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I nod. “Of course. He saved me from the undead when I was young, and I pledged myself to him ever since. There hasn’t been a day where I regretted that decision.”
She goes quiet for a moment and keeps plucking the pheasant until it’s almost clean of feathers, except for the head. “I’m sorry about what happened with your first mate.” She looks down at the plucked bird. “Since all this, the feelings I have are so overwhelming that they seem to control me. So I can only imagine how it must have felt when you lost your fated partner.”
“It’s okay. Life takes and it gives again. I accept that,” I answer almost immediately. I’ve had many people ask me this question, and my response comes out automated. “But I think I refused to let myself get over her… and used that as a reason to not be with anyone else on a serious level. I mean, wolves can be together even if not fated mates, but it always felt like I’d be cheating on her.”
Meira places her clean bird next to my two skinned rabbits. “Lucien, I don’t…” She licks her lips and looks at me like she’s trying to find her words. “I don’t want to be the next reason you don’t want to find love again.”
It takes me a split second to work out she’s referring to dying from her sickness. The thought turns my stomach sour, the feeling pouring through my veins at what I’ve been through once already.
“I refuse to think of the worst-case scenario, Meira. Otherwise, I’d never get out of bed most mornings. We found each other for a reason, and I sure as fuck am not going to sit around and just lose you. Once we get back home, we’ll talk to our medics and work this out.” Threads of desperation seep into my voice, and I hate sounding weak.
She reaches over, her small fingers curling over mine. “I ran away from you all because I would rather have you hate me for leaving than have you feel guilty when you couldn’t save me. Or be responsible for your deaths if my wolf rips out and slaughters you.” Her eyes glisten, and fuck, my chest tightens. She did it for us, and it’s in this moment that I see how deeply she has fallen for us as well. Even if she keeps fighting us, I know that comes from fear, not hate. Fear for our safety. Fear of what we could have. Fear of what we could lose.
“Meira, I’d rather have a few weeks with you than none at all.”
Her chin suddenly trembles, and tears drench her cheeks.Shit.I’m on my feet and I draw her into my arms. “Don’t cry. We’ll find a cure, I promise you.”
She glances up, and I wipe away a loose tear. “It’s not me I’m crying for, but the pain I’ll cause you three if I can’t get my wolf out.”
“There’s only one solution then.” I tuck a bent finger under her chin. “We get that goddamn wolf to come out, even if we have to lock ourselves in a bedroom for the next few weeks.”
She laughs and I embrace her, my heart squeezing at the trepidation hanging over us at the thought that she might not heal. Fuck, I hate those thoughts.
She draws back and smiles, her eyes glinting in the descending sun. Her irises seem to almost glow in the reddish light, and her cheery smile desperately tugs at my heart. I reach over and twirl a finger on her dark hair.
“If you keep looking at me that way, we’ll never make it inside,” she teases, a tiny dimple appearing when she smiles so deeply.
“And that’s a bad thing, why?”
She raises her shoulders. “Never said it was bad, just that we’d never make it inside.”
Dušan steps around the corner of the house, carrying a bucket, and pauses when he finds us. “Hell, I’m starving. Bring those inside,” he growls and tosses me the wooden pail. “Make yourself handy and bring in more water for the soup and tea. We can make some with the mint I found.”
I laugh and stroll down to the river. When I glance back, Dušan leans a shoulder against the wall of the house, studying Meira as she collects the rabbits and pheasant. He’s completely lost, as much as me, when it comes to her.
After losing Cataline, my heartbreaking agony left me useless and shattered. So gods help the whole pack if Meira doesn’t survive, because Dušan won’t know what will have hit him. Her survival has become about so much more than just her and us now…
If Dušan goes down, so will the pack.
