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“A lot,” he huffed, looking at his hands, and I gestured for him to continue. “I could hear you. When you were in heat. I felt the pull . . .”
I squeezed my eyes shut, grimacing. “Are you okay?”
“I’m better than I’ve been for a while, actually. Maybe ever,” he whispered, turning to look at the waterfall in front of us.
“That’s . . . good,” I started, not knowing how to have a friendly chat with my childhood bully, especially when it was about what the heat had done to us. Every time we spoke, it was contentious, and this felt anything but.
“I have you to thank for that,” he said, picking up a rock and looking at it intensely.
With my elbows resting on my knees, I leaned forward more, trying to get him to look at me. “I didn’t do anything . . .”
He gazed up toward the sky, nodding his head. “You did everything. Everything I couldn’t. You were always the better person. You knew right from wrong, no matter what the world threw at you. I envy that.”
I sat quietly, not knowing what to say. This wasn’t the Markus I knew. Whoever this was, we’d never spoken before. Nova met my gaze, angling her head toward the woods. I dipped my chin. She wanted to hunt. I was safe. She got up, and he flinched. I pressed my lips together, trying not to smile, but she snorted, not trying to hide her amusement as she trotted to the tree line. Turning back to him, I said, “Look, I don’t know what you want me to say right now.”
“You don’t have to say anything.” He shook his head. “I had a lot of time to think while I was locked up in the dungeon?—”
“You were locked in a dungeon?” I hadn’t even known there was one. I turned around as though I could see the estate. It was miles away, but the shock of it made me look anyway. Jutting my thumb over my shoulder, I said, “They just said you were locked away . . . from me.”
Markus chuckled. “It’s okay. I mean, it was a surprise at first. I’m pretty sure Ysabeau took pleasure in it.” Of course she had. She wanted to drag him through the streets, and she made no attempt at hiding it. He repositioned his body to face me, and I struggled with a fight-or-flight response. Or even just a “scooch away from him” response, but I didn’t move. “I’m glad they put me there. I’m actually glad I heard you.”
“I wasn’t in control.” Lies, my subconscious whispered. My cheeks flushed, and I was sure they were turning red. “I was . . .” Enjoying every minute of it, that voice reminded me. Ugh. Stupid feelings. I sighed deeply, hating the words that were about to come out. “It wasn’t meant to hurt you.”
“It helped me.” My lips parted at the admission.
“It helped you?”
He nodded. “It opened up my mind. Hearing your call, and the pull of the heat. It was clarity. Proof. I could see us for what we really are.”
Oh, no. My heart rate sped up, and I felt the color drain from my face. I’d let my guard down. I was alone, and he’d lured me into a trap. “No, we aren’t anything.”
“We’re mates?—”
“Stop it, Markus.” I shook my head, scooting backward. Where was Nova?
“Let me finish,” he said, scrunching his eyebrows and frowning.
Scrambling farther, I tried to get to my feet. To get away from him. And what did he do? Reached for me, but I hit his hand, and rolled over the ground out of range. He stood up at the same time I did.
“Dannika, what I’m saying is we’re mates and we?—”
“NOVA!” I screamed, patting my leg, only to find my sheath empty. The blade was imbedded in the ground between rocks where I had been boring a hole absentmindedly. Fuck.
Markus stepped toward me, and I heard my wolf’s telltale footsteps pounding the earth. I turned to run away, pumping my legs to get into the woods and find a sturdy branch to knock over his thick head. Nova’s growl sounded at the tree line, and she came barreling for him.
“Danni, I reject you!” he shouted, and I stopped dead in my tracks, sliding on the rocks. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Nova had done the same. Her head was cocked, considering Markus where he stood; his eyes squeezed shut, fists clenched, face tight into a grimace as he waited to be taken down by a giant wolf. He hadn’t even shifted to protect himself, though a line of fur had exploded up his arms and neck.
He’d suppressed the natural instinct.
I was dumbfounded.
An invisible weight was lifted over my shoulders, and I felt something inside me release. A tightly wound cord that had been straining my very being snapped, freeing us from the veiled shackles our bond had created.
Gasping, I fell to my knees, lightheaded, but no longer restricted to that particular curse. Markus dropped in the same way, breathing heavily. “Are . . . you . . . okay?” he managed. “What happened?”
I nodded, exhaling through my nose. “We’re not bound together anymore. The magic is gone”—I paused, taking more time to slow my heartbeat—“and it let go of us.”
“I’m sorry.” He panted, shaking his head. “You thought . . . You thought I was going to hurt you. I didn’t mean to. I had . . . things I wanted to say. It didn’t come out right.”
