The only question is what to do. Will I upend the years of work I have done to prepare for my mate and run? Or should I stand and fight, as I had not done when the humans came before?
I worked hard to create this life we have and to prepare this cave for us to dwell in and be happy. I can’t imagine giving it up and starting over, but I will do whatever it takes to protect her.
To protectus.
They are back now, of that I am certain. When I hid—and Maris, brave soul that she is—stood firm against the crowd, I breathed deep and catalogued the scents of everyone hateful human there; I do not forget those that threaten my mate, and I will remember them later.
But one of those scents was familiar. It didn’t belong to any of the men in the clearing but it was a familiar tang that still clung to their clothes… I recognized that smell. It still clings to my nostrils, burns in my throat like the flames I can still taste.
The day my pack was killed, our home was burned, and those men were there. At least one, perhaps more, were part of the wholesale slaughter of my pack. They are the reason that I am the last wolf, the reason the curse falls to me.
For just a moment, even in the midst of my anger, I think of what things could be if my life was different, if the humans hadn’t come to hunt my pack that day. I have no doubt I would still have found Maris somehow; it’s fate. But with a partner to balance the curse, and others to pass it on to, my seven years as a wolf would have passed quickly, and I would have been human again once that time was up. I would have been able to spend time with her, court her properly, instead of slinking along the edges of the village and eating her food like some sort of wild dog. I would have been able to love her properly. Not this… not this strange half life where I fear for her every moment of the day, and miss what could have been. If not for these men.
A low snarl rips from my throat as I turn away, dropping to all fours so that my claws can dig more firmly into the ground. So it seems the answer is simple: I cannot allow the humans to putMaris in danger again. I cannot allow them to ruin the happiness we have. I may be a coward, but if I strike first, it won’t matter.
One last night of holding my mate close, and then I will hunt them all down. Remove the threat before she is in danger again, and prove that I am a worthy mate for her.
Once and for all.
CHAPTER 17
Maris
Even in my dreams,my worst fear is Gray leaving me, deciding she doesn’t love me any more.
And when I wake, I find that exact thing has happened.
I gasp and flail, instinctively reaching behind me. These past… what? Days? Weeks? It’s so hard to keep track. Every time I’ve had a nightmare, Gray has always been there to help, to hold me close and promise that everything will be okay. She is a firm presence, always there, always calm enough that her heartbeat is enough to slow mine.
But not today. Today, there is no one else in our little nest; the other side is cool enough to suggest that she hasn’t been here in some time, and I wrack my brain in an attempt to remember the last time I saw her.
I was so exhausted after the encounter in the forest that I had basically gone straight to our bed, but I still had a vague recollection of her warm arms curled around me, her tail brushing against my legs while her strange purr-growl reverberated through my back. That was how I had fallen asleep.Now, when I wake, she is nowhere to be found, and unease trickles through my chest.
I don’t like this.
I fling the blankets off my lap and stand, already fumbling on the floor for my skirt. I’ve taken to going to bed in less and less when we sleep as time has gone on, and now I’m left in only my undergarments, just enough to cover anything important. Honestly, what does it matter? She’s already seen me in less, and with her fur, she’s so warm that I don’t get cold under the blankets. It’s a perfectly good sleeping method, but it does mean that getting dressed in the morning takes longer.
Soon enough I’ve managed to pull myself together, then begin the march down the mountainside after Gray. I’m uncertain if it’s some sort of mystical mate magic or just the sheer amount of time we’ve spent together, but I have at least a vague instinct of where she’s headed. True or not, it’s the best thing I’ve got, so that’s what I’m following.
It takes a surprisingly short amount of time for me to catch up with Gray, a fact that makes me immediately suspicious. She’s at least double my size, and half wolf; she should be moving so fast I had no chance of catching up with her.
Instead, it’s almost like she’s wandering, and I don’t like that. She doesn’t wander, not without me. So why is she out here, and why did she leave without telling me?
I find her by the stream, sitting on her haunches and staring into the rushing water like it holds answers to questions she's afraid to ask. Her ears are pinned flat against her skull, and her tail lies motionless on the ground beside her - never a good sign.
"Gray?" I call softly, not wanting to startle her.
She turns toward me, and the look in her mismatched eyes makes my stomach drop. There's a resignation there, a terrible kind of acceptance that I recognize all too well. It's the samelook I used to see in my own reflection during those long, lonely months in the cottage.
"You should go back," she says, her voice carefully neutral. "It's not safe out here."
"It's not safe anywhere," I point out, settling myself on a boulder beside the stream. "That's why we stick together, remember?"
She looks away from me, back toward the water. "Maris, I've been thinking about what those men said. About what's going to happen when they come back."
Here it comes. I can feel it building in the air between us like a storm gathering on the horizon.
"They'll bring more people next time," she continues. "Better weapons. Maybe even one of those church inquisitors. And when they do..." She takes a shaky breath. "When they do, you'll be safer if I'm not around."
