Across Enemy Lines

Epilogue

            I cleared my throat as I tried to calm my rapidly beating heart. Dominic turned his head to look at me and I maneuvered my body so that I was facing him fully. He gazed at me curiously, not saying anything. Just waiting for me to say what I needed to. “You know I love you, right?” I started looking up at him. He took a deep breath and visibly swallowed.

            “I do. And you know that I love you,” he said. I nodded but before I could say anything else, Dominic placed his hand over mine and continued. “I want you to know that no matter what, I’ll be here for you,” he rambled on. I furrowed my eyebrows. What in the world was he going on about?

            “What are you talking about?” I asked. He looked down at our hands which sent up flags in my head that something was bothering him.

            “I just know that one day you’ll find your mate. Isn’t that you want to tell? You found your mate didn’t you?” he asked, his free hand rubbing the back of his neck. I broke out into a laugh that startled him. I covered my mouth with my hand that he had released and he huffed going to stand up.

            “Dominic wait,” I said through the remains of my laughter. I stood up and put a hand on his arm as I finally regained my composure. I can’t believe he knew what I was going to talk about but he didn’t think it was him. It was sweet of him to say what he did though.

            “Nia just tell me. Did you find your mate?” he said his voice low.. The seriousness in his eyes made all the previous laughter die. His eyes gave away everything. He was worried that I had and he would lose me. Well, I had found him but I wasn’t leaving.

            “I did,” I said with a smile. Dominic forced a smile on his face and made a move to walk away. I grabbed his arm and stepped in front of him. He didn’t look at me. One glance at him and I knew he was about to crack. “Look at me,” I said softly tipping his chin up until his eyes met mine.  My hand ran from his chin to rest on his cheek. He leaned into my touch.

            “I did find my mate and I’ve known for a while,” I said with a smile hoping he would understand what I was trying to say. He obviously didn’t. He took a step back and ran a hand through his hair.

            “You’ve known about your mate and you’ve been leading me on? I guess I’m lucky that he hasn’t killed me for being near you. I mean, he’s probably some awesome shifter in the pack. Who is it? Is it Trevor? I’ve caught him staring at us when we are walking around. Or maybe it’s Shelton,” he said more to himself than to me. He had started pacing in front of me.

            I crossed my arms as I watched him. Does he really think that I would have stayed with him if I would have known my mate wasn’t him? I wasn’t that mean. When it didn’t seem like Dominic would be stopping anytime soon, I decided to take things into my own hands. Walking up to him, I grabbed his face in both my hands and crashed my lips onto his.

            He tried to resist at first but eventually he relaxed into the kiss. His arms wrapped around my back and pulled me tight against his body. My hands left his face and snaked around his neck, playing with the hair at the nape. Once I started, I knew that I would never get use to the feeling of kissing him. It was an exhilarating feeling to be close to your mate.

            After a few minutes, we both pulled apart. I leaned my forehead against his, our breathing mixing between us. “It’s you Dominic,” I said opening my eyes to meet his, “It’s always been you.” A huge grin spread across his face as well as mine. He lifted me up and spun me around in a circle. I squealed only to be cut off a second later by his lips meeting mine once again.

            I wasn’t sure how this was going to work. A shifter mating with a former hunter who killed their kind was practically unheard of. It had never been done before. No one thought it was possible. But standing here in Dominic’s arms, I knew that we could do anything as long as we were in it as one. We were both across enemy lines and ready for the challenge.

Together.