Page 12 of Wolf Burdened


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Rumir

Unable to sleep, I walked by Natalie’s room on my way downstairs. I couldn’t hear anything, which hopefully meant she and Rehema were sleeping soundly. We’d all heard her crying earlier, before Rehema had offered to help her sleep.

What I wouldn’t give to be able to do something, anything, to make this easier on her. I wanted to burn the gods alive, and the dragon within me roared, urging me forward.

This was all their fault. I’d asked numerous times about what was going on with this strange virus, but each time, all I’d been told was that it was being handled. That wasn’t cutting it anymore.

The Imperium would get a special little visit from me tomorrow. And this time, no one was going to give me the runaround.

My mate could have been erased from existence by another soul tonight, and someone was going to give me answers as to why that was even possible. I could tell Natalie was traumatized. Knowing she was in pain and I was unable to help her was agonizing.

I paused on the stairs when I heard her pulse quicken, but it went back to normal within seconds.

At least now she was sleeping. I only hoped her dreams were better than reality right now.

I continued on my way down the stairs, picking up on Lucian's scent just before I entered the kitchen. Sure enough, he was sitting at the island with a cup of something hot. I could see the steam floating up from it.

But he wasn’t drinking. Instead, he simply stared into the cup, his black hair falling forward.

I walked to the fridge without saying anything, and he didn't look up. From his slumped posture, I understood how he felt. I felt the same way—defeated.

While most of the blame for the situation belonged to the gods, a portion of it was mine as well. I was Natalie's mate, her partner, and protector… but I'd arrived a minute too late to help her. Sure, the Kruard worked for the gods, so she hadn’t been in imminent danger. But what if it had been someone intent on hurting her?

Hell, the infected wolf she'd fought had been that someone, and I hadn't been there.

We’d been caught up in our conversation at the restaurant, and a few minutes had passed before any of us had seen her message. But that had been all it had taken for all hell to break loose—minutes.

I glanced at Lucian, whose eyes were closed, his elbows now resting on the island, propping his head up.

I never would’ve thought we could be in the same room without arguing, but here we were. I still didn't like him—my mother's favorite and the son she'd really wanted—but I'd sworn to Natalie I'd try to make this odd situation work.

I was a dragon, and he was a werewolf. Sharing a mate wasn't in either of our natures, and it was a lot to adjust to. But I tried to focus on the fact that Natalie cared for me as much as she cared for him.

She was the first person who truly saw me and accepted me as I was. I'd waited centuries for her, and nothing was going to take her from me—not now, not ever.

Removing a water bottle from the fridge, I sat at the island and touched my gold bracelet. Searching through the options on the floating holographic screen in front of me, I decided what meal I wanted to order.

A few seconds later, my food was teleported onto the island with a screen above it, asking for credits to finalize the payment. After doing so, I dug in but could only manage to take a few bites.

Gods didn't need food, but the dragon half of me did. But even though I was hungry, I couldn't eat this.

Recalling the scent of the tainted blood on Natalie, I ground my teeth, and my appetite vanished.

How could this be happening? There’d never been anything like this virus here. Illnesses, violence, and poverty didn’t exist in this realm.

But somehow, whatever this thing was, it was thriving and spreading.

Brian walked into the kitchen, and I turned toward him. Lucian was still studying the contents of his cup. Shirtless, with sleepy, hooded eyes, Brian crossed his heavily tattooed arms across his chest and looked from me to Lucian. He didn’t seem impressed.

Arching a thick dark brow, he turned to leave. "If you two decide to fight, take it outside or warn me first before you set the house on fire."

I pushed my food away after he left and stared at Lucian for a second. He still had his eyes closed, but his brows were furrowed, causing the scar through his left brow and eye to wrinkle.

Now that I’d gotten to know him better through Natalie, I'd learned that he wasn't always as calm and collected as he appeared. In fact, I had a feeling he was just as broken as I was.

I knew of his story—of how unstable his power and wolf were because of the excessive amounts of divinity my mother had given him. He'd been her first white wolf, and he'd managed to survive, but constantly struggled to control that power.

And if that wasn’t enough, his werewolf partner on earth had been turned by a vampire, and Lucian had had to be the one to put an end to her misery.

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