Page 111 of Wolf's Reckoning
I whirled on him. “You don’t get to keep me here like I’m some feral?—”
“You’re in heat.” His voice was steel. “You’re drawing attention. We haven’t fucked. To males out there, you can still betaken. I’m protecting the pack—andyou.”
My laugh was sharp. Bitter. Even though I knew what he was saying made sense. I just didn’t care. I felt wild.Reckless. So I pushed him. I wanted to see howmightythis alpha was. “Protecting me? Or hiding me?”
“I don’thidewhat’s mine,” he growled, stepping closer, jaw tight. “But I’m not going to parade you around when you’re vulnerable either.”
“You don’t get to make these decisions!”
His gaze burned. “Yes, I do. I am your mate, and I am your husband. Your heat needs to pass. Be grateful we are already married and the pack knows you are already claimed, but you don’t smell like me yet, and until you do, there is the possibility that we’ll have another problem on our hands.” His gaze fixed on mine like he was made of stone.
My heart slammed against my ribs. Before I could find a reply—before I could tear into him—there was a knock at the door.
Wolfe opened it without looking.
The druid stepped inside, calm and composed, as though none of this heat-laced chaos touched them. Theirrobes swept the floor, their bare feet silent on the wood. They looked between us with unreadable eyes.
“I thought it best to speak now,” the druid said, eyes settling on me. “Before choices are made that can’t be unmade.”
“Then speak fast,” I muttered. “Because apparently, I’m under house arrest.”
Wolfe didn’t react, but the druid’s mouth twitched. “You are not a prisoner,” they said. “You’re a torch held too close to dry tinder.”
That wasn’t comforting. I folded my arms. “You want to talk about Wolfe?” I challenged them. “You want to talk about how you knew he was an alpha but you bound us in ceremony anyway?”
“I want to talk about the Goddess.”
I didn’t flinch—but it was close.
“The mate bond between Alpha Wolfe and yourself…” the druid continued, stepping farther into the room, “is an interesting development, do you not think?”
“Interesting development?” Wolfe mumbled. “Not the phrase I’m using.”
“Did you do this?” I asked the druid suspiciously.
They smiled with what looked like genuine mirth. It would have been unsettling if I wasn’t feeling so crazy in my own skin.
“Your heat rides your good sense, Rowen,” they murmured. “A mate bond cannot bemade. It is born as the shifters who complete it are born. I have thought on this—when Wolfe was with us before, your bond would have recognized you both, but you were too young. Wolfe was not yet into his alpha power, and you…” They watched me with agleam in their eyes that made me cautious about what was coming next. “You were already fighting for your place in this pack. A place you were so scared that was going to begivento you, not earned by you.” The latter was said with a hint of a sneer. “Wolfe left, and the mate bond was left to cool. Untouched. Unclaimed.”
“So?” I was not behaving my best, and I knew it, but it didn’t stop me.
“So,” they said, voice soft and maddeningly patient, “if you are truly mates, as it now appears, then this is not merely a union of strategy. It is a union of sacred design. The Goddess does not pair lightly.”
I scoffed. “Or maybe she’s just got a sick sense of humor.”
“She’s given you strength. A pack. A chance.” The druid’s eyes gleamed. “And a male who matches you, soul for soul.”
Wolfe didn’t say a word. But Ifelthim watching me. Breathing me in. The heat between us climbing, scorching, and I didn’t know whether to rage or run.
Or stay.
“What do you want from me?” I asked the druid.
He looked at Wolfe. Then back at me. “I want you to decide. Not out of fear. Not out of heat. But with clarity. Either claim him…or find a way to end this now. For your pack’s sake and for your own.”
I felt the weight of Wolfe’s silence behind me. Heavy. Steady. Waiting. But I wasn’t ready to speak. Not yet.
The druid dipped their chin once to Wolfe and left the room, their footsteps vanishing like smoke.
