He knew she was saying something, but he couldn’t hear it, his entire body in agony.

Mouth snapping shut as her eyes fell on his face, Ria touched her fingers to a point below Emmett’s right ear. “Oh, God.” She realized his ears were bleeding. Her heart almost stopped. “Emmett?”

His eyes were hazy—he was clearly in pain. And still, she saw him turn to look for whatever it was that had made her scream. But the little spider on the headrest was long gone, scared by her stupid reaction. “Okay,” she said. “Okay.” A few contortions and she managed to get her shirt back on. Fastening a single button between her breasts, she slid back Emmett’s door and half scrambled, half fell out of the vehicle.

Once out, she pushed at his shoulders, trying to get him into the passenger seat. He finally seemed to get the message and slid over, his movements

nowhere near as graceful as usual. Instead, he slumped heavily into the seat and mimed writing.

Grabbing the purse she’d left on the dash, she pulled out the tiny notepad and pen she always carried. Emmett took it and wrote down an address, with the name Tammy at the top.

“Tamsyn.” Nodding, Ria started up the car. The healer was a little ways out of the city, but if Emmett wanted to go to her rather than to Emergency, Ria

wasn’t going to argue.

It was the worst drive she’d ever made. Emmett touched his knuckles to the back of her cheek ten minutes into the journey, but his tenderness only made her feel worse. Fighting off tears, she drove as fast as she dared and made it to Tamsyn’s just after one in the morning. Emmett slid back his own door and was out by the time she got to him. He swayed, as if he’d lost his center of balance.

Pulling his arm around her shoulders, she began to walk him to the door. It was wrenched open before they reached the first step. Nathan, who Ria had met during his watch on her parents’ house, walked out, followed by Tamsyn. The healer was wearing a kimono-style robe in vivid blue, but it was her eyes that stole the scene, night-glow in the darkness.

“What happened?” she asked, coming to a stop in front of Emmett.

Tears streamed down Ria’s face. “I screamed right next to his ear.”

“Is that all?” Lifting her hands, the healer cupped them gently over Emmett’s ears. “It won’t take long to heal. He’ll be extra-sensitive for a week, but after that, his hearing will go back to normal.”

Ria felt Emmett squeeze her shoulders, his eyes already looking clearer. But she didn’t breathe easy until Tamsyn drew back her hands and said,

“There.”

Emmett turned to Ria. “What was it?”

“A spider,” she admitted, shamefaced. “Teeny, tiny.”

“Scared of spiders, mink?” He drew her into his embrace.

“Very.” Her eyes met Tamsyn’s. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Touching her fingers gently to Ria’s cheek, she took the damp towel Nathan held out to her. “For the blood.”

As Ria accepted the soft cloth with a murmur of thanks, Nathan jerked his head toward the house. “I’ll leave the door open if you want to come in.”

“No.” Emmett shook his head. “I have to get Ria home.”

The couple headed in with a wave. Reaching up, Ria dabbed away the blood with careful hands. Emmett bent his head and let her do what she needed to do. Only when his face was clear did he take the towel and put it on the hood of the car.

“You gonna look at me anytime soon?”

She shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Emmett.”

“Hey, it wasn’t that bad.” He tipped up her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. “Excruciating, but otherwise not that bad.”

Guilt threatened to crush her. Then she caught the glint in his eye. “Emmett, if I didn’t love you so much, I’d kill you right now.”

His eyes went night-glow between one second and the next. “What did you say?”

That was when she realized she’d given away everything. Her heart in her throat, she swallowed. “I said I love you.”

Emmett cupped her cheek in his hand, those amazing, wild eyes becoming impossibly wilder. “Say that again.”

She did.

Emmett’s smile was slow, possessive, brilliant. “I love you, too, mink.”

Her lips trembled. Throwing her arms around him, she let him pick her up and kiss the air right out of her. Sometime later, he said, “You’re my mate.

Think you can handle that?”

It was hard to speak with her heart bursting open. “Think you can handle me?”

“So long as you’re gentle with me.”

And she knew he was going to tease her about this for the rest of their lives. Her smile almost cracked her face, she was so delighted by the idea.

EPILOGUE

Of course Dorian flirted shamelessly with Ria at her and Emmett’s mating ceremony. But Emmett didn’t carry through his threat to eviscerate the younger man. Because Ria was his now, and Dorian, like every other man in DarkRiver, would rather die than cross that line.

His leopard smiled indulgently as the blond soldier danced Emmett’s mate into a whirl, then caught her laughing form. Her eyes met Emmett’s over

Dorian’s shoulder and she blew him a kiss. Smiling, he decided he’d shared his mate quite enough. “Go find another partner, Blondie.”

Dorian released Ria with a mournful smile. “But I like your mink.” Dodging Emmett’s swipe, he walked off with a cocky grin.

“Is your pack always like this?” Ria asked, looking up at him, her arms wrapped around his waist.

“Crazy?”

“That, too. But so . . . like family.”

“Yep. Pack is family.”

A frown gathered between her brows. “What about my parents, grandmother, my brothers, Amber, and Joy—will they be shut out now?”

“They’re family, too,” he told her. “Sometimes, they might wish they weren’t.” Grinning, he directed her gaze to where poor Amber and Joy were being

“looked after.” The changelings weren’t touching either mother or baby, but it was obvious they wanted to. Then Ria noticed the beautiful handcrafted baby blanket being held out to Amber. Her sister-in-law looked stunned . . . before a slow smile crept over her face.

“We like kids,” Emmett whispered in her ear.

Pressing herself to him, she stood on tiptoe to whisper back. “Me, too.”

He squeezed her close.

“How come you took so long to find me?” she asked.

“Stupidity.” A nip of her ear. “But now that I have you, I’m never letting go.”

Ria smiled and kissed the edge of his jaw. “Who says I’d let you?”

Laughing, Emmett spun her off her feet and around in a dizzying circle. Ria met her grandmother’s eyes halfway through the first rotation. Miaoling was holding court with the young ones, but her smile was just for Ria. And Ria knew her grandmother understood.

Emmett was it for her. Forever. No matter what.

It was, she thought, looking down into eyes gone cat in joyful play, perfect.

The San Francisco Gazette

January 1, 2073