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I knew that battles didn’t tend to smell like roses, but the acid burn of it wasa lot.But then something else cut through it, something floral, beautiful, and fresh. Something that smelled like home. I knew that scent anywhere.
Ayla.
There was no way I could scent her where I was if she was in the fort, especially not considering the mess oozing out around my feet. Which meant that she was out on the battlefield.
AGAIN.
I should have known. There was only so long I could expect her to hang back, but anger and worry still bit at me. She couldn’t just run around like she was just any soldier. She was so muchmorethan that, and I didn’t just mean that she was my mate. She was our only connection to the type of old magic her coven had—a rare mix of shifter and witch. She had knowledge, skill, and so many things we just couldn’t afford to lose.
Plus she was important enough that whoever cursed her had known to do so when she was just a child.
That alone was significant, but I felt right down to my bones there was even more we hadn’t discovered yet. I knew that everywolf pretty much thought their fated mate was the bee’s knees, but this was different.
I quickly realized I wouldn’t be able to concentrate without knowing where she was, without knowing if she was safe, so with a shifter-speak, thanks to Mad Dog and Oren, I rushed off.
At least she wasn’t at the front lines. As I flew over the battlefield, sniffing her scent out, I ended up moving farther back. I didn’t know what I’d do if—
I didn’t even complete that thought, instead skidding to a stop when I saw a small she-wolf with black fur and the most beautiful, unique markings I’d ever seen fighting against a bear and an enemy wolf shifter.
Was…was that my mate?
Snarling, she went to tackle the much larger wolf, only to spin at the last minute, instead biting into the bear’s side. Like a whirling dervish, she didn’t let herself stay in one spot with that attack, either, letting go immediately and bounding away, only to use a fellow ogre-soldier’s back as a springboard to twist and end up on the bear’s shoulders.
That was Ayla. I knew it without a shadow of a doubt, her scent filling my mind and body with all the familiar sensations ofmate, beloved, protected, protector.
Finally, for the first time, I saw her beautiful wolf form, the animal part of her that linked us eternally as a pack. As mates. I was so caught up in her movement, in the assured way that she fought, I didn’t realize that a vampire was upon me until its sharp nails were in my back.
Fuck!
Granted, vampire claws were nowhere near as lethal as most shifters’ talons, so I lunged forward to face it head on. I could tell from my attacker’s scent that they weren’t nearly as powerful or long-lived as Irina had been, but they weren’t exactly a neophyte, either.
Throwing my attacker off, I snarled and lunged at them. They tried to roll out of the way, but I managed to pin them and get my teeth around their neck, jerking him harshly to the side.
My enemy stopped moving, and though this was reckless with the undead, I still dropped it and whirled back to Ayla.
She’d dealt with the bear quite well, which was certainly impressive considering how much trouble the last one I’d fought had been, but the other wolf was far more agile and familiar with her instincts. Joining in, I barreled into his chest and knocked him to the ground.
It didn’t take long for the both of us to finish him together, and it filled me with a kind of thrill from battle I’d never felt before. But it wasn’t one born of bloodlust and domination. It was something so much warmer and more complete than that.
Because for the first time, I was fightingwithmy mate. No more stupid arguments about cursing me. No trappings keeping us apart. Just she and I, doing what wolves did best: protecting those they cared about.
As thrilling as it was, though, I knew this wasn’t sustainable. She needed to get away from the battle, to go where it was safe, and I wouldn’t have to worry about losing both my mate and probably the greatest resource Fort Canid had.
Get back to the base for protection!I shouted at her in shifter-speak. Not exactly the most romantic first exchange in our native wolf language but necessary considering the situation.
You get back to the base for protection!she countered before pausing, seemingly surprised at her own shifter-voice. Had she… had she never talked to one of our kind like that before? The thought was heartbreaking, and if we weren’t literally in the middle of a war, I knew I'd have smothered her with congratulations.
Ayla—
Behind you!
I flattened myself down on the ground just in time to have a harpy swoop over me, her clawed feet clutching at nothing. Whew, that most certainly would've hurt.
Before I could even straighten up, I was treated to the amazing sight of Ayla racing forward, then jumping onto my own back, launching her much smaller frame up into the air so her teeth could clamp down on the harpy’s left wing.
For being a relatively unseasoned fighter in her wolf form, Ayla certainly impressed me. She moved like someone with far more experience who knew how to take advantage of the differences between a human body and a wolf one.
I didn’t know if it was witchy weirdness, or if she just got way more practice as a wolf on her lonesome, but either way, she enraptured me. Not for the first time, I realized what a force of nature she was, and how lucky I was to have Ayla Everton as my fated mate.
