Page 18 of Beyond the Grasslands

“You did nothing wrong.” My step faltered as she spoke. I offered her a look of disbelief but she only returned a hesitant smile. “I didn’t blame you for the attack, my kidnapping, or even what your wolf did.” Her fingers immediately traced over the jagged edges of the scar at the base of her neck. “Had you come to me sooner, you would have known that.”

“I’m sorry. There have been other things that have kept me busy too, but you’re right, the biggest was my own self loathing and fear of your reaction.”

“I didn’t trust your wolf at first.”

“At first?” I asked with as much hope in my heart as I could muster without being crushed by my own failings.

Nika nodded her head and then had to push her dark locks back behind her ear, so they wouldn’t be in her face as sheaddressed me. “I was scared to death the first morning I woke to find him in bed with me.”

“I’m so sorry, Nika.” She held her hand up as if to stave off my apology.

“He marched himself right out of the room and the look he gave me when he left nearly broke my heart. I know you’re sorry for what happened, but your wolf also feels remorse for what he’s done.” I didn’t have anything to add to that because I was puzzled by the fact that she was speaking about us as if we were two separate beings and we shouldn’t be. A true merging of wolf and man was more like two halves of a whole not two completely separate entities.

“Do you worry that I’ll hurt you again?”

Nika shook her head. “No, and I don’t think you meant to harm me before. I read your letter, the one you left the first day.”

I nodded. “I needed you to know what happened but didn’t think you would want to see me, so I figured the letter was the best approach.”

“From this point forward, I would ask that you speak to me directly, even if it seems like the hardest task you will ever have to undertake. I need to know that we can communicate effectively, otherwise how will we manage to run a pack together?”

“You still want to be my mate?”

Her fingers again traced the mark on her neck. “We don’t have much of a choice in that any longer.”

“We do. You never marked me,” I tried to explain but she brushed it off.

“We don’t. Everyone expects it and I won’t toss your pack under the bus because a few evil people managed to push a wedge between us and forced you to claim me in the middle of a frenzy. Even if that action hadn’t been their intention, it was stilla result of what they all put us through. Besides, you made me a promise, and we need to uphold that together.”

“You already had my word on that, Nika. If you decided not to take me as your mate, I would still work with you to make sure that no others are tossed aside on that island, or any other prison, based solely on their mate not wanting to follow through with the gift the gods have given them.”

“That’s a lovely sentiment,” Nika stated, but her fingers made their way up to touch the gnarly scar left behind by my overzealous wolf. “The fact is, you already left your mark on me. We’re already halfway to our full bond. The only thing we’re really waiting on is me to mark you.” When I got ready to say something to the contrary she shook her head. “You might still feel the need to mark me as well - as a man. I understand that. I’m trying to tell you that I’m still okay with that, but two weeks won’t be enough.”

“What do you mean?”

The end of December marks a year, for me, since I had the mate dreams. I want to take the time between now and then to put in the work to get to know one another better, to get on better terms with your pack, and to find out every deep, dark secret that has festered in your pack and left us open to the attack that nearly ended our tentative bond.”

“Do you remember how hard it was to wait out that initial month?”

“This is different. We aren’t going to say those words. We won’t be bound by those rules. You’ve already marked me, so I don’t think they would apply even if we attempted it. Still, it needs to happen. This isn’t something I’m asking on a whim, Thorin. So much has happened that I fear even walking out that door.” Her eyes drifted to the bedroom door and my heart hammered behind my chest. I had been right about that.

“I don’t want you to fear me or my pack.”

“I don’t fear you.”

“I will make sure that there is no one in my pack for you to fear. I agree to your terms so long as you come to work with me every day. You need to be a part of unraveling everything that led to my pack members helping Aiden get to you.”

She laughed, though there wasn’t much humor to it. “I don’t think they meant to help Aiden. Truthfully, I think he accidentally became involved and stopped them from carrying out an assassination on me.”

Nika’s thoughts on the subject made me wish I hadn’t been so hasty in taking Aiden out. Truthfully, he could have been allowed to live - at least until the council got ahold of him. Hindsight was a bitch like that though. It meant that we couldn’t ask him the important questions. Not that the answers really mattered. Either way, members of my pack set out to do harm to the woman who was meant to be their Luna and it wasn’t the first time it had happened.

I swallowed hard and gave a quick nod of my head. “From what I’ve learned, that is entirely possible.”

“How in the world did we get to this place where pack mates we’ve known our whole lives turn into something you would never expect? For me, it was Aiden who changed, but for you, I think - no, I know - there was more than one pack member involved.”

I sighed and moved to stand beside Nika. “My mind keeps wandering back to the fact that I’ve been without a mate for too long as Alpha of the pack.”

Nika shook her head emphatically. “It’s not that. The problems in your pack have to be older, Thorin. They killed your first mate before she could get to you. That tells me there is a bigger problem. Do you think maybe you’ve been a target of something more all along?”

---