I topple over, knocking the crystals out of formation as I sprawl on the desert floor clutching my head.
“Max!” Jasper is instantly next to me, his hands holding me, supporting my head so I don’t smash it against a nearby rock. “What happened?”
I glance up at him, grimacing through the pain. “It didn’t work.”
“You feeling all right?” Jasper asks, crouching in the entrance of the tent. I’m already wrapped in my sleeping bag, facing the fabric wall.
“Uh-huh,” I mumble.
Jasper crawls in, placing his toothbrush and toothpaste in a small wash bag by the entrance, then positioning himself behind me, draping his unzipped sleeping bag over himself.
“I’m sorry you got hurt,” he says, gingerly placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Not your fault.”
“I’m sure it’ll work, we just have to figure out what’s going on. Maybe the blood-wolf thing is messing up your thoughts.”
I grunt. “Maybe.”
Jasper lingers a moment longer, before lying his head on the pillow beside mine. He moves his hand from my shoulder to my waist, slipping it under my arm.
“We’ll keep trying,” he says. I don’t respond, instead pressing my lips together. “Max, is something else wrong?”
With a sharp exhale I voice the fear that’s been gnawing at me since we tried linking for the first time. “What if we can’t do it? What if—what if we aren’t meant to?”
“Lots of wolf couples can’t mind-link. It’s not an easy thing to do. But I’m sure—”
“Weshould be able to. You said yourself, you have your heightened alpha abilities and I’m the freaking blood wolf. If we can’t mind-link then what if…”
“What if what, Max?”
“What if it’s a sign—that we aren’t—that we don’t—?”
“Max?”
“What if this isn’t going to work?”
Jasper’s sleeping bag rustles as he sits up, leaning over me slightly so I can just make out his face in my periphery.
“Is that what’s really bothering you?”
I roll onto my back so I can face him. The corners of his eyes are pinched with a quiet desperation.
“We were paired together by fate or hormones or whatever you want to call it. And not that I’m complaining but who’s to say that’s enough. If we can’t connect like other couples then something must be wrong, mustn’t it?”
“Are you…” Jasper pauses, licks his lips, and presses on. “Are you having second thoughts about us?”
“No!” I rise onto my elbows, trying to decrease the amount of space between us to show him I’m not the one backing out. “No, I’m not having second thoughts.” I reach up and touch his face. “But so much of our lives are governed by the moon and our wolf selves. I’m just scared that if we can’t mind-link, there must be a bunch of other things we can’t connect over. And what if that means we—we aren’t—”
Jasper brushes a curl out of my face and stares down at me with intense feeling in his expression.
“Max, you’re right it was fate that brought us together.” My chest tightens. “But fate has nothing to do with us being together now. Yes, lunar energy might have had a hand in making sure we ran into each other—”
“Literally,” I add.
“But I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be, if I didn’t choose this. Fate may have been the catalyst but it can’t force a person to stay. I want to stay. I want to be with you. Even if fate had told me to date someone else I would still want to be with you.”
I take a breath as my chest relaxes and our eyes stay connected.
