Page 16 of Fate Unchained

The bonds weave tightly.

Two souls chosen by fate,

Have only a month’s time to choose their mate.”

Kyril’s arm dropped away. “Shit.”

7

The symbol shimmered once more, then broke in half, one piece shooting into Kyril’s chest in a blaze of warmth. The other half hit Lilah. Exactly as he knew it would.

She edged away from him, rubbing her chest. “I didn’t create the rune this time.”

“I know.” He rubbed his mouth and stalked a few paces away. Was this a joke? The rune was pairing him up with her, the one who showed up here to trap him? This night was getting better and better.

Her eyes widened. “I’ve never seen a rune speak.”

He shrugged. Who cared?

“This is a rune with a capital R. One with real gravitas, like the ones written about in the old texts.” Her face lit up for a moment as if she were excited, but then she frowned. “It performed a binding between us.” In a soft, musical tone, she quoted “‘a month’s time to choose your mate.’” She turned back to him. “Seriously? We’re supposed to take a month to decide whether we want to be … mates? You and me?”

He crossed his arms. “These runes have a sense of humor, I guess. The vulk don’t take mates. We walk alone.” He didn’t share that two of his pack brothers, first Hans and then Juri, had experienced a rune binding them to another, and both had chosen to take a mate forever. She didn’t need to know about that. But their experiences were why he knew about this rune. About a month and a half ago, he’d been near Juri when a similar rune showed up for his pack brother. He knew all about the poem and the month-long connection.

Not good.

“Why would a rune care about us?” Lilah frowned. “I’ve never read anything about this. I mean, I’ve read quite a bit about runes—not about their magic, but about them in general. No books mention a rune showing up on its own to tell two people to get together.” She turned to him, her gaze fierce. “Is this your fault?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “It’s probably your fault.” Her hands fisted. “I know runes. I’ll coax this one to go away again. You are not keeping me with you for an entire month.”

“Based on what I’ve seen of your magic so far, if you try anything, you’ll only make it worse.”

Her lips tightened, but otherwise, she ignored him. Soft muttering filled the cave. Lilah placed one glowing hand on her chest and closed her eyes, muttering strange words under her breath.

“If you blast across the cave again, I won’t catch you.”

Yes, he would. He wasn’t going to let her lie on the floor with a bloody head again, vulknapper or no.

She stood in place for a long time, swayed once and opened her eyes. She let out a loud sigh, her shoulders rising and falling. “I can’t connect with this rune. All runes are tricky and powerful, but this one is really remote.” A sheen of sweat shone on her forehead.

He raised a brow. “Being bonded to me has really bollocked up your plans, huh? You can’t try to kill the other half of your mate bond, or you’ll die too.”

Her mouth opened and closed a few times. “Why would I kill you? I only came to trap you.” She frowned. “The rune said we can choose. Well, I choose to not be together.”

Kyril growled. He’d planned on rejecting her right away, and she’d beaten him to it. And he didn’t let anyone tell him they didn’t want him around. Not anymore. “I wouldn’t choose some human who charged in here and trapped me with piss-poor magic.” He snarled. “I control who is in my life. And I live alone.” His claws lanced out and bit into his palms.

When Kyril had asked Juri how he’d known when or how to choose Triska, his pack brother had no answer at first, and for a bard, that was saying something. Eventually, all Juri could say was the moment had come for his choice, and he’d made it. He’d just … known.

Of course, Kyril was asking so he’d know how to toss the rune back into the sky, not because he wanted a mate for himself. He pictured the rune and pictured it disappearing.

Nothing happened.

Her hand still lay on her chest, and she patted it. “Are you sure this bond is mimicking a mating bond? If one of us dies, the other dies, too?”

Uit, why had he let that slip? She’d already read the page talking about vulk weaknesses, she didn’t need to know anything else. She especially didn’t need to know the rune had given him his soul back in order for them to bond.

He rubbed his chest. Was his soul really back? A soul was an inner spark, a life force the vulk lived without. The vulk were the only beings in Ulterra who could survive without their souls. It made them tough. Nearly invincible. But everything in Ulterra came with a price, and the price for having no soul was the loss of some of the vulk’s humanity. They could never take their human form again, and they also could never bond with a mate. He’d never mourned the lack of either.

If his soul was back now, he felt exactly the same, which proved he was right. He didn’t need it. “How do you know about mating bonds?”

“I read.” Her hand fell from her chest. “I’m the bibliosoph for the P. W. Nihova Library in Coromesto.”

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