Page 35 of Fated to the Feral Wolf

Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I didn’t bother to wipe them away. As his howl faded off into nothing, a tentative knock came at the door.

“Shay? Do you want us to go? Or to come in, or…” Leigh trailed off, even my usually chatty friend lost for words in this shitty situation. Brielle had obviously filled her in.

I didn’t know what I wanted, so I stayed silent. Though, that wasn’t true. Ididknow what I wanted. Dirge, in human form. Completed mate marks. A small, beautiful bonding ceremony where we promised to love each other always under the Moon Goddess’s approving glow.

But I couldn’t have any of that, and sitting on the floor crying about it wouldn’t fix it. Dirge nudged my hand with his nose, and I reflexively stroked the soft fur on his muzzle.

It was a small thing, but it was something. I wasn’t alone, even though the pain in my chest said otherwise. My brain started spinning, possibilities and thoughts threatening to drown me in their deluge.

So, he saw a vision. Was that gospel? Could it be changed? Or maybe he’d misinterpreted it somehow.

Maybe yes, that would be how I’d die, and it would be while he was in human form, but notthe first time. Or maybe I would have died anyway at that time, whether he shifted or not.

Shit. Why couldn’t the future be changed? What would happen if he shifted and we were inside, not in some field like the Fetya foresaw? Would I still die?

I reached for my shirt, tugging it back on as possibilities and determination replaced the sorrow. We might have been dealt a tragic hand. Maybe we couldn’t change it. But we sure as hell wouldn’t if we didn’t at leasttry.

I was on my feet again in an instant, Dirge my faithful shadow as I flung open the bathroom door a little too forcefully, slamming it into the wall by accident.

“Shay? Are you all right?” Brielle and Leigh were leaning against the wall, wearing matching expressions of worry. The men had left the room, giving us some privacy. But privacy wasn’t going to fix this.

I opened the door to see all three of the men standing in the hall and had to fight back the ridiculous urge to laugh at how similar they looked to Leigh and Brielle.

“Come in, please.” I waved them through the door, my throat tightening at the realization that I had a lot of talking to do, and the old familiar discomfort of speaking around men threatened to choke me.

But I couldn’t let it. These were my pack, my people. And just as much as they were working to help Brielle, I knew they would help me—us—if I let them in.

So I had to let them in.

TWENTY-SIX

Dirge

Ipaced the long side of the room, unable to hold still after seeing my beautiful mate’s new marks. She was stunning, and perfect, and it tore a hole right out of my chest that the marks were unfinished. I didn’t know it was possible for them to form at all with me still shifted. Had our nighttime meetings done something more permanent than we’d realized? It was a worry I had no one to bounce off.

So I continued wearing an unsettled track into the floorboards as Shay filled in the rest of the pack’s inner circle on our situation. She faltered at times, but her shoulders were straight as she outlined our midnight meetings—leaving out the private bits, of course—and what I’d shared about the vision from the Fetya.

Reed’s face paled and he sank into an empty chair as she finished the tale. When his eyes met mine, it was with intense sorrow.

“Brother,” he whispered, reaching out a hand toward me. I quickly butted it with the top of my head in acknowledgment, but couldn’t stop the urge to pace. It itched, telling everyone.But not as much as the realization as I listened that my mate thought they couldfix it. Change our cursed destiny.

I knew, deep down in the marrow of my bones, that this was not going to happen. Nothing we did, nothing we tried would change it. And if she didn’t honor that, the Fetya could take her from me even sooner.

I could absolutely not live with that.

“M’kay, so…” Leigh was the first one to wade in after Shay finished speaking. “There’s nothing actuallypreventinghis shift right now? He’s fully aware and the man is in control but… Darth Furder’s afraid of the vision?”

I lifted my lip in a halfhearted snarl at her insult. Leigh just grinned, enjoying herself, the incorrigible little shit.

“Well, if you were in a field and now we’re not, just shift now. You can’t complete the vision if you don’t play by its rules, right?” She slapped her hands on her thighs as if the matter was settled.

It was absolutely not settled.

“It’s not so simple, I’m afraid.” Kane’s expression was grave as he spoke. “The lore of the Fetya is shrouded in many mysteries, but one thread of truth runs through them all. What they foresee is as much price as it is a promise. Theywillextract the truth of the vision, whether it is now or at the foretold time in the future.”

Ice water flooded my veins, even though I already knew the accuracy of his words.

“He’s right,” Reed said. “If they foretold Dirge’s first shift leading to Shay’s death, then his shift will in some way bring it about, sooner or later.”

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