside table, retrieving a small bottle. The click of the cap was loud in the tense silence.
He poured the oil into his palm, warming it before his slick fingers returned between Tori’s legs. One thick finger pressed inside, slowly, giving Tori’s body a chance to stretch. The intrusion burned, then faded into a strange, full feeling. Jake watched his face intently, adding a second finger when Tori’s breath evened out, scissoring them, preparing him with a clinical precision that was utterly erotic.
“Ready?” Jake’s voice was rough, strained.
Tori nodded, beyond words. He was empty, he was full, he was terrified, he was aching.
Jike positioned himself, the broad, slick head of his cock pressing insistently against Tori’s entrance. He locked eyes with Tori, his gaze holding a promise and a threat. “Look at me. Don’t look away.”
Then he pushed.
The stretch was brutal, overwhelming. Tori cried out, a sharp, broken sound. His body resisted, clenching tight, burning. Jake didn’t stop. He pushed forward with a steady, relentless pressure, burying himself inch by devastating inch until he was fully sheathed, their bodies locked together. Tori felt split open, filled to the brim, every nerve ending screaming.
Jake froze, buried to the hilt, his body trembling with the effort of holding still. A sheen of sweat gleamed on his chest. “Breathe, little wolf,” he gritted out. “Just breathe.”
Tori gasped, dragging air into his lungs. Slowly, the piercing pain receded, melting into a deep, throbbing ache, a feeling of profound fullness. He felt… claimed. Occupied. Jake’s cock twitched inside him, and a new, different heat bloomed in its wake.
Jake began to move. Slow, deep, dragging withdrawals followed by powerful, penetrating thrusts. Each one punched a soft groan from Tori’s lips. Jake’s rhythm was hypnotic, possessive, every movement designed to remind Tori who was inside him, who owned this. He leaned down, bracing his weight on one arm beside Tori’s head, his other hand tangling in Tori’s hair, pulling his head to the side, exposing the long line of his neck.
“This is mine,” Jake snarled against his throat, his thrusts gaining force, becoming harder, faster. The bed began to rock with their combined motion. The sound of skin slapping against skin, of Jake’s ragged groans and Tori’s hitched whimpers, filled the den. Pleasure, molten and inevitable, was coiling deep in Tori’s gut, tighter and tighter with every devastating thrust.
“You feel that?” Jake panted, his voice raw. “You feel how deep I am in you? This is where you belong. Taken. Filled. Mine.”
His teeth grazed the sensitive skin where Tori’s neck met his shoulder. A warning.
The sensation, the words, the overwhelming presence of Jake everywhere—inside him, around him, on him—tipped Tori over the edge. His orgasm ripped through him with a silent, searing intensity. His body clenched down viselike around Jake’s cock, milking him, his vision whiting out as waves of pleasure crashed over him.
As Tori shuddered through the peaks of his climax, Jake gave one final, brutal thrust, buried himself to the root, and his mouth opened wide over Tori’s exposed throat.
And he bit down.
The pain was instant and sharp, a bright, clean bite of flesh. It cut through the haze of Tori’s pleasure, a second, more profound peak. He screamed, a short, guttural sound, as Jake’s teeth broke skin, as he tasted blood. But within the pain was a shocking, deep-seated rightness. A completion.
Jake held there, locked onto him, his body pulsing as he emptied himself inside Tori with a long, guttural groan. The heat of his release spilled into Tori, a final, intimate claim.
For a long moment, there was only the sound of their ragged breathing and the faint, coppery scent of blood in the air.
Slowly, carefully, Jake retracted his teeth. He lapped gently at the wound, his tongue soothing the punctures. Then he lifted his head. His lips were stained red. His eyes, when they met Tori’s, were pure, unadulterated triumph.
He pulled out slowly, and Tori winced at the sudden emptiness, the soreness. Jake gathered him close, ignoring the mess, and rolled them onto their sides. He pulled the furs over them.
His thumb gently stroked the fresh, stinging mark on Tori’s neck. “Now,” he whispered, his voice exhausted and utterly satisfied. “Now they all see.”
Tori, spent and profoundly altered, nestled into the heat of Jake’s body. The throbbing in his neck was a constant, reassuring pulse. A seal. He brought a hand up, his fingers trembling as they brushed the tender, wet marks.
Jake caught his wrist, bringing Tori’s fingers to his own mouth and kissing them. “Sleep, husband,” he murmured, the word a soft rumble against Tori’s back.
Outside, the wind picked up, whispering through the pines. Inside, wrapped in the arms of his Alpha, with the proof of his belonging burning on his skin, Tori closed his eyes. The void was gone. In its place was a mark, a weight, a purpose. He was Jake’s. And for the first time in his life, that was exactly who he wanted to be.