Page 42 of Fated to the Wolf Prince

“I’m okay. Just a twinge, that’s all. But we need to talk.” I was proud of how firm I sounded, how in control. With me submerged under the water, even his wolf’s nose shouldn’t be able to pick up the smell of my arousal anymore.

I could do this.

Ihad todo this.

He sank forward, edging his torso between my knees, bracing himself on the stone rim of the spring with one hand on either side of my head. It was a heady invasion of personal space, but I couldn’t bring myself to push him away. Somehow, the contact gave me the strength to do what I had to do.

His eyes were serious on mine when he gave me a little nod to go ahead.

Here went nothing.

“We can’t take the bond any further, Kane.”

He growled, the sound low and anxious in his throat, but I didn’t feel threatened. I pushed on, ignoring his objection.

“I’m going to die, Kane. Whatever this illness is, none of my years of study have found anything different in my genes. But, I know it in mybonesthat it’s the same thing that killed my mother. And I’ve seen that future, Kane. I’ve seen what happens when, when one mate withers away, and—” A sob I wasn’t expecting nearly choked me, and I buried my face in my hands.

“Shh, it’s okay. Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.” He slid one hand from the rock to my shoulder, tracing over the tender spot where my neck and shoulder joined, distracting me from my sorrow with little bolts of electricity jolting straight to my core.

I sucked in a few breaths and dropped my hands back to my lap, twisting my fingers together under the water to keep them still.

“Mating me is a death sentence. I won’t do that to you, Kane.”

“No.” His face was dead serious, expression fierce as he kept tracing little patterns over my skin.Distractingpatterns.

“You can’t just… say no. This isn’t a yes-or-no decision. I’m telling you, I won’t subject you to sitting around and dying with me, and that’s nonnegotiable. You can still move on, find another, stronger she-wolf to—”

“No.”

“Kane! Stop it.” I glowered at him, annoyed by the little grin that twisted his lips as he watched me.

“I hear you. I understand that you think this is a death sentence. I understand that for some crazy reason you think I’m so disloyal that not only would I abandon my fated mate, but that I’d abandon her to die alone and rejected—we’ll talk aboutthatlater, I can assure you—but Brielle, it’s time foryouto listen tome.”

His finger trailed from my shoulder, up my neck, to press his fingertips up under my chin and gently force my tear-filled eyes up to his.

“I am never leaving you. I am never giving up on you, on our mate bond. If you won’t have me, that’s your choice, and I will honor it. But you’ll be sentencing me to a life of loneliness and rejection right alongside you. I will not move on and mate with someone else like you don’t exist. I could never, ever do that. My wolf has chosen, and so have I.”

All the breath left my lungs in a painful rush. He wouldn’t take another mate? Even if I rejected him?

“But, Kane, I’m going todie. At best I’ve got another fifteen years.At best. I’ve probably got more like eight to ten, based on how long it took my mother to succumb after the sickness started. That’s it, that’s all we’d ever have together, and then… then you’d die, Kane. Right alongside me.”

“Brielle, my heart, my stubborn one, you’re not hearing me. The Goddess intended for mates to be together, in life and in death. Do I wish for more than ten years with you? Of course. I’m greedy. I haven’t evenbegunto explore you.”

He leaned down and peppered hot, openmouthed kisses over my cheeks, down to my ear, my neck and collarbones as I absentmindedly rose from the water to meet his demanding lips. When he pulled back to speak again, I was dazed with unadulterated lust.

“But if eight, ten, or fifteen years is all the Goddess sees fit to give us? I’ll enjoy every. Single. Minute.” He punctuated each word with another kiss, driving me wild. “And even if you won’t accept me, you’re missing one very crucial point.” He paused, waiting for my brain to clear enough to catch up with him.

“What’s that?” I sounded breathless, even to my own ears.

“When you leave this world, I will leave with you. Whether or not you accept the bond. I won’t live without you.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

Kane

Isaw her horror as the words sank in, but I refused to take them back. She needed to know that I was as deadly serious as she was. I would follow her to the ends of eternity, in life and in death.

Even if I didn’t want to, the risk of an alpha of my power going feral? It wasn’t safe. She was it for me, my own blessed gift from the moon Goddess, and I intended to take any scrap Brielle saw fit to give me. In time, hopefully she’d see my sincerity and agree to complete our bond, as the Goddess intended.

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