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Chapter Twenty-One
Oz
My mind was foggy as I got up but only for a fraction of a second as my wolf reminded me we were there, in this cave, with our mate.
Rubbing my eyes, I turned onto my side to see her. She had a new dress on, new to me, not new in general. Everyone I’d seen, from my blurry memories, wore dingy, worn clothing. “How long was I out?” I asked, hating that I was spending so much time resting when the person I’d waited my whole life for was right there in front of me.
“Oh…I lost track of time. I’m sorry, I…” She held up my journal causing a whoosh of relief and anxiety and pure fear to push through me.
But then I remembered: she was my mate. There was nothing to hide from her.
“Oh, you found my journal.”
She nodded while her fingers grazed down the page lovingly. “You were on a journey to find your mate? You wrote these things?”
I moved to sit up, and she clutched my journal against her chest as though it belonged to her and I was trying to take it away. Her holding my journal, well, she was holding the outpouring of my soul in her hands and probably didn’t even know it. I had to lay it all out on the…well, the cave floor. “They are all my writings, Eris. I’ve known about my mate since I was a boy. I read the signs in the stars and charted them until the Cursor showed up and told me where to find her.”
She let the book fall to her lap. Her eyes drooped while her shoulders did the same. “So you’re still looking for her?”
I took in a long, deep breath. I was in enemy territory, that much I knew for sure. They had tossed me into this cave probably thinking I was on my last leg and would never make it out of here. Enemy territory or not, this female was my destiny, and I wouldn’t hide that fact from her a minute longer. “Not anymore.”
Her chest moved in and out at a fast pace. I knew we were on the edge of something great. “Not anymore? You’re not going to look for her?”
I cocked my head sideways, wanting nothing more than to scoop her up in my arms and pour all my love into my embrace, but it wasn’t the moment. Not yet, at least. “No.” I waited a moment, letting this powerful blip in time emboss itself onto my memory. “I’ve found her after all.”
Our eyes met over the barely lit fire, the sound of our heartbeats, the crackle of the fire, and the thunderstorm outside the only noise in the world as far as I was concerned.
“You’re my mate?” she asked, as if not sure.
“I am your mate, and you are mine. Fate has brought us here, in this place, together.”
Again she looked at my journal lovingly and stroked her fingers across the writings. “All of this is about me? Your whole life you’ve been searching for me?”
I squared off my shoulders. “My whole life I’ve been dreaming and hoping and praying and betting everything on finding you. You’ve been the star in my life that I couldn’t see, and now you will be the star I worship until the end of my days.”
She said nothing, just stared at the fire. Gods, maybe I had gotten this wrong. I had heard the muffled voice of a male while I was asleep but thought it a dream.
My heart clenched under my sternum. Maybe this goddess was already claimed, though I didn’t scent a male on her.
“Eris, are you already mated? Am I too late?”
Her emerald eyes met mine again as she shook her head. “Is that what you’re worried about? That I’m already mated?”
That wasn’t an answer. Lightning struck outside of the cave and we both jumped a little. “Right now, yes, that’s my concern.”
She laughed, a sound straight from the heavens. “I am not mated. They wanted me to mate someone, but I hate him, and it didn’t, I wouldn’t…I knew it wasn’t right.”
Relief flooded my body and soul. She was mine. “Then what’s troubling you, female of mine?”
The words of pure love tumbled from my mouth.
“Are you sure it’s me? I’m hated in this pack. The bottom rung. The last in line. Maybe the stars were leading you here but not to me.”
Enough was enough. I couldn’t stand one more second of her talking about herself that way. “Do you trust me, Eris? Do you trust your mate?”
She nodded and closed my journal. “I do.”
“Then, please come over here. Let me hold you and explain everything. I can’t stand the distance between us.” She silently consulted the thunderstorm for more than one heartbeat before getting up and approaching me. We were awkward at first as she sat beside me, leaving entirely too much space between us. “Come here, mate.” With the little strength I had, I pulled her onto my lap and wrapped my arms around her waist. She melted into my embrace, already stoking the heat of our bond. “Can you look at me, Eris?”
