Page 20 of Tangled Fates

She tucked her head into the crook of my neck. “I can’t wait until I see it. You know, the flashes my parents always talk about. I hear they’re amazing.”

It always struck me as odd that I had seen those flashes, yet she hadn’t seen them. Every time she mentioned them, my gut turned over. I wanted to tell her, too. Every time she brought them up, I wanted to tell her that I had already seen them. That I had already seen our lives together. Our mating ceremony, with our most loved ones watching. Our firstborn, a beautiful and stalwart baby boy, who would give all of us a run for their money. Just like I did as a little pup.

“Do you love me, Hudson?”

I kissed Lila’s forehead as she laid there in bed, trembling and scared as she tried her best to fight off the infection.

“Of course, I do. You know I love you.”

She offered me her hand. “Then, there’s something I need you to know. Something that I haven’t told you yet that I need you to try and understand.”

I took her clammy hand and kissed every single knuckle. “You can tell me anything, my love, and I’ll always lend an ear to listen.”

Her eyes watered over. “You’re going to hate me after I tell you.”

I shook my head. “Never. There’s nothing you could ever say that could ever take away the love I have for you.”

Oh, how wrong I had been, too.

Stupid fucking humans!

I skidded to a grinding halt just to yell up at the sky. It hurt too much to think about. The pain was much too great. First Lila, now Raven. Both women I had been destined to be with, and both of them had broken me. Lila, with her cheating. I mean, fucking a human? When she knew she was promised to me? When she felt the cosmos shift into place the very first time we locked eyes from across the grounds during one of our yearly feasts and celebrations? I’d never forget the first time I ever smelled the top of her head. The scent of lilacs and fresh grass wafted up my nose, and it changed something inside of me. It blossomed a hope and a happiness I never thought I’d feel, and every single time I laid eyes on Lila, it reminded me of what it meant to be alive.

How could she do that? How could she proclaim to love me, and then squander everything that made our love beautiful? How could she fuck a human, break my heart, and then run off to be a lone wolf without even so much as a goddamn goodbye? How could she siphon all of the care and the joy out of me before leaving her family and never looking back?

I knew she had run off with that human. I felt it in my blood. Humans were nothing but trash. The scum of the earth. And as far as I was concerned, they didn’t deserve to know about us. They didn’t deserve to know any truth regarding the lives they really led. And now, I was supposed to share the only other woman this universe had ever stuck me with?

Fuck all of that, and fuck you, Universe.

7

RAVEN

HOLY SHIT, THAT’S DAD.

Energy pulsed beneath the skin of my wolf as I took a step forward. The man standing in front of me wore those same faded jeans and that same bland white t-shirt he had always sported during my younger years. The brow lines of his forehead were deep, and the downturn of his lips had left frown lines where smooth skin had once been. But there was no denying it, even though my brain kept screaming at me.

Somehow, some way, my father was alive.

He’s supposed to be dead.

BUT HE’S NOT.

Wolfy, he’s not supposed to be here.

BUT HE IS. HE’S RIGHT THERE. LOOK.

I see him, Wolfy. But I just…

WHEN DID HE GET OLD?

The question would’ve made me laugh had I not been rooted to my place in shock. The longer my father stood there, the more it gave me time to process. And the only thing I could focus on was the fact that he was clothed.

How did he shift back into his human form and stay clothed?

JUST THINK REAL HARD ABOUT IT.

I think it’s a bit more complicated than that.

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