Page 70 of A Wolf in the Garden

“I would love that. Do whatever you need, whatever you want. That space is yours to transform, if that’s what you want to do. I know we haven’t talked about living arrangements—”

“I mean, it’s been about a month, right?” She says with a laugh. “And here I am planning my big old veggie patch—”

“But that’s what I want. I don’t want to rush you. I want it to be on your terms. Still, if you said to me today that you were ready to move in together, I would say yes. I am saying yes.”

“I practically live there, anyway.” Her hand plays with the surface of the water, sending ripples through the reflection of the fading sunset colours. “From the outside, if we were just a regular couple, the idea of moving in together so fast would be crazy.”

“We’re not a regular couple.”

She shakes her head. “We’re definitely not. I can’t even remember my life without you in it, you know? My memory only starts at age three, anyway.Youare literally my very first memory.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. My first memory is being on the beach, and you know how when the tide is right out, there’s the sandbank that creates the little paddling pool? I remember sitting in that, and you were with me.”

“We were looking at hermit crabs.”

She gasps. “You remember too!”

“I mean, I remember multiple days like that. It was your favourite activity that summer. I remember complaining to Mom,why does that little girl want to look at crabs all day?I thought you were weird. A weird little human girl.”

Her laugh is loud in the quiet evening air. “And now we’re here.”

“And now we’re here.” I hesitate, almost nervous to voice what I’ve been thinking, the past few weeks. She notices, giving me a soft smile over her shoulder, the rub of her hand on my thigh reassuring.

“My parents are fated mates,” I begin. “For a long time, I was very bitter about the idea of fated mates. Deep down I knew the truth about their pairing, but I refused to acknowledge it. I told myself that, for my mother, it was the excuse, the lie, that she needed to tell herself to justify why she’d left her old life and all the expectations that come from being a werewolf female inherfamily, to be with my shifter father. It’s not an excuse, and I know that. She’s bound to him, and he to her.”

Ellie is quiet, her hands moving slowly through the water in a figure-eight, over and over again. “Why were you so bitter about the idea of it?” she asks eventually.

“Because… because the first time I saw you again — when I came back from college, I mean, nine years ago — my wolves knew, then. Theyknew. And it fucking tore me apart that I couldn’t have you, when my father gave those orders.” My chest aches now, just thinking about it.

“Knew that…”

“That you and I are fated mates, Ellie.” I curl myself further around her, feeling the pull of our tied bodies as I move my limbs, tucking her against me. “You’re mine. You always have been, you always will be. And more than that… I am yours.” I sigh, planting a kiss next to her ear. “I should have told you earlier, but I’ve been too nervous.”

"Why?”

“Because… I don’t want you to think that this devalues our relationship. That it’s just biology, or instinct.”

Her hand reaches back to caress my cheek while I rest my chin on her head. “I don’t think it devalues it. It’s comforting to hear it. I know that it was too soon for you to reveal all the wolf stuffthatsummer — and I don’t know how I would have reacted, to be honest, the Unravelling was a really big mindfuck to wrap my head around — but part of me really wished I could have known. I used to hope,” she adds, her voice dropping to barely a whisper. “I used to hope you’d come back to me, somehow. Even when I was in other relationships. When I was feeling like being particularly cruel to myself, I used to live out little scenarios in my head, of us.” She shakes her head with an ironic little laugh. “You weren’t a wolf in those daydreams. I could have never imagined all of this. The reality is far better than what I dreamed up. If I’d known, I’d have known my hope wasn’t misguided.”

My voice is thick when I say, “I’m sorry, baby.”

“I don’t need you to keep apologising,” she says quietly. “I just need you to love me today, and tomorrow, and forever.”

“I do, and I will. I always will.”

She relaxes against me, and we sit in comfortable silence as the first stars appear. I kiss the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her like I always do, enjoying the peacefulness of this moment.

“So, are you going to bite me?”

I exhale loudly, leaning forward to bite her shoulder,gently. Not hard enough to break the skin. “Did Lacey say something to you?”

“Only because I asked. After I looked up a whole lot of stuff.”

I groan. “Ellie, why would you do that?” Searching on the internet is the worst when it comes to non-human stuff; most of it is misinformation or half-truths anyway, and I can only imagine what might have come up when searching about mating bites. “Did you see a lot of gruesome images?”

“Yep.”

---