My claws come out. “You will not blame Soren for your shortcomings! Father died because of you, not Soren!”
As soon as those poisonous words leave my lips, something between us shatters. Perhaps even irrevocably.
Tears blazing in his eyes, Wulfric charges me, and his claw tears across my cheek. I don’t try and stop him as he punches, kicks, and claws at me. The wounds on the surface will heal but there’s no healing a shattered heart.
“I tried!” Wulfric screams, swinging wildly at me. “I did everything I could! I wish I’d died instead of him! It should be me! I should be dead! Not him!” He sobs freely now, great wrenching gasps that leave him hunched over.
I don’t know when it happens, but my arms are around him and we’re kneeling on the floor, holding on to each other like we’re all that’s keeping the other afloat.
“I know,” I whisper. “I know, little brother. I know, little Wulf. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please, forgive me.”
A tear spills down Wulfric’s grimy cheek, his body trembling in my grasp. “Don’t make me do this without you, Lyall. Please. I lost Father. Gunnar w-won’t even speak to us. Anders blames me for everything. I can’t… I c-can’t lose you, too. Don’t leave me alone.Please.”
Gods. He sounds like a little boy. The little boy I’d carried on my shoulders through the woods. The child I soothed as he struggled to shift to his wolf the first time. My little brother, my Alpha, needs me.
I promised my father.
Ipromised.
How can I leave my broken family behind?
How can I part from Soren, half of my heart and soul?
With a gasp, I bury my face in his stomach and break apart.
“It’s okay, Lyall.” Soren kisses my hair.
I can’t bear to look at him. “My family needs me, Soren.”
“They do,” Soren agrees, and I wonder at how he can be so forgiving, so understanding. “More than ever.”
I hold him tight, wondering when I will next get the chance. “I will come for you.” When he doesn’t speak, I untuck my head from the spot under his chin and look him in the eyes. The anguish sparkling in his gaze nearly breaks me. Framing his face in my hands, I say, “You are my mate, Soren. Half of my very soul.”
“And you are mine,” he whispers, voice shaking.
I touch my forehead to his, heart aching. “They will exile you at dawn but as soon as I can, I will come for you, whether you are in the past or the future.”
“How? I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
I kiss the tip of his nose. “I will keep a branch of Yggdrasil and hide it away.” The branch of our holiest tree will allow me to travel through time to wherever he is. “As soon as I think it is safe, I will find you, and we will be together. I promise.”
Soren’s lips tremble when he smiles. “I will wait for you. No matter how long it takes.”
Leaning in, I capture his lips, sealing the promise that warms the bond between us.
Nothing will keep my mate from me.
Not even time itself.
Chapter 2
Soren
Present Day
“I think we should break up.”
Fuck. I knew this was coming the moment Tony asked me to meet him at his place.
