Page 32 of Fated to the Feral Wolf

“Wait, like the Greek myth ones? They’re real?”

He bobbled his head from side to side. “Yes and no. They’ve always existed, but the name and lore surrounding them have changed many times. The Fetya, as they’re called in shifter lore, can only be reached by great personal sacrifice and from certain points on the globe. With nothing to stop me, I sought the nearest mountain. The journey was long. I took no food or water, weakening myself sufficiently to meet the requirements of personal sacrifice. By the time I had reached the top—in human form—I was on the edge of death, even for a shifter.”

I worried my bottom lip between my teeth, not at all feeling warm and fuzzy about where this was going, even though he was here, solid, and very alive beneath me. Had these Fetya cursed him? Could I force them to take it back? I would climb a mountain if it meant getting him back for real.

“By the time they appeared, I wasn’t sure if it was hallucination or reality. But I asked them to show me my mate. And they did.”

This time, a wide smile showed me his straight, white teeth. He trailed a fingertip up between my breasts to touch my lower lip with his thumb. I shuddered, ridiculously aroused as I waited on tenterhooks for the conclusion of this story.

“You were radiant, the most stunning creature I’d ever seen. But the Fetya do not simply give visions. They give prophecies. And the vision they showed me was a nightmare.” Grief made him avert his gaze, grip me more tightly to his chest.

I melted down his chest, the urge to comfort him with my body overwhelming. “It’s okay, Dirge. You can tell me. I’m here,” I whispered into his neck, curling my body over his as if I could protect him from the past with sheer stubbornness.

He dragged in a deep, shuddering breath as our legs intertwined. Even in his grief, his arousal was hot and hard against my thigh.

“They didn’t just show me you. They showed me you on the day you die.”

I froze. The day I died? They knew?

More importantly, did I want to know? I held my breath and my questions, silently urging him to continue.

“We were in a field, somewhere I’d never seen. And you were radiant, smiling. The mere sight of you took the breath from my lungs. But then everything changed. The vision grew hazy. The sky darkened, and you were falling. I shifted out of wolf form to catch you, and…”

I stroked his cheek, silently supportive.

“That’s when they told me. The first day I hold you in my arms. The first day I leave my wolf behind in your presence, that is the day you are taken from this world. I saw it happen, Shay. As soon as my hands touched your skin, light burst out of you. You were consumed, taken. And all I held was your broken, lifeless body.”

My hands stilled, a secondary horror washing over me. Not only was I going to die, buthewould be left alone. If we were unable to complete our bond, he wouldn’t be taken with me. With the darkness already dragging at him, with no mate…

He would be feral.

Forever.

TWENTY-FOUR

Shay

We lay there quietly in each other’s arms, soaking in the comfort of a mate, of another’s presence. I had so many questions and so little time he could actually answer them.

“What if it’s not what you thought? Maybe… maybe it’s not the first time, maybe it’s five hundred years from now.” I pushed up off his chest, looking down at him hopefully. “We could have a hundred lifetimes together before that happens.”

He shook his head, adamant. “They were very clear, Shay. The first time. The first time I touch you, it’s your death knell.”

Frustration rose inside me, bound by iron chains of helplessness. We were cursed.

“No, sweet Shay, not you. You could never be cursed.”

I hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but he was brushing my hair back and looking at me with all the devotion I never knew I could have. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, desperate to fall.

It was torture. Pure torture to be this close to the one my soul was meant to love, only to be cruelly told that this was all we could have.

“You are light in the darkness, sweet honey in a barren land. You areeverything. I only wish I could give you the full life you deserve. See this belly swell with my pup,” he said, trailing his hands over my abdomen.

Flutters filled me at the contact, even though the picture he painted was apparently never going to happen. I wanted to live in a world where it could.

Not because I wanted babies. I actually mightnotwant babies. Ever. But I wanted a life with my mate. I wanted to love and be loved, to be held in his arms as the sun came up on a thousand mornings. To make love in the middle of the night while the rain fell outside.

And it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t even remotely fair that this was it. This was all we would get.

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