Page 2 of Fated In Winter

“I’m about to push you off this damn mountain.”

“You could try. You may be strong, you may be the wolf that can shift faster than anyone else we know and without as much pain, but I still have tricks up my sleeve.”

Considering our mother was a witch, Nico did indeed have some tricks up his sleeve. “You’re wrong about the pain,” I grumbled.

Nico frowned. “What?”

I hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but since I had, and I was in a piss-poor mood, I shrugged.

“I have the same pain as you guys do. I just have it all at once. So it’s excruciating. I can shift quickly, so there’s that.”

Nico blinked at me, then shoved at me. I gripped the ledge of the mountain and cursed.

“What the fuck, man? You trying to kill me?”

“Of course not. I would’ve caught you if you’d fallen. What the hell is wrong with you? Why didn’t you say that you hurt? We all just assumed it didn’t because it was so quick.”

Shifting into a wolf wasn’t a bright spark of white light and happiness. It twisted your tendons, broke your bones, and altered your body from one form to another. The laws of mass and thermodynamics did not work when it came to magic. Sometimes our bodies didn’t want to listen to the magic and took it out on us painfully.

“Dad knows.”

“And Father?”

Dad is Josh, Father is Reed, and Mom is Hannah. They were the original triad of the Redwood Pack. Since their bond had been created, more triads had formed in our Pack and our neighboring and friendly Pack, the Talons. Their bond had served to protect the Redwoods during our war with the Centrals. With each triad bond, our connection to the moon goddess, and to the powers that be, intensified. It was a good thing. It made things a little complicated when it came to figuring out who we were talking about when we meant Dad or Father because sometimes we still slipped up, but we always knew.

Reed, our father, was a strong wolf with a softer side. He tended to be a little more insular and focused on his art more than anything. Well, other than his family and his two loves of his life.

Nico and I had never lived in a world where we felt like we were anything less than who we were. Our parents adored us, as did the rest of our family. We were blessed, and we knew it.

That didn’t mean we didn’t have hardships of our own, but they were different.

“You should’ve told me,” Nico whispered.

“It felt like I was making up excuses for being as quick as I was. I never wanted to be that person.”

“You’re a good guy, Conner. I know you miss Kaylee because she’s out there alone and could get hurt, but come on, what else is there? I hate that our sister isn’t here. I want to wrap all of our sisters in cotton wool and protect them, but they won’t let us. What’s wrong, Conner?”

I shook my head. “I just want to protect her.”

“And?”

“The twin bond helps,” I muttered, the words tearing out of me.

Nico cursed under his breath, then squeezed the back of my neck hard. “Does it? Or are you using it as a crutch?”

“I don’t know, Nico.”

“You’re not going to turn rogue, Conner. We’re here for you.”

“Yeah? Then why do I feel like my wolf is trying to tear off my skin more days than not?”

“Because you’re a damn fine dominant wolf, and it happens to the best of us. You have family here. Connections. You’re not going to turn.”

“And what happened to Darren? He turned on a dime. He has twin infants.”

Nico shook his head. “He was a lone wolf before that, and sometimes you can’t tell who’s going to go rogue. None of us can.”

“I don’t know. My wolf is stronger than his.” That’s what kept me up at night and on edge—something that made the whole idea of going rogue more real.

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