Page 51 of Fate Promised

He’d never tell their tale to anyone but himself, but now he knew how to describe her. Although words weren’t enough to express her beauty.

They were only supposed to have one night, and dawn had come several hours ago, but it was like something inside him would die if he had to stop touching her. There was still so much more he wanted. To nestle beside her as they read the Quarter Obol Dreadful adventure stories. To see her face when he showed her his den for the first time.

He growled, and something twisted in his chest, cold and sharp. They’d never do those things together.

Sighing, he kissed her one last time. “Let’s go protect Ulterra.” He focused, and his vision wavered as his vulk form returned. While he could kiss Triska in his human form, only in his vulk form could he protect her the way he wanted.

She ran her hands up his chest. “You can change at will?”

“It seems so.”

“How did it feel to take your human form again?”

He tilted his head. As a kid, he’d struggled to accept his fate, but now, he knew who he truly was. He was one of the ten vulk walking Ulterra. His creed—his life—centered on keeping Ulterra safe. His life allowed no mate. No family other than his pack brothers.

He hugged Triska close. Maybe that part he hadn’t accepted the way he should, but he knew his true form. His real form. “My vulk form is who I am.”

His night with Triska was over. Now it was time to return to what he was supposed to do. Save Ulterra. He wouldn’t remain in his human form and explore how it felt. It represented his possible bond with Triska, and he couldn’t let it tempt him or lure him into dreaming of a different kind of life.

He stood and pulled the chain to stop the water. “Let’s go.”

21

Triska bound her still damp hair up onto the top of her head. She stood in the middle of Koschei’s kitchen, wearing her own clothes. A potbellied stove, scuffed and patched, hunched under a wide window, the shutters open to reveal the morning.

Juri growled and pointed at the stove. “This is what I always hoped to serve you for breakfast after we’d spent a night together. Gruel.” The lumpy, brownish mixture lay thick in a heavy-bottomed pot, steam still rising into the air.

She stepped over to Juri and picked up two bowls. “Koschei made us breakfast. That’s nice.”

“I’m not sure I call this breakfast.”

It had been strange seeing him as a man in the shower. Some things about him stayed the same in both forms—which she’d pointed out—but it wasn’t just his thick length, it was also his eyes.

When he’d taken her in the shower, the way he’d looked at her …

Triska shivered. Even though he’d been in human form, the feral intensity of his gaze shone through. He’d looked at her as if she was the entire world. As if she was his.

“What would you feed me instead?”

As Juri slopped porridge into their bowls, he glanced at her, and the same possessive heat blazed through. “It would depend on where we were. I’d love to take you to the vae territory for some of their food. They don’t eat meat, which is a major problem, but they have a honeyed bread and yogurt you’d love. And they make their own cheese. I remember how mad you were about cheese.”

She nodded. She loved her cheese.

Rolling her shoulders, she winced. Having shaken with pleasure all night, a few muscles were complaining, and there was a tenderness between her legs. She didn’t mind because every time she felt it, she was reminded of how she’d been claimed by a vulk. Properly, thoroughly, claimed.

She brushed against his side as they walked into the dining room, desperate to touch him again. As if she needed to keep reassuring herself he really was right there. Since last night, the bond in her chest felt … like an actual presence. And it throbbed with a raw ache, too. Not like a sore muscle but like the sting of heartache. As if something was missing.

Triska rubbed her chest, Juri’s ring rolling beneath her fingers. Hopefully, his bond didn’t ache like this. She’d thought there was no harm in one night together.

Her heart hadn’t listened.

Juri carried their porridge to the dining table and sat down. He pulled her into his lap and tucked her against him. With his giant vulk hands, he picked up a spoon and tried first one bowl, then the other.

“Hm. This one is better.” He pushed the one he’d deemed superior toward her. “It’s not as claggy as I thought it would be.” He spooned up another helping and brought it to her lips.

She took a bite. He’d wanted to wash her, wiping over her skin far more gently than she’d treat herself, and now he was feeding her. Back in Ryba, it was common to see courting males, or sometimes a courting female, feed their partner in the tavern or restaurant. Others nearby would smile and comment that a mating bond was close, especially with the wolfwalkers. Wolfwalker males were a bit aloof except for when they had a mate in their sights. Then they pursued with a single-mindedness beyond compare. Juri was a vulk, but he had wolfwalker blood, too. With that combination, his attention was heady. Intense. Consuming.

She really should sit in her own seat. Start the slow but inevitable distance between them. Stop feeding this need in her chest. But she snuggled closer and he hummed a short, pleased rumble. “Where’s Koschei?” she asked.

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