Page 76 of The Werewolf’s Wrong Mate

Of course there was a fucking full moon. How cliche.

I closed my eyes. “Please tell me this is one of those symbolic full moons and not an actual calendar problem.”

“It is actual.”

“Fantastic.”

“If the mark burns out before then, you may recover.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

He went silent.

Ronan answered instead. “If it holds until the full moon, the bond may set.”

I opened my eyes.

Set.

Such a small word for a door locking.

“What does set mean?”

Ian’s voice was rougher when he answered. “Permanent.”

The monitor picked up speed. Sava moved, but I lifted one hand to stop her. I needed the fear. I needed to feel it before they medicated me back into manageability.

“Permanent,” I repeated.

Ian’s hands curled, then opened. “Among wolves, a permanent mate bond cannot be broken without severe damage. Often death.”

“Among wolves,” I said.

“Yes.”

“But I’m not a wolf.”

“No.”

“So what does it do to me?”

His face changed.

That was when I understood he didn’t know, nobody did.

A laugh moved through me, brittle and ugly. “You have got to be kidding.”

Ronan’s voice cut in. “That is what we are trying to determine before the seventh day.”

“We?”

“Sava. Ian. Me.”

“The council that wants me dead?”

“No.”

“For now?”