Finally, she says, “You meant it, didn’t you? What you said?”
“I don’t know what I meant,” I whisper. “I’m just…scared.”
“Of what? Thorn?”
I shake my head. That’s not it. Thorn was protective, generous… I wouldn’t say I’m afraid of him. “Of me. Of losing myself. Of becoming someone else’s something.”
Tala tilts her head. “You think mating makes you weaker?”
“I think…I don’t know who I am without Roman. Without surviving. And if I give myself to someone, if I let them own me, move me to their cave…maybe I disappear.”
“Ember,” Tala says, softly now. “The strongest wolves Iknow, the ones who mate. They don’t disappear…they just stop fightingalone.”
I close my eyes. “And if I choose wrong?”
“Then you burn him to ash and start all over next season.” She shrugs nonchalantly.
That makes me look at her. Okay, I like her. She’s hilarious. “Is that what you’d do?”
“Hell yeah.” She grins. “Love doesn’t make you less. It makes you better.”
The way she speaks so strongly of it, she must know first-hand, “Are you in love?”
“I …” Her dark cheeks flush darker as she glances all around.
“It’s okay.” I pat her leg. “You don’t need to tell me; I was just curious.”
“I think…maybe I am.” She nods, meeting my gaze. “It’s just strange that it’s someone I never thought it would be.”
I nod. “I understand completely.” I stare up at the moon. It’s past its peak. I can feel its power blanketing me.
Tala rises. “Come on, let’s get you back before Thorn rips Olcan’s throat out.”
“I don’t think I’d mind that.” I sigh, then whisper, “You don’t think he heard, do you?”
She nods solemnly. I hurt him, I can see it in her eyes. Tala cares about Thorn in a way that I haven’t seen from anyone else in his pack. It reminds me of someone. Someone I thought was a friend, Dove. All those nights we would sit and talk under the moon just like this. It makes me miss her. I wonder if our entire friendship was just filling time until she finds a mate.
“I think I just want to be alone a little longer.”
She nods once more before the wind shifts around her and her dark wolf is sprinting back across the valley.
I exhale slowly, staring back up at the glowing moon.There’s a storm coming, and I think I’m the match that will light it.
But for the first time in my life, I realize that I’m finally ready to burn.
I don’t know how long I sit alone after Tala leaves. The night is quiet now, no owls or crickets. No whispers or bullies. No aggressive, territorial males. Just me and the truth I didn’t mean to spill repeating over and over again.
I don’t want a mate.
I said it because of the truth spores and I meant it, didn’t I?
The thought of losing myself, and Roman, terrifies me. The idea of becoming someone’s property, after I spent years rebuilding my life with Roman.
But I also can’t forget the way it felt when Thorn touched me, the way he smells, and gods, the way he tasted me.
Then there was the reverence in Thorn’s eyes. Like I wasn’t his to own — but someone he’d die to protect. That’s what I’d want in a mate, isn’t it?
My chest tightens. I should go back. Roman will worry. I’ll probably have some words with Thorn, too. I shift my weight to stand when the soft crunch of footsteps in the grass stops me.
