You were made for me and I for you.He grazed her lips in a whisper-soft touch.My sweet fate.
Chapter 56
Zev
The overcast sky darkened with the evening as the rain fell. A cold gust passed through the surrounding trees, rattling their branches like hollow bones. Zev wished he could feel the bitter wind, but the chill didn’t reach him. The heat of his wolf kept it at bay.
The metallic smell of blood drew his attention to Rawn. Vivid red trails leaked from his hands as he worked on skinning a rabbit he’d caught. Crimson beads beaded on the grass by his boots. The sight took him back to home, where blood dripped off the walls. It splattered into a pool on the floor, the drips echoing in his head.
“Zev? Zev?”
He blinked at the sound of his name. “Huh?”
“I asked how you preferred the rabbit cooked,” Rawn asked.
Zev sighed. “None for me, thank you.”
He didn’t have an appetite for anything.
“Where is Dyna?” He searched the empty camp. “And Cassiel?”
“I believe Lady Dyna went for a stroll. Prince Cassiel must have accompanied her to gather firewood.”
But they had already gathered firewood. Zev rose as he sniffed the air, following her scent toward the willows. Rawn attempted to call him back, but there was a nervousness in that tone that urged Zev onward. He passed through the trees, catching Cassiel’s scent mingling with Dyna’s before he heard their voices and the tender declarations he refused to let himself process.
It wasn’t until he entered the meadow bathed in the amber glow of the evening sun that he let himself truly perceive what had been occurring behind his back. Dyna and Cassiel stood beneath a willow, kissing like they were the only two people in the world.
At the moment, they may as well be.
When they came up for air, Dyna noticed him first. She pulled from Cassiel with a gasp, her already flushed cheeks flushing redder. Zev’s first instinct was to beat him within an inch of his life, but the prince didn’t cower or run as he stormed to them. Cassiel exhaled heavily and faced him with an expression that held no dread of the repercussions. No guilt in this surreptitious moment. No shame of the familiarity in which he held Dyna’s waist with hands he had yet to remove.
Zev snarled, and she jumped in between them. “There is no hiding it now, is there, Cassiel? If you think I’ll let you get away with it this time, you’re sorely mistaken.”
“Hit me if it will make you feel better,” he said. “I will not apologize.”
Zev roared.
Dyna pushed him back. “Stop it! I know it’s hard to understand Zev, but … we did nothing wrong.”
“How can you say that when he has you hiding in the forest?” Zev stabbed a finger in his direction. “When I asked you to protect her, I didn’t mean this!”
“First, you must calm down.” Cassiel wasn’t even embarrassed to be caught.
“Damn you,” Zev growled. “And damn me for trusting you.”
“He did nothing wrong,” Dyna repeated, glancing at Cassiel questioningly. Something silent passed between them, and he nodded. “How could it be wrong when … when we’re bonded?”
Zev blinked, the revelation striking him like a blow to the head.
“What?” the whisper tumbled from his tongue.
“It happened during the full moon.” Cassiel sighed, dragging a hand down his face.
The full moon?
“That was a month ago!” Zev bellowed, and they flinched back. “That’s how long Dyna was married? How long you bothhidthis from me? I suspected something was happening but not—” A heavy exhale rushed out as another realization hit him. “This is why she glows.”
“I didn’t mean for it to happen,” Cassiel said. “She was dying. I only meant to heal her, but I mistakenly mixed our—”
