Page 32 of Return to Garoureve

He was a wolf. He had shifted, after so many years. Henrik was a wolf.

And her shoulder felt on fire.

Violet froze, watching to see what he did, if he shifted back, if he stayed. A wolf. He was a wolf. Her soulmate was once again a wolf.

And her powers had just burned them both.

“Henrik?” she asked, uncertain if he was even man enough to somehow respond.

He didn’t. He turned and ran, ran out of the door of her space, out to the lobby. The door was locked, but that didn’t stop him from running straight at it. She didn’t know if she expected him to somehow shift back to open the door or what, but he rushed straight through it regardless, breaking glass with his supernatural strength. He didn’t look back as he ran, and kept going out into the night, leaving her clutching her dress to her chest, stunned.

What the hell happened? Had he meant to try and bond them permanently? Why had she gone with it, knowing it might cause harm? Had he shifted because of the bond, or because of the pain? And what had happened to her shoulder?

Heading back to her studio space, she stumbled to the mirror on the wall for clients to look at their new tattoo. There, on her shoulder, was a wound. Teeth marks, his teeth marks, but it wasn’t bloody. There was also the outline of his lips, where they had just touched. Not bloody at all. Instead, it looked like a branding iron had been taken to her skin.

There was no way in hell she could find a doctor to treat this, nor was there likely any witch medicine for it. Fuck. What the hell. How could she even explain this?

She needed to call someone about the front door, fast, but first, she needed to fix up her shoulder.

Was tattoo care cream the best choice for this? Actually, probably. It was soothing and lubricating and had antibiotics in it, and she had no idea what the hell kind of magic that was. If nothing else, it helped her relax enough to get out of the dress and into a t-shirt that covered the bandage there.

And if Berk looked at her funny when she kept tenderly touching the spot, later that night, while boarding up the front door, well... she had been lying to him for years. What was one more lie?

Shit. Her soulmate was once again a wolf.

And she had a sneaking suspicion he wasn’t coming back.

Chapter 12

“Violet,quickquestion.”

Violet’s eyes flicked up to glare at Berkley, with no interest in using actual words to respond to him. He had been an annoying little shit for the past week and however many odd days, not because of anything he said, but because of the way he was hovering over her... and how he wouldn’t stop looking at the bandage on her shoulder. The bandage she kept changing out but wouldn’t stop hurting.

If he expected a vocal response, he should move on. He wouldn’t be receiving one.

“So do you remember that thing I promised I wouldn’t ask you about, even though it’s been killing me, because you didn’t want to talk about it? Yeah, we have to talk about it.”

She continued her glaring, because no. They were not going to talk about it.

Did she appreciate that he had rushed over to help her board up the front door? Yes. Did she appreciate that he had handled the repair guy coming out to fix it? Yes. Did she appreciate him helping her with her bandage the next few days, when she was too sore to do it herself? Yes.

Didn’t mean she was going to explain any of it to him.

Because what the hell was she supposed to say? Oh,I sort of grinded on my wolf shifter soulmate after giving him a tattoo and we can’t touch bare skin because otherwise things catch fire, but then he tried to bite me, and, it ended up burning me and forcing him into wolf form, and I haven’t seen him ever since...

Yeah, that wasn’t going to work.

And now, it was over two weeks later, and Henrik was still missing... or at least, he hadn’t come back to her... or his truck, which was now sitting parked behind the building, the keys in her pocket. When Henrik had shifted, his pants had been left behind. She had moved it a few days later, and kept the keys with her, so he would be forced to talk to her eventually.

How strange, that he had been the one pursuing her for so long, but now, she was the one aching for him.

Honestly, she had been ready and willing to give him a week. A week until the moon was gone from the sky. That made sense. Over a decade of not being able to shift? Yeah, he would run until he was at his weakest point.

Only, that day had come and gone, and he still wasn’t back.

Over two weeks of waiting... How long was she supposed to wait without any answers?

“Look, will you at least tell me whether or not I’m supposed to call the cops if that guy shows up again, because he’s pacing out front and looks unhinged.”

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