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I blushed and ran my hands down my deerskin dress. His blatant honesty still caught me off guard, making my heart pound. “I-I didn’t feel obligated to heal you this morning. I wanted to—”
“You wanted to stop me from being in pain.”
“Well, yes...to begin with.” I frowned. “But when I touched you and felt how feverish you were—”
“You mistook that burning for sickness when it was pure lust.” His throat worked as his smoky eyes darkened to midnight. “I should’ve stopped you. I should’ve been honest at how much I craved you. That my pain was self-inflicted.” He wiped his mouth with a jerky hand. “But then you touched me and...I...I couldn’t control myself. But then you ran. You ran from what I made you do and—”
“I ran from Salak, not you.” My cheeks burned hotter as I met his eyes. “I ran because I needed time to understand why I’m being told to stay away from you when it feels...”
When I didn’t finish, he shifted closer. “It feels?”
I sucked in a breath, forcing myself to be brave with the truth, just like him. “It feels good.” I softened my voice, allowing honesty to pour as easily as his did. “It feels...right.”
He shuddered. “I feel the same way.”
“But we can’t trust what we feel.” My knees locked as a breeze licked around us. “I’ve been warned to leave this place; to leave you and never come back.”
He shook his head. “You can’t. I won’t let you. I promised myself that I’d let you return to the Nhil but that was before you touched me. Before I understood that remembering who I am suddenly pales compared to learning who you are.”
“But what if the fire and Salak are right, and we’re the ones who are wrong?”
“Then we deal with the consequences.”
“And if those consequences hurt others?”
His hands cupped my cheeks, holding me firm, making me feel both captured and cared for. “We won’t let it.”
My fingers locked over his wrists as I winced. I wanted to believe him. To trust that everyone else was wrong and we were right to chase these wonderfully potent feelings, but fear churned my stomach.
The smoking ruins of decimation, the charred bodies that the fire had shown me.
The screams...
Pulling his hands away from my cheeks, I stepped back.
Grasping for easier subjects, I reached out and touched the silky tan-and-black fur wrapped around his hips. “Where did you get this?”
His nostrils flared, but he accepted my need to ebb the intensity between us and ran a hand down the pelt. “Salak. He took me to a part of his territory where he fought a trespasser.” He tugged on a silvery tuft by his thigh. “This male did not survive. Salak left me to skin the corpse, almost as if he agreed with me that hiding my body was needed.” Dipping his fingers into the waistband wrapped low and rolled tight on his hips, he pulled out a wolf’s fang. “I also claimed this. It’s sharp and can be turned into a good weapon. I’ve often wished for claws and teeth like my alpha. Now, I have one.”
Holding out the curved fang, he waited for me to open my palm.
I didn’t want to touch it.
I knew what would happen if I did.
But the stranger seemed to know too, and curiosity glowed in his dark stare.
Bracing myself, I accepted the tooth and shivered as the faintest tingle of lifeforce fed into my spirit. The wolf had been old and heartbroken. He hadn’t been alpha in his previous pack, but he had been an omega. His mate had died in a hunt with a buffalo that’d turned and trampled the wolves stalking it. He’d roamed the plains and ranges ever since, seeking a new home without her, before stumbling onto Salak’s territory. By the time Salak snarled for him to leave, he’d already given up and was ready to follow his mate to the afterlife. He’d picked the fight that killed him and was grateful to have it end.
I tripped backward as the vision faded as quickly as it’d unspooled. It’d been so rich, so vibrant, so full of heartache. I didn’t understand how I could know such things or why such memories could be gifted when my own remained so hidden.
“What did you see?” the stranger asked softly, accepting back the fang.
Natim bounded toward me. I scooped him up, pressing a kiss to his small head and basking in the sparkle of his fresh lifeforce, the newness of him, the verve and vigor after such tragedy. “The wolf wanted to die. I don’t think he’d mind that his mortal remains are now used by another.”
He cupped the tooth with both hands, all while his gaze searched mine. “You are by far the most fascinating woman I’ve ever found.”
A smile caught me by surprise. “I wasn’t aware you’d found others. I thought I was the only one.”
