“She said I was selfish for not letting her have you. That I took away everything good in her life and owed her,” I mumbled as I snuggled against him.
“Your sister is the selfish one,” he scoffed. “She’s literally done nothing but take from you your entire life, and the one time you choose yourself, she hands you over to your enemy.” He gave me a squeeze. “You, however, don’t have a selfish bone in your body.”
“I’m sorry our ceremony was interrupted,” I whispered. “I was kind of hoping we would’ve marked each other by now. Everyone is probably upset the party got ruined.”
“They will understand,” Caelan offered with a sigh, trying but failing to hide his disappointment. “We can reschedule for the next full moon.”
“I don’t want to wait,” I said quickly.
“What?” he asked, pulling back a bit so he could look me in the eyes.
“I don’t want to wait, Caelan. If we do, then Huxley and Sunny get what they wanted. I don’t want them to win. We should go on with it,” I countered.
“You still want to complete the marking?” he asked, his voice full of excitement.
“Yes,” I said firmly. “It’s still the full moon. Nothing is stopping us from moving forward. It won’t be the formal event your mother dreamed of, but that didn’t feel like us anyway. I say we do it tonight. That is…uh, if you still want to. We could wait if you think that’s what’s best.”
I tried not to let my eagerness show. Maybe he needed time to recover. He had been severely injured by the fight and my howl.
“I want to mark you more than anything in this world,” he replied happily. “I would do it right now if you asked me to.”
“Right now?” I chuckled. “Here in a hospital room with our ‘sexy’ hospital gowns on?”
“You look amazing in anything,” he growled, burying his face in my neck and causing me to giggle.
“Be that as it may, this isn’t exactly how I pictured it. I hoped for something a little more romantic,” I mumbled, looking around the cold, sterile room with a cringe.
“I know,” he admitted with a sigh as he flopped back against the pillows. “I’m just being impatient. If I had marked you already, then none of this would’ve happened.”
“Don’t do that to yourself, Caelan. I hate that last night happened, but I knew I could count on you to come for me,” I replied. “Honestly, I hope our marking will somehow make you immune to me. I don’t ever want to put you at risk like that again. Maybe you should put the alpha order back in place.”
“I’m not doing that, Shade,” he stated without hesitation.
“Why not?” I countered. “I could have killed you last night, Caelan.”
“Your howl saved both of our lives. If you hadn’t been able to, then who knows what could’ve happened. Your amplification doesn’t necessarily keep you safe if I’m not there. The curse does. I wouldn’t remove that protection for anything,” he replied.
“You sound like her. She said it was a gift,” I remarked softly, a smile on my lips.
“Who?” Caelan asked. “My mother,” I murmured. “I spoke to her in the veil. She said the Wolf Born from Sorrow was never intended as a curse. It’s a gift. A gift of protection from the Goddess.”
“Your mother? When did you speak to your mother?” he questioned, his brows knit together in confusion.
“While I was unconscious,” I replied. “Your soul was wandering the edge of the veil.”
I sat up suddenly, turning to look down at him.
“Speaking of which.” I jabbed a finger in his chest. “Don’t you ever do that again, Caelan Kendrick,” I chastised. “If something happens to me, you fight to live. Don’t give up and try to follow me. Others need you. I love you, but I want you to survive, no matter what.”
He stared at me with a bemused look. “I don’t have any idea of what you’re talking about, Shade.”
“You tried to follow me into the veil. Your spirit left your body behind to find me, and you stopped healing,” I explained. “You don’t remember?”
“The veil?” he asked, but I could see the wheels turning in his mind as the memories began to flash before his eyes. “I thought that was a dream. Does that mean I—”
The door flew open, and a frantic Luna Maty and ever-stoic Alpha Leal hurried in.
“Oh my Goddess! I’m so happy that the two of you are all right!” Maty exclaimed as she rushed to our bedside. “I’m sorry that we couldn’t get here sooner. There was such chaos after what happened, and between the injured and the mess, I just couldn’t—”
