Page 57 of Titan’s Mate

Titan snarled, “How much time? Months? Years? You want to imprison her spirit in a magical cage, all alone, with nowhere to go and no one to talk to, and no idea if anyone is ever coming to get her out? Do you have any idea what that would be like—that kind of sensory deprivation? It could drive her and her bear both insane.”

Brock put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Titan—”

“No!” He rose to his feet. She could feel his body shuddering, and his eyes were going red. His bear was losing it.

“Shh,” she said, putting her hand on his chest, but he shook her off.

“No. I won’t do that to you.” He stumbled to the door and pushed his way out.

Mari watched him go, tears filling her eyes. She felt numb inside. Automatically she turned to Tyr. “I’m sorry he keeps doing that,” she said, her voice shaking. She reached for the ring at her neck, closing her fist around it. “He really is grateful for everything you’re doing. He’s just…”

She shook her head, the tears spilling over. Immediately she was surrounded by the crew, hugging her, touching her, making anxious cat and wolf noises.

Mari leaned into their caring, their love. But her heart was still full of Titan’s pain, and her own.

Tyr put his hand on her shoulder. “I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear—hell, it sucks. But it was the best I could do for now. Do you think Titan knows what happened to that artifact?”

“I’ll ask him,” she said. But the idea of being stuck in nothingness, no Titan, no crew, no mocha or cinnamon buns or stories—no nothing—was terrifying. Her bear whimpered inside her.

But if we could live? Mari asked her.

I don’t know, her bear said. Maybe.

Chapter 25

Titan knew he shouldn’t have gone off and left Mari, left Tyr without even thanking him for everything he’d done.

The girls kept trying to civilize him, but obviously it didn’t take.

To his surprise, he didn’t end up at the cabin, or the graveyard, or the cliff. He found himself at the weapons range, leaning on the split rail fence. With no leaves on the trees, you could see clear down to the house from where he was standing.

The place he’d helped build, with the people he’d grown to love.

He didn’t know if he could stay here, if Mari was gone. He didn’t know if he could be anywhere. The very thought squeezed his heart until he could hardly get his breath.

He should have known she would find him, though, just like she had at the graveyard. She must have gone to the cabin first, because he didn’t see her coming up the hill from the house. She stole up behind him and slipped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his back.

After a little while his heart didn’t feel quite so squeezed, and he slid one hand down to cover hers. She kissed him between the shoulder blades and then came around to climb up the fence, sitting facing him on the top rail. He put his arm around her, holding her safe.

She sat for a bit, running her fingers through his hair the way he loved. “What are you thinking?” she asked softly.

He let the silence stretch out while he tried to find the words. “I’m thinking about hope.”

“Mmm.” She let his hair slide through her fingers again. It was soothing. “About having it, or not having it?”

He had to think about that for a while. “Both,” he said finally. “I want to grab onto the hope that we can keep you alive.” He looked out into the distance. “But then I feel guilty, because the only ways we can think of will probably end up making you suffer.”

He drew his finger along the line of her lips. “I would never want to hurt you, so then I want to stop hoping to save you, and just help you across when it’s time.” He sighed. “And then I feel like my whole world is ending.”

She leaned forward, putting her arms around his neck. “And I feel like whatever choice we make, you’ll end up suffering with me.”

“Or without you.”

“Yeah.”

They held each other for a few minutes in silence, and then she asked, “If it were your choice alone, what would you want to do?”

“I’d be selfish, probably,” he admitted. “I’d claim you, so you felt totally loved. I’d take the chance our love was strong enough to fix this. But it’s way more likely you’d end up in hell. And I couldn’t live with that.”