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Reaching forward, I clasped the girl’s shoulder again.
She flinched as a heated current leapt between us.
I kept my eyes on Salak as his attention shot to where I held her. “She’s staying,” I growled.
Salak licked his lips, his pink tongue catching on his fangs. He studied me closely.
My heart thudded with warning.
But then he sighed and dropped his head toward the girl. With another sniff, he lapped at the girl’s hair, then yawned with a grunt.
His blessing and approval.
Salak turned and padded off into the trees, his tail slinking between the shadows as he vanished. The moment he was gone, the rest of the pack shed its tension, and the wolves shot forward, yipping and squirming, crowding around the newcomer all while she remained trapped by Kiu who hadn’t moved from her lap.
The girl twitched in fear as females and juvenile males all surged toward her, sniffing every inch, nuzzling wet noses into her hair, arms, and skin. She shivered as one licked her neck where the Nhil’s hunter had bruised her.
I didn’t speak as each wolf welcomed her. I merely kept my hand on her shoulder, letting her know she wasn’t alone and staking a claim to keep her safe.
Once they’d sniffed and licked her, the wolves gave me the same welcome, before finally padding away to sit in the watery sunlight or disappear into the forest to hunt.
My stomach growled to hunt with them. To stalk something tasty for dinner. But I couldn’t leave. Not until my chosen mate accepted her new home.
Kiu was the last to leave. Standing with reluctance, she headbutted the girl with a whimper. With a quick lick, she loped off after the hunting party, leaving us alone.
For the longest heartbeat, the girl remained on her knees, her shoulders tense and hands balled.
I didn’t move. Didn’t speak. I gave her the time she needed to adjust and accept that this was real. That she was truly here.
Finally, she inhaled deeply as if centring herself, then climbed weakly to her feet. The sun seemed to shine a little brighter as she looked up at me.
A surge of need to take care of her clutched my heart. She would be hungry, same as me. She needed food and drink and something to shelter her body with. Unlike our other encounters when she wore fur to hide her body, she was as nude as me. Almost as if the designs she’d been wearing had forbidden any other decoration.
After seeing that Nhil hunter trying to rut between her legs, I wanted to wrap her in fur and never let anyone touch her again.
“I dreamed I found you in a thunderstorm.” Her eyes met mine. “That you were no longer sick and had come back for me.”
I smiled gently. “It wasn’t a dream.”
“I see that now.” She hugged herself. “How am I here?”
“I carried you.”
“You broke into Solin’s lupic while we were in the trance and took me?”
“No.” I scowled. “You were in the grasslands. I sensed you before I saw you. The rain washed away whatever symbols painted you, and you became—”
“Visible,” she breathed, shaking her head. Her chest rose with a sharp inhale. “The symbols were meant to make me invisible to the shadows. To protect me from the darkness.” Worry filled her amber stare. “What does that say about you that you weren’t able to see me until the spell was lifted?”
“It doesn’t say anything. You yourself admitted you took something toxic. You willingly partook in mind-altering poison and suffered a hallucination of walking in fire—”
“It wasn’t a hallucination.” She nibbled on her bottom lip. “It was real. So real I remembered my name.”
“Yes, you said that in the storm.” I kept my distance all while my arms begged to encircle her. “What is it?”
She blinked. “My name?”
“You don’t have to tell me. I don’t need something to call you by, but you spoke as if remembering gifted back a piece of who you are.”
“It did.” She sighed. “Very much.” She looked away. “If remembering my name granted such peace, imagine what recalling the rest of my past would do. I would’ve given anything to know...but now? Now, I’m afraid.”
I couldn’t ignore the urge to touch her. Running my knuckles along her chin, I murmured, “Why are you afraid?”
She shivered but didn’t pull away. “Because the fire said I would become something awful and do something I can’t begin to comprehend.”
“A hallucination cannot show the future.”
Her eyes tightened. “I told you...it was real.”
Dropping my touch, I nodded. “In that case, your name must be real. Tell me so I can see if I remember it. See if I remember you and not just your heart. Then, perhaps, we can remember the rest together.”
Her gaze locked onto mine as if searching for any ulterior motives. Finally, she nodded and wrung her hands. “Runa. My name is Runa.”
