“Gods above,” Hardwicke murmurs, looking first at the misshapen bowl and then at Revyn. “How long have you been living in the wilds?” When he doesn’t answer, she grabs his arm and shakes him. “Answer me!”
He lifts his gaze to mine, and my heart breaks at the depth of loneliness staring back at me. “A long time,” he murmurs, tearing his gaze away to stare at our failed experiment, as though it’s any indication of what sort of mating bond we would have. He clenches and unclenches his fists, but unlike mine, his wound has already healed on its own.
“Class dismissed,” Hardwicke announces suddenly, releasing Revyn’s arm to face the other students. “A new assignment will be posted outside the door by this evening. As for you two—” She gestures between me and Revyn. “—stay away from each other. On your own, your souls may be salvageable, but together...I’m afraid there is too much of the wilds within you. Especially you, Mr. Malus. You scent is already tainted, but foryour blood to turn?” She exhales harshly. “It’s dangerous for you two to see each other.”
“What does that mean—tainted?” I’ve always hated being referred to as such, but I thought it was little more than a slur for wild wolves. “I thought being called a wild wolf simply meant we were unwanted.”
Hardwicke shakes her head. “And why do you think that is? There’s a reason that all wild shifters are considered dangerous, and it’s not because they aren’t bound by pack law, though I’m sure some Alphas consider that a shifter’s gravest sin.” Her expression hardens as she looks at Alistair. “Your father among them.”
Alistair grinds his jaw but otherwise remains silent.
“No one wants us in their pack because in the wilds—the rot, it infects anyone who lives there,” Revyn answers cautiously, meeting my eyes and taking measured steps toward me. “That’s why some packs are abandoning their ancestral grounds in favor of new territory—and why every single one of them refused us entry.” Taking a strip of cloth from the table, he wraps it around my hand and laces our fingers together to apply pressure to my wound to staunch the bleeding. “The longer we live in the wilds, the more rot builds inside us.”
I look between the three of them in disbelief. “But plenty of shifters live without packs. Other creatures live in the wilds, too. Witches, dryads, gnomes?—”
This time, it’s Alistair who interrupts. “The rot is spreading, Sienna, faster than anyone lets on, and it’s shifters like Revyn who are the problem.” He crosses his arms over his chest, his ripped shirt having been replaced after this morning’s lecture with Aesir. “When the rot consumes an individual, they start spreading it like a disease. Every piece of land they touch is at risk. It’s a miracle that you’ve survived the past decade without becoming tainted.”
“An abnormality, to be sure,” Hardwicke agrees, her brow pinching, “which requires further study.”
Ignoring both of them, I squeeze Revyn’s hands. “Why didn’t you tell me that you’re sick? That’s what the rot is, right? A disease?” I scan his face. He doesn’t look or act any different than he always has. I’ve never noticed anything strange about his blood, either. It flows just the same as mine. “We could have done something to fix it.”
IfRevyn is tainted, as Hardwicke and the Alphas suggest, then there has to be a way to reverse it.
A flicker of pain crosses his features. “Youaremy cure, baby.”
One of Hardwicke’s lessons jumps to the forefront of my mind. “Mates can heal each other.”
“Rarely,” Alistair grumbles, clearly displeased about that fact.
Revyn draws a shaky breath. “For a long time, I was content to die alone. After decades of wandering the wilds, I’d planned on it.” He brushes the back of his knuckles across my cheek. “That’s why I came to Roane Valley.”
My eyes widen in disbelief. After the massacre, no one visited Roane Valley. It became a graveyard to outsiders, but to me, it was home. My pack may have perished, but our territory remained.
A valley for the dead.
If what Revyn is saying is true...He didn’t enter Roane Valley to rescue me, like I’ve always believed.
He came there to die.
“But,” Revyn whispers, his eyes glittering with the barest hint of starlight, “then I met you, and I didn’t want to walk that path anymore. I’m standing here today because I want a life with you, Sienna Ashburn. Afulllife.” Bringing my hand to his lips, hekisses my wrist and flicks his tongue against my pulse point in a show of intimacy.
My heart skips, then races faster than a hummingbird’s wings.
Can I save Revyn’s life if I mate with him? Would that purify the rot?
Alistair’s jaw clicks as he grinds his teeth, somehow reading my mind. “No one hasevercleansed the rot. Not from the land, and definitely not from a living creature. He’s a lost cause, Wildfire. Don’t you dare consider it.”
“Tainted creatures are killed,” Hardwicke murmurs, as though this is important information. “Always.”
Fuck that.
“I won’t lose you to this,” I vow, unable to bear the thought of Revyn dying, let alone of him being killed by someone like Alpha Dire or any of the other pricks in charge. I won’t lie, I hated the idea of him mating with someone else, but I would have stomached the displeasure if it meant that he was happy and free like he always wanted.
For him to die is . . . unacceptable.
“We’ll find a cure. I promise.” Wrapping my arms around him, I bury my face in his chest and breathe deep, scenting everything that I love about him...and a hint of something damp, earthy,wrong.
How long has it been there?
