“Fallon, the circles around your eyes are growing into pits. Gorgeous pits, but dark voids nonetheless.”
What else would she possibly expect of me? We were best friends! Or I thought we were. We certainly had never felt less like mates.
She covered her face with her hands. “Then don’t look at me. Go chase your tail in the woods or something.”
As much as I believed wrapping her up in me was helping, if this last month was any indication, she might never recognize that she was her own worst enemy. That sinking realization made for agitated conversations and endless days. It exhausted both of us.
The bottle slammed onto the bedside table, making them all rattle, and I left before I said anything I would regret. I always wielded my good humor like an unstoppable force to get what I wanted out of life and I somehow ran up against an immovable object named Fallon.
Only the hallway heard my deep breath and I worked up my courage to go back into our room. Half the pack suddenly burst into the house, animated about a lead. The escape was needed. Any breakthrough was a blessing at this point because all of our searching had come to nothing. The pack wasn’t used to failing. What could hide from a massive, magical wolf? They chattered all at once.
“One at a time,” I called over the noise as I walked into the kitchen.
A staggering story finally came out about a tributary and the exact location of the discarded belt of nails they found in the Dell.
“We can go as a pack, pick up the trail from there,” Briggs said.
I cut her off before she could get the rest of them too riled up. “No. We’re not doing the same thing again. I’m going to the stream.”
The pack nervously glanced around.
“Alone?” one of the enforcers asked.
My eyes glowed with all the frustration of fighting with Fallon. “Who can resist my charm?”
That broke the tension in the room with laughter. Better than them witnessing what I really had to do.
I took Briggs’ arm. “You and Ned guard Fallon. I don’t care if you have to watch her sleep. Don’t let her out of your sight.”
I didn’t like being away from her, my hands momentarily growing claws in agitation. If something happened to me before we resolved this, I would never forgive myself.
“Whispering Woods it is,” Briggs said, running to find a deck of cards.
“I’ll be checking in through the bond. And don’t play her for money,” I warned my sister.
“I’ll make you pay me back.” Briggs winked and tapped on my bedroom door.
“Come in,” Fallon called from the bed.
Briggs dragged over a chair, and Ned settled beside the fire after collecting his pets.
She motioned to Briggs. “He didn’t send you to get me to take something, did he?”
Briggs shook her head. “Just here for a card game.”
Heat rose into Fallon’s cheeks as she looked directly at me and the bond flooded with an echo of hunger.
“I’ll be back soon. Don’t let her cheat,” I said into the room.
I left them to decide which of them I meant, smiling into the bit of chaos I threw in Fallon’s direction as her interest sharpened.
My shift settled me into a better frame of mind and I sped off into the snowy day. Fat flakes landed on my dark fur as I pushed myself harder toward the Dell. It was past time I ran in the woods and re-familiarize myself with my home territory. Every pound of my paws through the snow drifts brought me back to the land. Each scurrying creature reminded me of whom I had to protect.
But it wasmyinsides that sloshed with fear. What if I ended up the wrong kind of mate just like my father? When Fallon and I left the temple, I thought we were making progress when she opened the bond further. Watching pain wind through her hurt worse than any lash the Brothers of Zophiel wielded. If she kept her illness from me, would she be able to reject the bond?
I didn’t have anyone to turn to. The pack didn’t know how to sort this out. This wasn’t how Fated Mateswere supposed to act. They just loved each other, right? I had accepted that she didn’t feel it at first sight like I did, but I thought the bond would grow here where there was less pressure. Only nowhere seemed to hold less pressure for Fallon.
I would never want us being mates to hold her back from her life, her friends. I guess I just hoped I would convince her to stay. To love me, even. Which she did, in a way. So close to what I wanted, I almost had it in my teeth. I couldn’t crack that last layer she had and I cursed her illness. Holding her here against her will would be even worse than breaking the bond. The Old Magic didn’t react well to coercion in any form. Which is why I was hoping it would help me discover the Followers even when my pack came to a standstill.
