I can’t do another day of this.
My eyes drift open, finding a deep cerulean, tentacled, glowing blob floating before me. Once again, I’m jerked along, but this time, I’m upside down and out of the water, gasping widely for breath, Moyrie doing the same next to me.
“Osear,” Moyrie splutters beside me. “We are alive.”
That is no ride either of us wants to experience again.
Slowly, we are placed on a sandy shore. I rub at my eyes, trying to dispel the sting of the salt water so I can see more than a foot in front of me.
When my breathing stabilises, I look up, my vision slightly blurred, witnessing another cave surrounding us. However, it’s not the cave I’m concerned about. This time, it’s my waterlogged ears, a thudding working its way past my eardrums.
I turn my head, trying to shake the water out of my ear.
“MATE.”It’s a growlin my head.
My heart stops.
All rhythm ceases to exist except for that voice. A voice that I know and have taken comfort in.
“Mate.”
Sitting straighter this time, I look around, a growl echoing off the walls.What is happening right now?
It can’t be him. He doesn’t speak in my head. His wolf form has only ever given me strange looks and grunts.
I feel him, eyes on my sodden body where I now kneel on the ground, next to Moyrie. Turning, I see her trembling form, looking at the beast before us.
Standing, I face another of Fury’s creations.No, that’s not right. He doesn’t belong to Fury anymore.Ever since that night in the dungeon under the manor, he became my beast. We both knew it all along, yet neither of us could admit it.
Standing on two thick-corded wolf legs, Gideon takes a step towards me, glossy black fur covering every part of him.
Looking into his eyes, I almost expect to see black, but instead, I see his familiar golden amber irises.
The world drifts away in this moment. I take in every part of his wolf form, rugged and achingly exquisite. He could ruin me, and I would gladly let him.
Gradually, we move closer to each other, neither of us speaking a word. Barely a foot apart, I come up to his lower chest, taking him in. Gideon in wolf form is gigantic, enigmatic—a sight to behold.
He looks down at me. I reach a hand up to touch the place on hischest where his heart lies. The organ is a thundering echo to my own, making my hand sink deep into his fur, desperate to feel his warmth.
“I missed you,” I murmur, looking up at him, unable to tear my gaze away.
“Mate,”he grunts in my head, setting me to shiver all over.
Noticing the chill that has set deep in my bones, Gideon wraps two broad paws around my body, sweeping me gently into his chest.
I sigh at the feeling of his heat working its way through my body just from his touch.
Gripping onto his fur, making sure I’m not dreaming, I turn my face to the side to find Rivern. Violet eyes latch onto the strange display before him. He lifts one side of his lip, a dimple pressing into his left cheek. I smile.“You’re okay?”
He runs a hand through his thoroughly mussed golden hair, his braids tangled. It’s probably the most unkempt I’ve ever seen him.“I’m okay now that I have my eyes on you,love.”
I feel it—he wants to come closer, but something has happened to Gideon that is keeping him away for now.
“Soon,” he answers with a swift nod, taking in the sight of us.
thirty-two
Dove
