I pressed my lips into a thin line. “Do the salves I make you for your migraines work for the ones you get because of that?”
He nodded, and his thumb ran over my wrist. “Your salves are the only things that work for them.”
A faint voice hollered my name before I could reply. I rolled my bottom lip into my mouth and turned back toward the village. A deep feeling of dread settled in my belly.
It was Alice.
“I have to go.” I frowned, and I tried to pull my hand away but his grip tightened.
“I’m not leaving you, Kit. I can visit you through the fae portals daily.”
“You don’t know that.” My voice cracked, and his hold loosened enough for me to yank my hand back. But as I pulled away from him, anxiety burrowed into my chest.
“Please, just listen to me.”
“Not now.” I adjusted the strap of my bag and sucked in a deep breath of chilly air. “I’ll come back to meet you tonight and to say goodbye before you leave.”
He nodded, standing under the biggest juniper tree in the forest where we met, with sad eyes and a deep frown that hurt my heart to witness. “Don’t forget.”
“I won’t,” I assured him before turning back around and heading toward the village.
The snow barely sunk under my weight as I made my way back to the village. I’d gotten far enough away from Thorn that I could stop worrying about whether he could still see me, and my knees gave out.
Thick snow caught me easily, and my knees pressed into the frozen pillow. My heart squeezed inside my chest. The icy breeze slapped my hair into my face as the tears fell down my cheeks.
I didn’t want him to go. I wanted him to stay.
Tears dripped down my face onto my curled up hands in my lap, and I sucked in a shaky breath. The teardrops froze over, becoming a glassy sheen on my skin.
Nothing good can last forever. I knew that. After five love-filled years, my parents were ripped away, and now I was starved for love and attention.
I missed socializing with others. Nobody in the Arctic Wolf pack spoke to me aside from purchasing herbal medicine from Alice’s shop.
Thorn was special. He was the only one to truly see me since losing my parents.
A crunch of snow sounded on my left, and I whipped my head to find an enormous white wolf staring at me with his body halfway behind a tree.
Scrambling back to my feet, I adjusted my bag and clothing before wiping the tears away and bowing my head.
I recognized the wolf as the alpha’s son, Grayson.
He was marked a few months ago, and he wouldn’t stop bragging about it to everyone, especially the unmated she-wolves who really idolized him for it. Being marked for Fate Hollow Academy was considered the biggest achievement as a young adult because it meant they were powerful.
Grayson was spoiled and kind of stuck-up, but he was still in a position where I had to show respect.
He shifted forms and leaned against the tree, studying me with a predatory glint in his dark blue eyes.
The village had always run as a pack in their wolf forms, but I was told the first day I arrived here to never join a run. The casual mannerisms of being naked after a shift wasn’t something I was accustomed to since I never shifted with others.
I averted my gaze, staring at another interesting snow-covered tree to my right.
“Why are you out here? You aren’t supposed to pass the tree lines without permission from the alpha,” he said with a dangerous curiosity in his tone.
“I was given permission to run in these woods daily.” My voice shook, and I squeezed the strap of my bag.
“You’re not in your fox form,” he drawled, his leering gaze sweeping down the length of my body. “Why were you crying, Wren?”
My heartbeat echoed in my skull, and I took a deep breath. “I haven’t spoken to you before. I’m surprised you knew my name.”
