Page 32 of Hawke

“We don’t even know if she can survive a claiming bite!” I threw my hand out into the air.

“She will. Journey did. And Grim’s bite was deep. I could feel it. Journey is going to change into one of us.”

I sat up straight.

“Yeah, she is. And she will survive. I felt the Moon Goddess’s presence in Journey’s body. Grim’s wolf could not feel it, but I can.”

My wolf always had great intuition, except for the mate who rejected us. He could sense magical power, if a being had a spell cast upon them, or if a darkness was hiding within their body such as a demon or dark magic.

“Will she survive if she shifts?” I asked him, curiously.

“I cannot answer that.”He bowed his head. “Only she and her wolf can decide that.”

“Just like any other shifter.” I pinched my nose.

Sometimes a born shifter did not want their animal because if you were gifted with your animal, you must find your fated mate, and there was a fear of rejection. If you refused your animal when you had come of age to shift, you could fight them internally and reject them and live as a human. You could be free to mate and fall in love with anyone you wished and leave the realm of Elysian.

There had been many that tried, but only a few survived fighting off their animals. Shifters didn’t want to feel the bond break. It was the most painful feeling in all the realms. I would know, many of us knew. It did something to you—made you numb to falling in love with anyone.

But now I felt again, and it scared the hell out of me.

My wolf and I listened intently as we watched the hidden cameras. As always, Delilah acted as if nothing as wrong and pranced from table to table to pass out orders. She received a smile from all of them. Of course they would. She was the sun, even the male who had given her a hard time all week was finally smiling.

I wanted to slit his throat the other day when he yelled and berated her over the smallest things. Her heart would break every time, but yesterday, she made him laugh and now he expected to be served by her every day.

I despised him.

But my wolf was intrigued.

“He has magic,”my wolf said.“But I am not sure of his intent.”

We weren’t close enough for my wolf to feel his aura, and we weren’t about to step in today, because we had another mission. And that was to get my Delilah back.

“Mate,”my wolf said. “You mean, get our mate back?”

I cleared my throat, and the clattering of dishes and the hum of conversation slowly died away as the servers and cooks left for the day. There was only one left—my Delilah doing the rest of the dishes in the kitchen.

Swiftly, I shoved my phone into my back pocket and extracted a pin to unlock the back door. It was quick, barely took me three seconds, and I was in the back of the kitchen. Delilah was rustling with the dishwater, music playing on a radio in the distance.

She was on the low end of the hierarchy. They must be forcing her to stay late and do dishes.

My wolf growled lowly.

Cautiously, we crept closer, and we couldn’t help but take in the view of her backside as she leaned over the sink to get a plate from the bottom. My cock roared to life, my wolf prancing excitedly as we approached.

She was so goddamn beautiful, and not just her body, but her soul, too. And I’d pushed her away. Delilah was my complete opposite, and we were both meant to be together. How could I not see that? How could I have been so blind?

“Because you are an idiot.”My wolf huffed.

I stood right behind her. Her movements were slow as she felt the heat of my body. Her heart raced, blood rushing to various parts of her body. She knew I was behind her. I knew she could smell me. She’s often told me if she was blindfolded she could pick me out of a lineup of the guys because of the peppermint schnapps I drank and just the heat of my body.

I held my breath, and her body trembled as she put the plate down. A strand of her hair fell from her messy bun, and my finger longed to put it behind her delicate ear.

“You’re here,” she said breathlessly, still facing away from me.

Gods, her voice sounded so good.

“She doesn’t sound mad, maybe she forgave us already!”

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