Page 27 of A Wolf's Heart

I didn’t fight him. I didn’t let go. My wolf begged me to never let go. That heated pulse that moved through me every time Weylin touched me, and the way he firmly held on to my hand now, sent my heart into a frenzy.

He stopped at my car. “Did you want to drive? That way, if you want to bail, you can just ditch me.”

I smiled, giving a nod because, again, words failed me whenever Weylin touched me. He opened the door for me, and I got into the driver’s side, waiting as he walked around the car and got in next to me.

With the GPS on Weylin’s phone telling me where to go, I made my way out of town and closer to the city. “Do I have to worry about going into your territory?”

“No, it doesn’t work like that. Rain is going to meet us. He’ll explain it all to you.”

Oh. I had my gun still tucked in the holster at my side, and loaded with silver bullets, but being with two of them sent a wave of nerves through me. Except, with those nerves also came excitement. “This may seem like a silly question, but when you touch me, do you feel heat of some sort?”

Weylin nodded. “The mate bond, yes.”

I relaxed a little, knowing it wasn’t just me. “What is a mate bond, exactly?”

“You’d be better off asking Rainor that. He will tell you the technical details of what’s happening. I only know the old stories, and the more religious aspect of it. We were taught differently.”

“Well, I didn’t work a little over a decade to become a detective to only hear one side of a story.”

Weylin smirked at that.

“Do we have no choice in mates? Is it supposed to be love at first sight?”

“No. It’s survival at first sight. The stories go back before a time that wolf and human became one. During this time, humans had powers, gifts. They were attuned more with the energy within themselves. The human relied on the wolf’s animalistic nature, the intuition, loyalty, and raw natural power. The wolf relied on the human for companionship, and when the two were together, their power heightened to nearly limitless amounts.Hungry for the power, humans found ways to intertwine their spirits and souls with that of wolves. Why have two separate entities with qualities that benefit both, when they could make it one?

“Humans could’ve lived a happy life with wolves by their side, but they had to go and tamper with things they did not understand. We were too powerful. The fates saw it and split us in two. This way, the amount of power would be shared among multiple entities to prevent an overload. To stop the prospect of an ultimate weapon from being created. As if the fates would allow there to be a being more powerful than them.”

“So, humans and wolves were separated, then mashed together, and then torn apart again?” I asked.

“It’s what the old stories say. Rain will tell you something different.” He waved his hand. “Biologically, we are a different species than humans. To him, fated mates only occur when pheromones and attraction align. He sees it as no more than a chemical reaction in our brains.”

“Except, I wasn’t attracted to you when we met.”

“No?” He raised his eyebrow in a way I was starting to learn was specific to him. He liked to question things in a mocking manner, with a slip of a grin on his face.

“No, I wasn’t.” I’d been scared when I first met him, but I didn’t want to admit that. “It wasn’t until you headbutted me in the woods that I felt it.”

“What did you feel?” he asked with a low voice.

I kept my eyes on the road as I sifted through my emotions from that night. “Heat. To the point it was almost burning but cool, and the explosions were like fireworks in my chest.”

“In your heart,” he said. “The heart is said to be the place where all our power is held. As a pup, they would tell us,use the power from your heart, as a way of telling us to be good and kind.”

A lightbulb went off in my head. “Wait. Is that why the murder victims are missing their hearts?”

9

LILA

Weylin didn’t say much for the rest of the drive, resorting to random, off-topic comments. I pulled into the parking lot of an expensive-looking restaurant, and my breath caught at the sight of Rainor leaning against the handrail with his hands in his pockets. A matching computer bag to Weylin’s hung off one shoulder.

He, like Weylin, wore a sleek suit, tailored specifically for him. I parked the car and looked down at what I had worn today, one of the few pantsuits I owned. I didn’t have to wear a police uniform for my position.

With a sigh, I got out of the car. I was going to stick out like a sore thumb, but that didn’t matter to me as much right now as it usually would have. I had another piece of the puzzle for the case, whether Weylin confirmed it or not.

“Detective Evans.” Rainor straightened, tipping his head toward me.

I held out my hand automatically to greet him, but he kept his hands in his pocket.

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