Page 13 of Deep Love

“Yeah. Long story short, I had to leave the military because, as a werewolf, I healed too fast from injuries. My superiors would have wanted explanations I wasn’t allowed to give them, explanations they wouldn’t have believed.” He shrugged. “I’d hoped my werewolf speed and general agility would keep me from getting hurt in the first place, but chaos often ensues in the midst of battle.”

“I’m so sorry, Mason,” I said. “I know you wanted to make a career of being in the military. How did your father manage to do it?”

“He was luckier than me.” Mason then waved a hand. “It’s okay. I’m over that now. I was devastated at first then a little panicked because I hadn’t had a Plan B.”

“Then you came to the rescue at Moose’s Diner.”

“Ah, Jessica told you?”

I nodded. “Sharing your cooking skills with the world is noble work as well.”

“I guess.” Mason fingered the scar on his stomach. “Cooking is certainly easier than putting silver onto this wound had been.”

“Silver?”

“It’s one of the few things that can bring a werewolf down,” Mason explained. “While I was in the hospital, I’d swiped a silver fork from my dinner tray and at night, I’d press the fork to the bullet wound to essentially burn it. That’s why there’s some scarring. It also gave me a little time to hang around in the hospital and plan what to do next. Unfortunately, the only thing I could come up with was to leave the military for good.”

I straddled his lap then gently pushed him back on the bed so he was lying beneath me. He was rock hard against me, and I seriously hoped we were about to skip to the World’s Best Reunion.

“Well, leaving the military and leaving Seraphia landed us both at Moose’s Diner, so perhaps everything worked out for the best.”

“It sure feels like it.” Mason’s hands came to rest on my hips. “I never thought I’d have the chance to see you again.” He coasted his hands along my sides. “To touch you.” He grabbed a fistful of my diner T-shirt and tugged so I hovered over him, our faces lined up. “To kiss you.”

I immediately closed the distance between us, pressing my lips to his. When his tongue traced the seam of my mouth, I granted him entry and he stroked my tongue with his. My hips instinctively ground against his and a low growl sounded from Mason.

I backed up, loving the blissed out look on his face as he slowly opened his eyes. “I always loved that sound, but I love it more now knowing you can change into an actual wolf and growl.”

His smile lit up his eyes as well as something deep in my chest. “I always dreamed of telling you what I was. I’d made up my mind to do it so many times, but then my mother would say something about what a disaster it would be and why couldn’t I find a wolf to mate with. I’d then lose my nerve, but the desire to marry you only grew stronger, Delphi. I promise you that if I had asked you to marry me, I would have told you about werewolves first so you could have made an informed decision.”

I sat back a bit. “You know, I probably would have freaked if you had told me about werewolves then. Dying, becoming an angel, residing in Seraphia, and returning to Earth all made taking the werewolf news easier.”

“So I probably would have lost you for a time anyway.” Mason nodded his understanding. “But now we’re both here again.”

“Yes, we are.”

“Let’s not waste another moment.”

He peeled off my Moose’s Diner T-shirt and the T-shirt I’d been wearing under it all night. Our jeans and underwear were tossed aside next, and I have to say that lying with a naked Mason again was everything.

“I’m sorry you were kicked out of what sounds like utopia.” Mason climbed over me so he was half draped on my body. He propped himself up on his elbow then played with the ends of my hair. “But I’m also not sorry because having you here again fills this empty space inside me.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “An empty space no one but you can fill, Delphi.”

My throat stung at how sincere he was in his beautiful words to me. All I could do was hook my hand at the back of his neck and pull him down for a kiss that hopefully relayed a fraction of what I felt for this man.

“I forget why Seraphia felt so perfect to me while I was there,” I said. “Because being with you is way more amazing.”

Mason lowered so his face rested between my breasts for a few deep breaths that we took together. When he raised his head, he teased my nipple with his skilled mouth and made my desire for him increase by an infinite amount.

He left no inch of me unattended and by the time he slid into me, I wanted him so badly, I feared I might shatter if I didn’t get to feel him inside me again. With slow strokes, Mason brought me to a high even angels never knew.

We soared past the tragedy of my death, the loss of Mason’s military career, the fact that werewolves and angels existed, and the years Mason and I had been separated. Tonight was about reconnecting in a way that took all the love we’d had for each other in the past and amplified it in the now. I hadn’t thought I could love him more than I had back then.

But I’d been wrong.

Mason and I crested together, growls and moans mingling as our bodies shook with pleasure. We let the aftershocks ripple through us as we simmered in a love-making haze I would have been perfectly happy to stay in forever.

“I’ve officially decided that getting kicked out of Seraphia is not a punishment,” I announced as we came down from the peak. “Whoever framed me for re-routing those souls did me an incredible favor.”

“Did me an incredible favor too.” Mason dropped kisses along my jaw as he slid out of me, causing me to close my eyes and revel in how I felt right now. He tugged me to my feet and led me to the bathroom, poking his arm into the shower to turn it on. “Do you have any ideas on who put the blame on you?”

I shook my head. “As far as I knew, that stuff didn’t happen in Seraphia. All light and love there, you know? I didn’t think bad apples gained entry. I also didn’t think Solari made mistakes.”

“Who’s Solari?” Mason pulled me into the shower with him and the spray of hot water was a welcome feeling.

“The Sun Goddess.” I let the water soak my hair then Mason turned me around so he could wash it.

“I always wondered if a Sun Goddess existed,” Mason said. “The werewolves have Lunai, the Moon Goddess, so I figured it was possible.”

We switched roles and I washed Mason’s hair, loving how he’d gone down on his knees and rested his forehead on my stomach. We’d just been intimate and were in the midst of cleaning up, but damn, I wanted to get dirty again.

Very dirty.

“Well, I suppose goddesses don’t matter much to us now,” I said. “I’ve offended the Sun Goddess—though I’ve done nothing wrong—and you’ve offended the Moon Goddess by choosing to make love to a human—something that’s deemed wrong.”

“Oh, but it feels so right.” Mason pressed a kiss to my stomach then rose to his full height. “You and I together has always felt right.”

The emotions welling up inside me for Mason were stronger than they’d been the first time we were together. I loved him more than anything in this world or in the afterlife.

Mason Harrister was certainly worth losing my wings.