“It’s huge, almost from one side of the castle to the other. I can do laps in it.”
“Where is it?”
“By the entrance, there’s a huge door beside the steps. Why?”
“I might bathe before the next trial.”
“It’s about time. I wasn’t going to say anything but?—”
I smack him with my pillow.
“I think I’ll go at noon when everyone else will still be sleeping.”
“Why? Are you getting shy, Ember? Too much male attention?” He wiggles his eyebrows.
“Oh, hush.” I smack him with the pillow one final time.
Chapter 11
THORN
Sleep eludes me the rest of the night.
The moment I stepped away from her, both of us panting like we’d run for miles, I knew I’d made a mistake.
I should have claimed her.
The scent of her still clings to my memory, cedarwood and jasmine. It’s burned into my blood now. My hardness won’t ease, no matter how many times I stroke it away, chasing the ghost of her scent through clenched fists and growled breaths. Nothing’s working.
Could this be it? Could the trials, after nine long years of waiting, finally be showing me my mate? And if so, why did I walk away?
I pace. My bare feet slap the cold stone of my quarters. Back and forth. I can’t breathe here. I can’t sit still. I need to know who she is. I need to find her.
The urge drives me out of my room on the first floor and into the hall. Shifting into wolf form, muscles stretching and lungs expanding with the quiet snap of bone before I burst into fur. Nose to the ground, I slip into the halls and hunt formy mate. The floors are old stone, so odors don’t stick to them like carpet. The scent is faint, but I catch a whiff of jasmine on the stairs. I follow it.
Up the stairs. One flight, then two. My paws pad soundlessly across the ancient steps. The scent sharpens on the third floor, the far West Wing. That’s where the rooms for the Shadow pack are.
Down the hall, past several doors. It lingers at the very end. The last door on the left side.
She’s here.
I shift back, the cold brushing over bare skin, grounding me. My hand raises. It hovers, poised to knock.
What the hell am I doing?
This is against everything I stand for.
For years I’ve trusted the trials, I’ve been patient, believing in the ancient ways. And now I’m about to break tradition just to lay eyes on a female I’ve only smelled?
But she’s more than that. Her scent alone filled places I didn’t know were empty. Still, this isn’t how it’s meant to happen.
I clench my fist and force it down to my side, slowly backing away from her door. One step. Then another. I count each step as I walk back to focus on anything other than her scent.
Today is the trial of Touch.
I will wait. I must.
“Thorn?” The voice stops me cold.
