She whimpered and the dark wolf with the tawny belly licked her face before scanning the mountain for movement; a rabbit or bird would be a fine meal. Her leathery nose opened and sniffed the air. There was something on the wind. Exotic. Close. The dark wolf must have smelled it too because his head snapped around.
The source of the smell came from a bird, a huge bird that flapped its gigantic black wings in the blowing snow. The wolves stalked forward, hunting the black thing that folded and snapped in the wind. All at once the black wings expanded, then settled like a heavy fog around the form of a woman. The white wolf stopped. This was not food. This was danger and power. With jet-black hair and a dress that seemed to hold itself up by magic alone, the woman pinned the wolves with her icy blue stare.
“My good and faithful daughter,” she said, approaching. “Do not be afraid.” The white wolf bowed to the woman, a deep instinct driving her to revere what she didn’t fully understand. The woman’s hand came to rest on the wolf’s head. “You must follow me now. This place is no longer safe for you.”
The dark-haired woman turned and strode down the mountain, the wolves heeling at her side. Miles passed. The white wolf’s stomach growled, but she did not stray from the one who led her away. The darker wolf whimpered. He was her alpha and the whine made her nervous, but the pull the mysterious woman had over both of them trumped pack hierarchy. They followed with an instinctual trust.
And then a ripple cut through the night, constricting quickly as if the darkness was a closing mouth.
“Come, daughter. Bring your love. I will hold it open for you.” The woman pulled back the corner of the night sky and motioned for the wolves to pass through. The dark wolf leapt through first, disappearing somewhere into the beyond. The white wolf stepped forward and licked the woman’s hand.
“You are welcome, dear one. Now, you must go. You’ve done me a service. Go reap your reward.”
The wolf raised her paws to jump through but paused when a man appeared across from the woman, a man with thick twisting horns that grew from the sides of his head.
“Meddling again in the fate of this world, Hecate? I might think you weren’t taking our agreement seriously,” the horned man said. He was hulking and horrifying. His mere presence made the white wolf shiver.
The woman’s gaze shifted to the white wolf. “Go. Now!”
The wolf leapt through the portal, feet leaving snow but landing on bright green grass. When she turned around, the woman’s fingers retracted from the tear in the darkness. The white wolf stared at the place she’d just entered through. There was something she should remember, something important. But a moment later, the portal was gone.
A moment after that, the memory of the portal grew distant and faded entirely. All there was in the world was the dark wolf, who jogged to her side with a bloody rabbit between his teeth.
Bright,warm light pierced Jason’s closed eyelids, but he fought the urge to wake up. He was happy. Worn out, muscles sore, he relished the after-shift euphoria, his body flooded with endorphins counteracting the last shift of the month. He stretched hard and lean in the soft grass, rolling onto his side.
And then, with a start, he remembered. The mountain, the storm, Selene. He opened his eyes and frantically searched for her. But he needn’t look far. She was right beside him, curled into his side as if she still had a tail. He stroked the short strands of her hair back from her face and ran his hands down her naked body, searching for injuries. The gash on the back of her shoulder was already a pink scar. Everything else looked okay.
“I like this way of saying good morning,” she whispered, rolling into his embrace.
“We made it. Oh thank the goddess, we made it.” Jason exhaled. “How’s your shoulder?”
“It’s fine. You fixed me. And I think the goddess is exactly who we have to thank.”
“Hmm?” Jason was distracted by the way her body shifted under his as if it was something she’d done every day of her waking life. She rolled him on top of her and wrapped her legs around his hips. He balanced on his elbows so that he wouldn’t crush her.
“I have a memory, a wolf memory. It’s a slippery thing, like a forgotten dream, but I seem to remember the goddess, Hecate, showing us the way out. Do you remember that?”
Jason shook his head. “No. I think I remember catching a rabbit.”
She laughed beneath him and the jiggle of her body did all sorts of things to his libido. His erection kicked against her lower belly. “Selene… I love you.”
“I love you too.” She looked into his eyes. They were nose to nose and chest to chest, but it was the connection between them that made it the most intimate position he’d ever been in with a woman.
“You once told me that the only way to conquer a vice is to discover the need it’s trying to fill and fill it with something else.”
She nodded. “An anchor, a feeling or experience that fills you with light and keeps you from the darkness. We found yours. The memory of your family when you were all together.”
“The thing is…” He stroked her hair back, taking his time to choose his words carefully. “I don’t think that memory is strong enough to anchor me anymore.”
“No?”
“No. That memory is marred with darkness, with loss, with regret,” he said. “But I have one that is strong enough. A new memory.”
He met her gaze, that violet blue as intense as he’d ever seen it. “When I was in that room with Nickelova, there was a moment when I felt my vice fighting for control. I needed an anchor, and when I closed my eyes, all I saw was you. You are a light to my soul. Our love is bright enough to stave off the darkness, pure enough to be the only anchor I’ll ever need.”
“It’s okay if you hold the memory of your parents above me. It’s not a competition. They loved you first,” she said seriously.
“Yes. Yes. I’ll never forget them or that perfect day you reminded me of. But an anchor, an anchor should be powerful enough to root your soul. You are that thing for me now. I may be able to exist without you, Selene, but I can’t live, not really.”
