Page 61 of Owning His Mate

“Revna. They talked about her a lot.”

I stroke her hair. “Do you remember what they said?”

Her nose wrinkles as she tries to recall. “They said… They said she’s trapped somewhere.”

It is as if a bucket of ice-cold water has been thrown over my head. On the surface, her words don’t seem troubling. They seem like the ramblings of an overactive imagination, but they make me feel fear I haven’t experienced since my pack tortured me.

“Trapped where?”

Savannah shrugs. “I don’t know. They said lots of times how important I was. They pricked me all the time. And then one day they just stopped. No one came for a long time. My tummy was so sore, and I cried, but still no one came.”

I grind my molars together, not sure if I want to explode or sob at her candor. “I’m sorry, Savannah. That will never happen again.”

She glances at me, hope in her eyes. “Because you and Kye will keep me safe, right?”

I nod, feeling the weight of her expectations on my shoulders. How can I keep any of us safe? Even so, I make that vow because she’s a little girl who has been through hell and she needs the reassurance.

“I promise we’ll do everything we can to protect you. You’ll never feel hungry or be pricked again.”

I press a kiss to the top of her head, smelling the scent of the shampoo the girls used when they cleaned her up. Beneath that, I can smell her wolf, faint, as it is in pups. I can smell her magic as well, the unique fingerprint that makes it hers.

“I’m scared, Apryle.”

I hold her close, pulling her against my chest as if she were precious glass that I am afraid might shatter. “You don’t have to be scared. Me and Kye, as well as the others here, are working to build a safe future for our kind. You’ll never have to worry about anything. You’ll be able to live a normal life, find your mate, if you have one, have pups if you choose to. You can be anything you want to be, Savannah.” I mean every word. It makes me more determined than ever to create a safe space for the generations that will follow. They should not have to suffer the same way we have.

“I’m glad it was you who found me,” she says, yawning and revealing rows of crooked little teeth.

“I am too,” I reply. “Savannah, do you know how old you are?”

She frowns at the question, as if trying to remember. When she doesn’t answer, I whisper, “It’s okay. We’ll figure these things out together.”

She yawns again, this time closing her eyes, barely able to keep them parted. It doesn’t take her long to fall asleep, and I keep stroking her hair as her breathing becomes soft. Only once she is deeply asleep do I let myself drift off too.

Chapter 15

Kye

Idon’t want to let them out of my sight, but Apryle is right. We need to work out what the hell is going on, and I can’t do that in front of Savannah.

I don’t know Apryle’s pack and coven well enough to be friendly with them, and so when all eyes turn to me, my initial response is to growl at them. I have to calm my wolf, urging him to remember these people are not our enemies.

“That poor girl.” Tessa’s mouth turns down and her eyes fill with sadness. “She’s suffered so much.”

“She’s going to need a lot of support. Memories might start coming back to her, depending on what those animals did to her.” This comes from Halle.

The way she says this makes me think she’s experienced something similar herself. Her emotions are too personal.

“Do you think she has a block?” Cade asks his mate.

The alpha is an imposing man with broad shoulders nearly as big as mine.

Halle shrugs. “It’s impossible to know without having a look in her mind, and we know how well that’s worked in the past.”

The ripple of unease that moves through the group confuses me. I don’t care enough to find out what it means, but there’s definitely some history here.

“What is the deal with the blood?”

The girls glance at me before exchanging looks. “Blood-based spells aren’t unheard of,” Roux says, “but it’s dangerous. Hester always warned me about that kind of dark magic.”

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