Page 141 of Hawke

Journey curled into a ball, the sound of Grim’s purring vibrating against her chest.

Journey had enough trauma from her past to last ten lifetimes, and my own anger rose in my chest.

My lip curled into a snarl. It was painful, and I felt my wolf wake from a deep slumber.

“It’s okay,” Journey’s voice shook. “I’m alright.”

“Fucking shit, sorry.” Locke backed away, turning to walk out the door. “I need to leave. I... I don’t need to be here. Just tell me about it later. I’m sorry Journey, I–”

Journey stood, tripping over Grim’s large boot, but Grim held her to his chest and let Locke step out the door. “Let him go,” he growled. “He needs to cool off.”

Journey whimpered, shaking her head. “But he needs to hear.” She looked up at him.

“At the briefing. He’s got some things to sort out,” Bones said, moving a cushioned chair next to Journey. “Now, sweet thing, come sit and tell us why things didn’t work out for our couple so long ago.”

Grim rolled his eyes at Bones, pulling Journey into his lap in the nearby chair.

Journey again looked to Grim for guidance and waited for the room to go silent again.

Hawke pulled me close to his chest, his musky scent surrounding me. He made sure not to move my arm, carefully cradling it.

Bones draped some gauze wrapping over it, nodding to Hawke as if to let him know it was to settle my unease. Hawke still shuffled me away once it was laid upon my arm, like he was perturbed that someone else was trying to take care of me.

Silly wolf.

Hawke and I were in our own world while Journey explained to the others how our lives ended. I hadn’t returned the bite and completed the bond. It was incomplete. I was still human, and I didn’t understand how to complete the one-sided bond. And Hawke, well, he was too angry to speak or pray to the goddess to complete it. Why would he do such a thing and seek help from a deity who he thought betrayed him?

But all along, she was trying. The goddess was trying to fix all the broken souls, to give them another chance—but she failed. She couldn’t get through to Hawke, and it all ended in a bloody mess.

Hawke and I were the first human and wolf bonding. And the goddess was so saddened by the result, she didn’t try again until one day a human came to her.

Journey started a chain reaction that led us all together again.

As a child, she prayed to thatbig giant rockfor a better life, for someone to love her, and now here we all are.

All of us getting second chances.

Who would have thought?

Anaki nudged Bones, who muttered, “See three of them got their shot. I’m going to pray every night now. What about you?”

Bones rubbed the back of his neck. “Don’t see how it couldn’t hurt. That moon on her head”—Bones pointed between Journey’s eyes—“was enough for me.”

Anaki scampered up to Bear, who had his arms crossed and a stern expression on his face as he surveyed the room. His black tee was tight against his body, and his chest hair was visible through it, with a beaten human’s skull laying on his shirt.

It was kind of morbid the more I looked at it. I mean, shouldn’t it be a bear skull now that I knew he was a bear shifter?

“What about you?” Anaki pointed his long slender finger into Bear’s chest. “You gonna ask for help now?”

Bear scoffed, pushing Anaki away. “I’ll do it when I’m damned ready. Get your scaly hands off, dragon.”

I barked out in laughter, but instead of feeling numb like I had been, a shot of pain went down my arm.

Hawke yelped in pain as my claws dug back into his leg.

“We should probably take her outside.” Journey gazed out the window.

Despite the darkness of night, it was still illuminated by the moonlight that shone through the gaps between the large redwoods.

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