Page 129 of What a Wolf's Heart Decides

“Hush, wife. Let me spoil you.” He grabbed her hand again and led her toward the tent.

Her stomach did a little flip. Funny how just a single word—wife—could do that. Although the mate bond didn’t require a human marriage, they made it official anyway. And she’d said her vows with tears streaming down her face after Max, Lizette, and all her other friends from the New York Territory surprised her by showing up for the ceremony. The only absence was Lily, who was too pregnant to travel. However, Dom improvised by holding up his phone so she and Posey could watch the wedding over FaceTime.

The lanterns flickered in the breeze as Bard pulled her to the tent’s entrance.

“Be careful!” she called as he navigated around the stakes.

He stopped before the flaps and pulled her against him. “I’m okay, love. My leg might be gone for good, but all the damage is healed.” He gazed down at her, his blue eyes soft. “You saw to that.”

“I still can’t believe I have a Gift.”

“I guess if anything good came of Sabine’s curse, it was that.”

Haley bit her lip. “You really think she won’t come back?”

“According to Max, she won’t. He had a long talk with Damian, who said witches don’t feed in the same place twice.”

She suppressed a shudder. “That will always give me the willies. She creeped me out from the first time I met her.”

“It might be your Gift.”

“My Gift?”

Bard nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Damian says it’s part of being an Augmentor. Your Gift works on other Gifts, and it makes you more sensitive to magic. He thinks you probably sensed the charm without realizing it.”

She drew in a sharp breath. “The way my ears started ringing as soon as I got here.”

He nodded.

“I thought it was the altitude.”

“Nope.” He brushed a thumb down her cheek. “It was your Gift.”

She let out a soft laugh. “Finally.”

He turned her toward the valley, then put his mouth next to her ear and murmured, “Some gifts are worth waiting for.”

She heard it first.

Thunder.

Impossible when the sky was a clear expanse of black speckled with twinkling stars.

Then she saw it.

Them.

She saw them. And she forgot how to breathe.

Wild horses poured into the valley between the mountains, their manes streaming behind them as they galloped through the snow. It flew off their hooves, white specks that seemed to dance in the air. There were horses of every color—red roan and brilliant white, bay and buckskin, sorrel and brown. They flew across the valley, their bodies sleek and shining in the moonlight. The ground shook, the whole cliffside trembling.

As soon as they appeared they were gone, leaving nothing but a riot of tracks in the snow.

Haley’s heart raced as she turned to Bard. “How did you know they would come tonight?”

His eyes smiled. “Damian. He wanted to explore the land a bit to see if he could figure out which magical house Sabine is from. He has a knack for understanding animals.”

“Are you sure it’s wise to let him loose in the territory? I know witchborn isn’t the same as a witch but . . .” She let her sentence drift off. Bard had given her an incredible gift. She didn’t want to ruin it with an argument.

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