Chapter 0201

It takes me a long time to fall asleep, overwhelmed as I am by my new bond, the closeness of my

mate, the secrets that we’ve passed between us that still ring through my mind. But as the minutes

pass I feel my eyelids getting heavier and heavier, encouraged by the steady movement of

Jackson’s hand over my hair.

When I do finally fall asleep, my head pillowed against Jackson’s chest, it’s the deep, true sleep of

one who feels both weary and completely safe.

I sleep so deeply that when my eyelids flutter open in the morning, I have…no idea where I am.

Even though I am…completely comfortable.

I frown, not understanding, and curl into the warmth of what I assume is my mattress, though it’s a

little…firmer than I remember? I’m not sure.

There’s a light chuckle, though, that makes me look up, and my frown deepens as I stare into

Jackson’s face before I realize that…

“Oh!” I murmur, sitting up a little. He smiles at me, his hand pressing into my back, encouraging me

to lean my head back down against his chest.

“It’s okay,” he murmurs, “take a second to wake up. There’s time.”

I lay my head back down against him, blushing a little as I realize that what I assumed was my

mattress is just his body – that I’m curled up in his lap, kind of sprawled over his torso, my face

tucked against his pectoral –

God, is he really that big, that I can basically use his body as a bed?

Or am I just that small?

I peer up at him again, more awake now, taking a deep breath and raising a hand to rub at my eye.

Slowly, a smile overtakes his mouth.

“What?” I mutter, shaking my head a little to clear it, a smile pulling at my lips as well because…

well, because he’s just staring at me. And it’s…kind of nice.

“You’re just so pretty,” he whispers, his voice a little awed as he traces his knuckles down the soft

skin of my cheek.

I can’t help it then – I burst into a brilliant smile.

Because my mate thinks I’m pretty.

His own smile widens, matching mine, and I squeak with happiness, reaching up and winding my

arms around Jackson’s neck, pulling him close and pressing probably a dozen kisses to his cheek

and neck. “Morning,” I murmur, after the fourth or fifth.

He doesn’t respond, just puts a hand beneath my chin after a moment and tilts my face up to his,

bringing his mouth to mine and kissing me like he’s been waiting for hours to do it, like he can’t wait

for it anymore.

And, obviously, I kiss him right back.

But we’re both more contained, now, in the light of the morning than we were last night. There was

something freeing about the darkness – about knowing that as long as it persisted, there was

nothing we could do except explore each other.

Now that there’s light by which we can see?

We’re both aware that it’s time to move.

“Um, so,” I say after Jackson breaks our kiss. I stay close, speaking softly as I run a hand through

his messy hair, tucking it back behind his ear, “I lied to you yesterday. I can shift.”

“Really,” he says, his eyebrows going up, and I can tell that he’s pleased. “Little rose-colored wolf,

by any chance?”

“How did you know that?” I ask, my eyes going wide.

“I think I met her,” he murmurs, his finger curling in a tendril of my hair, “a couple times. Dreaming.”

I tilt my head for a second and then burst into a smile as the truth hits me. All those nights, running

along the cliffs with another wolf at my side -

Wasn’t just a dream, was it?

But there’s no time to tend to that right now. “The only problem is,” I say, looking around the forest,

“that my wolf is very obviously a girl wolf, and anyone who sees and smells me will figure it out.”

“We’ll keep the plan the same, then,” Jackson says, starting to stand up and ridiculously bringing

me with him, setting me on my feet only when he’s fully standing. “We’ll only shift if we run out of

time, yeah?”

“Do you think…” I bite my lip, looking up at him. “I mean, are we going to be too late?”

“Nah,” Jackson says, turning to look north. “The only people who would have made it to the

mountain and been able to climb it in the night would have been…well, the best of Warrior Track.

So, maybe Jesse and Rafe. But still, I think there’s plenty of reason to assume that there’s time left

for us to make it.”

“So,” I say, smiling up at him and crossing my arms, “what you’re saying is…if I hadn’t been

weighting you down, you’d already be across the finish line?”