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“I didn’t claim her. Nymphs don’t have Mates, or so she’s told me for years,” he ground out. He didn’t know what he and Fee had done to each other over the past few days. He’d been so close so many times to telling her the truth. He’d held her and fucked her and wanted so much from her…

“You idiot,” Runa spat and several gasps echoed through the cabin. “Who cares about Mates? Do you love her?”

Love.

Did he love Fee?

Dolores had asked him the same thing.

Did he love the woman he had spent the last ten years building a friendship with? The woman who made him laugh, who took care of him, who called him on his bullshit. Did he love Phoebe, the person who understood him better than any other creature on Earth? The person who’d been with him at his lowest and didn’t run away?

Of course he did.

“Well?” Runa asked, her sandal-clad toe tapping the floor impatiently.

“Of course I fucking love her.” His low growl had Runa stepping back, even as a smile crossed her face. “I’ve loved her since the first day I saw her. I belong to her. I’ll be her friend or her Mate or her goddamn oak tree if that’s what she needs! Because I need her, too, and I’ve been a complete idiot for a fucking decade, and I need to make up for it. Now.” He blew out a shaky breath, his whole body vibrating with the need to get to Fee. But Runa still blocked his way. The fight went out of him. “Please.”

Knowing glances were exchanged among the nymphs. He’d seen it enough times now to know they were silently communicating with each other.

“I just need to know she’s alright.”

He didn’t care if he wasted away right here in Fee’s tiny living room. He didn’t care if her mother beat him to death with her infinite beaded bracelets. He just wanted Fee to be okay.

He needed to know that she was going to be alright, even if he wasn’t. That her beautiful, freckled face would light up the forest long after he was gone.

He was about to drop to his knees and beg when the nymphs broke into enthusiastic applause. They were applauding … him?

“There. Now was that so hard?” Runa raised a blonde brow, the smile on her face growing. She nodded to the others who were still clapping and cheering their encouragement, and Theo didn’t know if he wanted to scream or cry. “I guess that’s all I needed to know.”

She stepped to the side, opening his path to Fee’s room. “You can see her, but you should probably know she’s not going to talk to you.”

“She’s that mad?”

“She’s unconscious, actually.”

“She’s what! What the hell, Runa?”

“Soul-sick,” Runa said, meaningfully. “So now would be a great time for you to figure out how to take care of her.”

With that edict, Runa nodded. “Come on, ladies. I think Theo can take it from here.” She swept out of the house, a tinkling sound following her movements. The other nymphs filed out behind her. And Theo was alone with the thunderous beat of his heart, the love of his life only a few steps away. He didn’t have a single idea about how to help her.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Fee’s room was dark. Night had settled over the forest since his encounter with the hunters. But even in the darkness, Theo could make out the small form beneath the blankets.

So small.

So fragile.

He swallowed hard, panic suddenly clutching at his throat. Fee was sick. She had been for days, and he’d stayed away. What if it really was his fault? What if he had done this to her? He’d followed her all over the state when she’d been lying to him, but now when she really needed him, he hadn’t come.

He crept closer, walking softly so as not to wake her, even though all he wanted was for her to sit up and scowl at him, to admonish him for disturbing her. Anything would be better than her lying there so quietly.

He sat on the edge of the mattress and the bed sunk under his weight. Fee’s face peeked out from the blankets, but her eyes were closed, her lashes laying against her cheeks. He didn’t need to turn on the light to see her, his wolf senses taking care of that. He could perfectly make out the sharp cut of her cheekbones, the narrowness of her once round face.

He ran a hand across her brow, and she sighed in her sleep.

Now what? He was here, but he hadn’t thought past that.