“At least I don't want fourteen children.”
“I vouldn't mind.”
“Can you imagine?” I laughed. “Fourteen cubs running about the palace.”
“I can.” He sighed and smiled. “It vould be chaos, but beautiful chaos.”
“Do you want more children?”
“Others need to have zeir children before I can even hope for zat,” Kirill said. “I'm content vith Lesya.”
“That's not what I asked,” I said softly.
I couldn't look away from his beautiful eyes; so full of longing and love. I wanted him safe, just as he wanted me, but if we couldn't have safety, I wanted Kirill to have every desire in his lion heart fulfilled. If I could give it to him, I would. Even if it was fourteen children.
“Da, I vant more children,” Kirill finally said. “But ve have forever, Vervain. I vill never build you a monument like zat one.” He waved his hand out the window. “Because you vill never die; I von't allow it. Instead, our monument will be our family—our Pride—and ve vill build it together.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat and hugged him tightly. There was nothing I could say to that; no string of words that could acknowledge how wonderful Kirill's sentiments had been or how much I treasured them. Instead, I eased back and kissed him again, and when he rose up ready once more, I took him inside me along with his dream of a strong Pride that would be a monument to our love.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Each morning, a new lover would come for me and whisk me away to another exotic destination. After wandering through the Taj Mahal with Kirill and experiencing the profound weight of love and heartache that had gone into its creation, I explored Machu Picchu with Toby; the entire ruins empty except for us. It was utterly amazing and humbling.
My experiences in India and Peru touched me on a deeply spiritual level. The Taj Mahal was a testament to the lengths a man would go to for love, and Machu Picchu was proof of the greatness humankind has always possessed. If I ever doubted my ability to reach a goal or conquer an enemy, I would remember those two places. If humans could create such things without magic, then I should be able to do anything.
My Valentine's Day/Week was going spectacularly. After Kirill and Toby, I went to Chile with Azrael. We went gliding over narrow, frigid rivers, between sheer, pastel-blue, translucent glaciers glowing with sunlight, Divinity departed before that frozen glory, leaving me feeling peacefully insignificant. Then Az and I made love in a wood-paneled refuge with a view of the Patagonian Mountains as a backdrop.
In the middle of the night, Azrael took me flying over the park; a gleaming river to one side and snow-capped mountains to the other. I kept us warm as we flew and even when we landed to have wild sex on a steep, rocky slope; my bare back pressed against the mountain as Azrael held my thighs. At first, he protected us with his wings, but I asked him to put them away so I could see the world stretching out behind him as we made love.
Despite our romp on the mountainside and our glacier glide, my day in Chile felt luxurious compared to my day with Trevor and the Wolf than. From a pampered experience of nature, I went into the untamed wilderness. But Trevor made roughing-it sexy. We ran free in our wolf forms through the forest during the day and then cuddled by a campfire beneath the stars at night. We made love in the open; a thick mattress Trevor's only concession to comfort. Flames and moonlight colored our skin in molten metals as the forest clicked, creaked, and cried out around us. It was savagely beautiful, just like Trevor, and our lovemaking became a primitive dance that neither of us could ever tire of.
“I wish we could stay here forever,” Trevor whispered against my neck after one particularly passionate session.
We had just been for a wolf-run and had shifted back to human to make love on the shore of a lake. We'd gotten terribly dirty—grass and debris everywhere—but neither of us cared. The lake was a few feet away, we could wash when we were done. Trevor was still inside me, slowly twitching back to life, so I wasn't sure when exactly we'd make it to the water. But, again, I didn't care.
“This is magnificent,” I agreed. “But there are other wondrous things in the realms. I've had recent proof of that with these Valentine's gifts.”
“Agreed,” Trevor murmured. Then he lifted his face to look at me. “But I'd give up the wonders of all the worlds simply to have you beside me, running wild through this forest for eternity.”
“I love you, Honey-Eyes,” I whispered.
There was nothing else I could say to that. We both knew that I wouldn't give up everything to be there with him. There were too many other people who I treasured. But instead of being saddened by that fact, Trevor accepted it along with my love.
“I love you more than the Moon, Minn Elska,” he said softly. “And I would give it to you if I could. You've given me the world, after all, when you conceived our son.”
And that was why Trevor could accept that I couldn't abandon everyone for him and his forest. Because soon, he'd have someone else he could never give up too. Having a dream of living alone with your lover is sweet, but the reality of a life full of love from family and friends as well as lovers is far more satisfying in its reality. We celebrated that growing truth under Trevor's precious Moon and howled with the beasts when we found our release.
In the morning, Odin arrived to trace me to Bali. The Four Seasons Resort at Sayan; dear Gods. I have never been so wowed by a hotel before. In the middle of a
