Page 51
Story: Wolf's Reluctant Mate
Her voice is sharp, laced with knowing. It cuts through the air and slices into the brittle shell I’ve wrapped around myself. She reaches to her side and grabs something. A pair of jeans.
“Shift. Get dressed. We need to talk—and I’m not asking.”
I let the wolf fade. It’s hard, not because the transformation resists, but because the weight of being human is unbearable.The emotions rush back in like a flood, washing over the raw skin of my soul. I pick up the jeans and slide them on.
“Predictable, huh?”
She finally turns with one brow raised, like she’s already won the argument we haven’t had yet.
“Indeed. You bury yourself in work, only venturing out when you need supplies. And when you do? It’s always here—alone. Where’s your fire, Raymond? Your instinct? Your heart? Why didn’t you bring Stacy?”
“Stacy’s got her own storm to weather,” I mutter. “Turns out her mother—Catherine—was one of us.”
Helena goes rigid. “What did you say?”
“Yeah,” I say with a sigh, eyes locked on the slow roll of the river. I step onto the slick stones at the edge. “It wasn’t cancer. Her heart broke, and it killed her.”
“Tell me everything,” Helena demands, her voice tight and low. I glance at her, but I don’t ask. I don’t have the energy.
“She met Stacy’s dad in Mercer. They had their fairytale until she caught him cheating. She couldn’t take it.”
“When did you learn this?”
“This morning.”
“Take my hand,” she orders, leaving no room for argument as she holds hers out.
I stare at her empty palm for a moment before placing mine in hers. Her palm radiates heat—almost too much. The moment her fingers tighten around mine, her staff strikes the earth.
Light erupts from the staff—brilliant, blinding. It devours everything until nothing remains but white noise and the echo of memory. Then?—
Voices.
I hear them before I can see. Echoes that thread through the brightness. Then it’s like a curtain parting as my vision returns. We’re in front of Sammy’s cabin. Helena pulls me after her, storming up the steps and entering without bothering to knock.
The first thing I see is a photo of Sammy and Erica on the far wall. The laughter in his eyes mocks me. Daring me to admit he’s gone. Erica sits on the couch, jerking her head up at our entrance.
Her cheeks are stained with tears and Monica is at her side, one comforting arm around her shoulders. Raul’s voice breaks through the haze. He’s already moving toward us from the kitchen.
“I was just about to find you,” Raul says. “Monica says Stacy’s mom was a shifter. That true?”
“You already know it,” I say with a tired shrug.
“Do you agree?” Raul asks, looking to Helena and she shrugs.
“It makes sense. The attack on Erica and Stacy was wolf shifters. It had to be a shifter that killed Sammy, too. No human or regular animal could have taken him. Or do that kind of damage,” Raul says, shaking his head.
“Butwhy?” I ask. “We’ve never hurt anyone from Mercer.”
“Maybe we’re paying for sins that aren’t ours,” Raul mutters, voice heavy with something deeper—regret, maybe. “I’ve beenreading Grandpa’s journals. Some shifters left the settlements to live with humans a generation back. They were branded as traitors. I’d hazard a guess that Catherine was one of them.”
I clench my fists. “Okay… let’s say you’re right. What now?”
“Then we go to war,” Raul growls. “They killed Sammy. They don’t walk away from that.”
“No,” Helena snaps, stepping between us. Her eyes burn brighter, deeper. “We don’t knowwhoorwhy. Not for certain. You can’t charge into Mercer like rabid animals. They’re two hundred miles away. By the time you get there, you’ll be too drained to fight. We need proof. Motive. A name.”
“So what? We just sit here and wait?” My voice rises—grief finally splitting open into fury.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51 (Reading here)
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76