Page 46 of The Awakened Wolf

I’m sorry I killed you. I didn’t mean it. I’ll do anything but this, please.

Help.

The last one bore the date of her mating ceremony, but whether it was written before or after I didn’t know.

A loud rap at the door startled me, and I threw half the notes into the air.

Fluff.

There was only one shifter who’d knock on my door like that. I gathered the notes and crammed them back into the slice in the mattress and ran to answer the door. My sister waltzed in like it was still her room, smelling of victory that came at no personal cost. She still wore the black shiftskin she’d been wearing under her dress, and her hair was pulled back into the functional low pony she’d been favoring of late. Something glittered between her fingers as she held out her hand.

My ring. Goddess, how had I not even noticed it was missing?

“You dropped this,” she said, releasing it into my sweaty hand. “Are you sure you used soap? You still reek.”

I stared at her, eyes wide, and ignored her question. “You brought it back?”

She only nodded.

I slipped the ring on my finger, relishing the relief of the cool metal against my skin. Kiana was right, I was borderline feverish. As much as I wanted to pretend that Sebastian’s reappearance had softened the tug of the fate bond, it was almost worse now that he was near, but I couldn’t go to him. Especially thinking he could be in danger. And Evan and Jayla too…

“I’m just anxious about the mission, okay?”

“Well, I have good news. Kenzo reported that they contacted your human friend, and she’s agreed to help them get in to steal the vaccines.” She paused. “Do you have any more human friends I need to know about? Just so I’m prepared.”

“Only Charlie,” I whispered, turning the ring on my finger. “But she’s dead.”

“Oh.” My twin’s brow pinched. “Why?”

“Why is she dead?” It wasn’t funny, but I had to chuckle at Kiana’s approach to sympathy. “Because she took a bullet for me.”

Kiana’s head snapped back, and I took the opportunity to turn away from her, padding back to the bedroom on feet heavier than soggy paws. I pressed my thumb against the sharp edges of my diamond.

“Kiana, I found your letters, and I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have, but I read them.” I dropped my head, waving toward the mattress. “Only a handful.”

I practically cringed, waiting for the explosion, for the screaming about violations of privacy and disrespecting my Alpha. A few seconds ticked by.

She cocked her head, ponytail swaying. “Ah, yes. I knew I forgot something in here.” There was a bittersweet undercurrent in her tone—sorrow for a pup long gone—and my heart squeezed.

“You didn’t kill her, Ki. Even if Damien hadn’t murdered her, and she’d died for some other reason, that wouldn’t have been your fault. And she wouldn’t have wanted it the other way around. You know that now, right?”

One shoulder rose and fell. “I know you and I never should have split.”

“Don’t say—”

“I’m not,” she interrupted, “wishing one of us out of existence. I’m saying that if we were one person, with our combined strengths, maybe we would be happy.”

I stopped and considered this, rather than responding by reflex. I couldn’t imagine life without Kiana, or without a twin. I’d always had this other half of me, even when she caused me pain. Imagining the two of us as one… I shook my head. The thought of having her view of the world inside me made me shudder.

“Can I ask you something?” I said, fidgeting with my ring.

She nodded.

“Why were you so mad at me if you didn’t want to mate with Sebastian anyway?”

She turned away and slid onto the couch, slumping. “I was embarrassed.”

“But it was a fate bond. It didn’t have anything to do with you.”

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