Page 66 of Feral Fates
See? You are more here. A mate cannot harm.
Later, as darkness falls over the mountains and the pack settles into their night routines, Ryker pulls me close in our bed. His arms encircle me from behind, his chest a solid wall of heat against my back. The claiming bond hums between us, stronger and more defined with each passing day.
“Rest,” he murmurs against my hair. “Tomorrow will demand much from both of us.”
The gentle touch of desire whispers along my skin, but he’s right. I’m far too tired to give him my full attention. Instead, I nestle closer, drawing comfort from his presence.
In ten days, the new moon will rise. Thaddeus and his army will come. Blood will be spilled and fates decided.
But tonight, in the arms of the Shadowmist alpha, I’m safe.
Chapter
Nineteen
RYKER
Over the past seven days, a rhythm has formed—a brutal, relentless cadence to our lives that echoes the coming war. Mornings begin with Kitara submerged in the Vision Well, afternoons bring bruises and sweat in training with Zella, and evenings are spent in dim war rooms with my senior wolves, poring over maps and planning defenses.
The den pulses with tension. Everyone can feel the storm building.
But me? I watch Kitara.
Every morning, I escort her to the Well. Every morning, I steel myself against the instinct to demand she stop using her gift—to protect her from the toll it takes—but I know what it means to her. To the pack.
Today marks her seventh dive. She’s changed. Stronger. Calmer. Her control deepens with every session. I can feel it in the bond that hums like live wire between us.
“You’re sure you want to go again?” I ask, keeping my voice steady despite the worry that prowls beneath my skin whenever I look at her. Her skin gleams in the morning light,the claiming mark at her throat visible just above the surface. Gods, she’s breathtaking.
“Tell me what to look for.”
I sigh, pushing aside my unease to trust my mate to know her limits. “Focus on their approach vectors. I want to know where they’ll strike.”
She closes her eyes, and I feel it—her magic unfurling. The moment she reaches for me through the bond and anchors herself in my presence, it hits like a goddamn blow to the chest.
The power of it stirs my wolf, makes him pace restlessly within me. He wants to protect her, to shield her from the strain this puts on her mind and body—but we both know there’s no other way. What comes for us will require everything we have. Everything she is.
A flicker passes across her face, and I know she’s found what we seek. Thaddeus’s forces are gathering, and we need to know how they plan to approach our territory.
“They’ve adjusted again,” she reports, her voice sounding distant, as if it’s coming from somewhere beyond her physical form. “They’re planning a three-pronged attack. A primary force will come through the southern pass. A smaller unit circling from the north. And...” She squints, a small furrow appearing between her brows as she struggles to bring something into focus. “There’s another, but I can’t make it out.”
I move closer to the edge of the Well, instinctively wanting to ground her. “What can you see?”
She concentrates, and I feel the increased strain through our bond. It takes everything in me not to pull her back, to protect her from the pain I know is building behind her eyes. But I trust her strength, her determination.
“The old mining shaft,” she says after a moment. “The one we collapsed after the first attack.”
A growl of frustration rumbles through my chest before Ican stop it. “Why would they be looking there? The pass is destroyed.”
She tries to push deeper, and I feel her reaching for more—but then I sense something pushing back, a resistance that shouldn’t be there. Pain spikes through our bond, and I know she’s reaching her limit.
“There’s... I can see….” She strains, her body tensing in the water. “Someone helping them. A shadow I can’t quite...” She winces, and I feel the sharp pain behind her eyes as if it were my own. “I can’t see who.”
“Enough,” I say, my voice cutting through the vision’s grip. I won’t allow her to hurt herself, not even for information we desperately need. “Come back now.”
She withdraws her consciousness from the Well, and I can feel the effort it takes—like pulling herself from quicksand, one painstaking inch at a time.
I’m already there, hands around her waist, pulling her from the Well. Her body sags against mine. She’s trembling. But fuck me—she’s brilliant.
