"Do you think they'll accept it? That the wolf can transfer between bonded mates?"
Nero was quiet for a moment, considering. "The nobles care about power, not who wields it. If I can demonstrate the wolf's abilities, if I can shift, they'll listen." His fingers combed gently through Casteel's hair. "But I won't let them use either of us as Doran tried to do."
"And after?" Casteel asked, the question that had been haunting him finally finding voice. "After Doran is defeated, after the kingdom is stable...what then?"
Would he still want him then? Casteel had so many doubts.
Nero shifted, propping himself up on one elbow to look into Casteel's eyes. The firelight caught the silver gleam that now resided there, a constant reminder of what had been exchanged between them.
"Then we find those horses you dream about," he said simply. "The Skellarae in the northern valleys."
"You remembered," Casteel whispered, something warm unfurling in his chest that had nothing to do with their bond and everything to do with being truly seen.
Chapter Seventeen
Nero lay awake fora long time cradling Casteel and trying to decide what to do. They had to push on at dawn. Catching food for them would be easy but he had no idea where they were exactly. This wasn’t an area he recognized but he seemed to instinctively know his wolf would guide them.
Nero wasn't stupid. He'd known Casteel was questioning everything without the wolf— his value, Nero's truth. The wolf-soul had brought Nero to the palace but that hadn't kept him there. That was all Casteel. It had been the look in his eyes that had stopped Nero from launching that fatal arrow.
And they weren't life-dependent. Such a strange term because as far as Nero was concerned, he was very life-dependent on Casteel. He knew Casteel didn't trust that even after last night. Nero had doubted everything. The bond. His attraction. For long enough there had been the threat to Casteel's life keeping Nero by his side…or had it?
Let me go.
They had been Maya's last words. She'd lain in a pool of blood on a dusty road while he had been pointlessly trying to save some crops to get them through the coming winter. He'd raced to her when he was told, but broken every promise to her. Their vows had promised protection, respect, and truth. Love was never counted as important in their world. But he'd failed to protect her, and she'd died for that. She'd died on a filthy road in a heap of blood. There could never be any respect in that.Let me go.Her last request. Except he hadn't honored it, which was just another lie. He'd turned their love and truth into hate and revenge. Maya would never want others to die in her name but every arrow he loosed was coated in revenge.
Simply to make him feel better, not to honor her.
Until Casteel.
His chest hurt. He'd used every word for Casteel except the one he really should have. He loved—truly loved—Casteel with everything in him, and he knew Maya would approve. Probably tease him.It took you long enough.Then why couldn't he have said it last night when he was baring his secrets? Cowardice? Was he frightened Casteel would never love him back? That all Nero was to Casteel was a powerful shield that once the war was over he wouldn't need? Except Casteel had voiced nearly that very fear last night. That Nero would no longer need him. What had stopped him? Why couldn't he give that final declaration? His own fear? Was he such a coward?
Dawn broke with pale fingers of light stretching through the cave entrance. Nero had barely slept, his newly enhanced senses alert to every forest sound, every shift in the air. The wolf within him paced restlessly, urging movement, action, protection. Beside him, Casteel slept deeply.
Gently, Nero disentangled himself and moved to the cave entrance. The forest spread below them, mist clinging to the valleys like spider webs. His heightened vision picked out detailsthat would have been invisible before—a hawk circling nearly a mile away, the subtle movement of deer through distant underbrush, the glint of morning sun on what might be a stream.
And something else—the faint, metallic gleam of armor moving through the trees far below. Silver Guard. Still searching, still hunting. Once again he marveled at his heightened senses the wolf gave him even on two legs not four.
"Are they still following us?" came Casteel's voice from behind him, sleep-rough but alert.
Nero turned to find his mate sitting up, hair tousled from sleep, eyes squinting slightly in the morning light. Without the wolf's enhanced vision, Casteel would be unable to see what Nero could—a realization that twisted something painful in his chest.
"We need to move," Nero said, returning to gather their meager belongings. "I can hunt something for breakfast as we travel."
Casteel nodded, rising with careful movements that betrayed how his muscles ached from yesterday's exertion. And probably last night's. Nero should feel guilt over that, but he was at least honest enough with himself to puff his chest out a little. He'd cared for his mate yesterday in all ways.
"Which way?" Casteel asked as they emerged from the cave into the crisp mountain air.
Nero closed his eyes, letting the wolf's instincts guide him. Something pulled him northward, a sense of direction that seemed embedded in the magic he now carried. "This way," he said, pointing toward a ridge that rose against the morning sky. "There's a path through those peaks that should lead us toward Morven's estate."
They set off at a steady pace, Nero deliberately moderating his stride to accommodate Casteel's endurance. The forest thinned as they climbed higher, giving way to rocky slopes dottedwith hardy mountain pines. Twice Nero paused to listen, his enhanced hearing picking up distant sounds of pursuit, but the Silver Guard remained far behind them, following false trails laid the previous day.
By midmorning, hunger had become a pressing concern. Casteel hadn't complained, but Nero could sense his fatigue growing with each step. When they crossed a small mountain stream, Nero called a brief halt.
"Rest here," he said, helping Casteel settle on a sun-warmed boulder. "I'll find us food."
Casteel nodded, too exhausted to argue. Through their bond, Nero felt a flicker of frustration—his mate hated feeling like a burden, but there was no denying his human limitations. Nero had been different even when purely human because of his immense body strength. Casteel worried him.
"Be quick," Casteel said, his eyes scanning the forest edge nervously.
