Page 46 of Pack to the Wall

Kira nodded as I rose.

I didn’t even make it one step before Bronn scooped me into his arms, carrying me down the hall to my bedroom. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be in there after what Ginny had done, but when we got there, my bed was gone, replaced with the one from the spare bedroom downstairs. I hadn’t asked for that but wasn’t sure I could undo things now. The bed would be nice, even if I felt ashamed of taking it away from others in the pack.

After my talk with Colt, I’d been trying to force myself to think of all of these people as mine, under my protection, my… family. That meant I wanted the best for all of them, like I did for my own kids, so taking a bed away from them didn’t sit right with me… although I suspected they wouldn’t take it back either.

Fine. I’d accept this for now, but I’d make sure we got a new bed, perhaps a lot of new beds, in the near future.

Bronn laid me down, still fully dressed, and stepped back as Kira sat on the side of the bed. The pain in my arm was fading, a lethargy sweeping over me, and I guessed she noticed as she skipped any preamble and spoke swiftly.

“I don’t know a lot about being fated,” she said. “I only have memories of what my grandmother told me.”

Fair enough.

Still, even second-hand information was better than no information.

“My grandmother knew because her parents had been fated. It’s actually very rare, but — for reasons nobody can discern — it tends to happen more often in certain bloodlines of wolves, older ones…like mine.” She grimaced. “In most cases, it affects the male first. They experience a moment of disorientation, usually while looking at the female in question, then they just know they have to be with her. Again, the legends vary, but often, when the male touches the female in question, she’s… infected, for lack of a better word. Sometimes this doesn’t happen and in those cases the male… ah… well, he either takes her by force or goes mad.”

“Oh.” Suddenly I was glad I’d been infected. I didn’t really want to contemplate the other options.

Kira sighed. “No one really knows why it happens, it just does. Then the wolves in question just need to… live with it. Those that embrace it can have very satisfying lives. Those that fight it… well, they either go mad or are just miserable.”

Right. Don’t fight it.

Tyson had said he’d been restraining himself until I was a wolf. Though he’d also said that once I’d shifted, we’d need to focus on my training in combat. Could we hold out for the entire week? It had only been two days and the pull was already incredibly strong. Something told me a week was going to be far too long to wait.

“Thank you,” I said to Kira.

She rose but paused at the side of the bed. “He’s a good man. Under all the horrors and gruesome life lessons Harley inflicted on him… he’s a good man.” I didn’t know who she was trying to convince, me or herself.

“I know,” I said softly, and she left.

Bronn returned to kneel at the side of the bed and whispered, “I’ll stay with you.”

I smiled at him, feeling another, heavier wave of fatigue sweep through me. I didn’t think I’d last much longer before passing out. “What else can I expect, when I turn?”

“As we get closer to moonrise your fever will intensify. That cut will also hurt like hell. Then the moon will rise and you’ll shift into a wolf. It’s going to hurt a lot.”

“I won’t become a beast-man-thing?”

“No, just the animal. You’ll be hungry and want to eat. Ideally, we’d let you run in the woods, hunt, find game and eat it. That’s more satisfying, more natural. But moonrise is early in the day this month, it’ll still be light out and I know you don’t want your neighbors seeing a wolf running down the street. So, when I was shopping yesterday I got an assortment of raw meat.” He gave a laugh. “I cleaned out two different butchers to get enough for you and the rest of the pack. Most of it was for you. Once you’re sated, you’ll rest and recover. Then, when the moon sets, you’ll shift back. That should be less painful than the first time, but probably still… not comfortable. You’ll be tired for most of the next day, and that’s it.”

“Then you and the others will teach me how to fight?”

His face grew grim. “Then we’ll teach you how to fight.”

My eyes closed for an extended blink. I was fading fast.

“Rest,” Bronn said. “I’ll be right here.”

And knowing that made it easier to close my eyes again.

TYSON

I’d done it.I’d turned Jane.

I’d taken a caring and wonderful woman and cursed her.

It was unforgivable… but necessary. She needed to be the one to fight Brick.

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