Page 13

Leanna Avery

Maya Sorin is a researcher at heart.

The Human Wolf Kingdom strives to keep its presence secret from humans, but every now and then, a human comes along who discovers the existence of the beasts residing among them. Their first reaction is generally to panic and freak out. But that wasn’t Maya’s.

I never intended to tell her what I was. I thought it would be easy to keep my true identity as a wolf shifter secret from her. After all, it wasn’t like I was going to shift forms in front of her.

Throughout my pregnancy, I craved meat. Very rare meat. Maya was more than accommodating, grilling me rare steaks when I didn’t have the strength to. I would often see the curiosity in her eyes, but she never asked.

Erik had already told me to reach out to him when it was time for me to give birth. But the pregnancy was hard enough on me, and I didn’t really trust the king of the Human Wolf Kingdom all that much. A part of me was terrified that all his kindness up till then had simply been so that he could take my baby from me and give it to Cedric. During the last few months of my pregnancy, my wolf became even more paranoid, desperate to protect our child.

When the time came, Maya was in the apartment with me. One thing about wolf shifters, a fact I never knew before, is that we cannot give birth in our human forms. When my body began to undergo the change, I panicked and tried to tell my roommate to leave.

She didn’t.

Not only did she stay, she helped me deliver Finn. My wolf had begun to trust her at that point, and when I woke up in my human form, there was my friend Maya, holding in her arms a dark, little wolf club, swaddled in a blanket.

Her first question was not “What are you?” but “Are you alright?”

She looked after me without asking questions. Not until I fully recovered did the dam break. Finn shifted into his human form a week after he was born. Maya counted his ten fingers and ten toes and gave him a bottle of my breast milk, which I had already begun to pump. Then, she finally looked at me and asked, “So, what are you, a werewolf?”

Over seven years later, I still smile at the memory.

Later, I had to tell her very clearly not to run experiments on Finn. It’s not that I don’t trust Maya. It’s just that I know she’s very analytical, and sometimes she doesn’t understand where the line is. She wasn’t doing anything dangerous to my child, simply measuring how quickly he could shift, how fast he could run, how strong his bite was. None of her data-gathering was harmful to him, or even invasive, but it troubled me to see her studying my child like that. However, I know she loves Finn dearly.

Which is why I’m sitting in this café, discussing Erik’s proposal with her.

“I think it’s the practical decision to make,” Maya says, her gray eyes glinting seriously behind her round, rimless glasses. “Besides, this is all you’ve ever worried about: Finn being safe. Your ex won’t be able to touch him, right?”

Her referring to Cedric as my ex is such a human thing to do. It tells me that she doesn’t really understand the concept of fated mates. Neither does Erik, it seems. He doesn’t have a fated mate, which is why it was easy for him to make me the offer he did.

Whatever Cedric did to me, whatever he put me through, it doesn’t change the fact that our souls are bound. His actions shattered my wolf’s pride and confidence. They shattered my confidence in myself. Even now, there are times when I can’t sleep at night, wondering why I wasn’t enough.

Logically, I understand the why of it. If I think about it practically, he had to do what he did. But all the justification in the world won’t do away with the pain that still claws at my throat, bringing me back to the same point over and over again, the one my wolf reiterates.

Why weren’t we enough?

“I would prefer to have my identity concealed,” I tell Maya. “I don’t want to act as his mate. I don’t want to touch Erik physically. My wolf is a sentient being within me. Despite what we went through, the idea of touching another male is difficult for us.”

“So, you’re going to be alone for the rest of your life?” Maya looks displeased by the idea. “If your ex is so comfortable being with another woman, why can’t you be with another man?”

“I don’t know. I can’t make decisions for my physical body when my wolf is in denial. And honestly, Maya, I have no desire to be with anybody.” I sigh. “I have my son. I have everything I ever wanted.”

“Are you still in love with him?” she asks slowly.

Her question takes me aback. In love with Cedric?

“It’s been eight years,” I whisper, my eyes drifting to the top of the wooden table. I fiddle with my coffee cup, the sounds of the café fading away. “I don’t think I love him. I don’t know what this feeling is. Can you love someone who betrays you? You would be foolish if you did, wouldn’t you?”

Maya takes a bite of her cake, appearing to be thinking over my words. “Maybe. If a man did that to me, I would spit on his grave and dance on it. But that’s just me. Look, whatever decision you make, just think it through first. It wouldn’t be the worst decision to pretend to be Erik’s mate. You’d finally be free from everything.”

“But I won’t be able to do my job. I’ll have to leave my career behind. I’ll have to fully step into wolf society, which I don’t want to do.”

She taps her fork on the edge of my cup. “I get that. I wouldn’t be able to leave my job for anything. Just do what you think is best. You don’t have to over analyze everything. Which reminds me, I have to get going.” She shoves the remaining cake in her mouth and gets up. “I’ll see you this weekend. We have a team-building exercise at the institute. Something about how going skiing with each other is going to help us work in the lab together better. I swear, these people are nuts. Just do your job, get the money, and move on. I’ve never understood this team-building nonsense. It’s a waste of time when I could be working.”

My lips twitch as I watch my friend complain. I know she’s going to have the time of her life. She loves skiing. But she also loves her job.

I wait for Maya to leave before taking out the file that Erik sent to me. In it is everything about the two missing teenagers. Friends for years, nothing about them stands out. They’re absolutely ordinary.

I stare at the photograph in the manila folder. It’s of a circle in red paint, inside of which the kids’ wallets and phones were neatly piled.

I slam the file close. It’s just like with the other victims. Their belongings had also been left behind, on a small cross drawn in blood.

I frown, racking my brain.

Why leave those things in plain sight? Why not hide the evidence of the kidnapping? Unless they’re being arrogant. They want us to know.

Opening the folder again, I move the picture aside and focus my attention on the faces of the two victims. They can’t be older than fifteen. Young, confident, they walked through the woods to reach the other side, where the business district in their area is located. Young shifters like this would have shifted into their wolf forms rather than walked. If they were captured and rendered unconscious, they would have shifted back. The wolves here wear the special clothing that disappears when they shift. That is how their belongings must have been taken from them.

I can understand why Erik came to me with this case. So far, his intelligence unit has been investigating from a shifter’s point of view. I studied under humans. I know that motivations can differ. If we are dealing with humans here, I may be able to help. But there is no way humans would have been able to overpower Harold. And two young juveniles? Impossible.

Tranquilizers don’t work on us. Even our own kind hasn’t been able to create something that can knock us out, so how could humans?

At least, that’s the general consensus.

Wolf shifters don’t believe in the concept of autopsies. They find the whole ordeal disrespectful, which is why none was conducted for Harold. But a preliminary exam report showed clear signs of torture when he was found.

And then there was the clear look of madness in his eyes. He had been rabid in his last moments, and his attacks had been on his own body. As if he had been trying to get rid of something.

That was a year ago.

I know this is personal for Erik, but I also know that he is concerned about these recent kidnappings. There had been no reported abductions of this nature before Harold’s.

Erik tasked two members of his intelligence unit to investigate the matter of Harold’s kidnapping after Harold was found. Both investigators were found dead in their homes, their hearts torn out and placed in their hands.

I’ve been following this investigation off the record, making sure to remain discreet. I do not want to get involved officially. Even now, I don’t think it’s a good idea. But the manipulative bastard is dangling the carrot that is my son’s guaranteed safety in front of me. I know he knows I’ll bite.

There’s nothing in this world more important to me than Finn. No matter where I go or how much time passes, I would be a fool to think that my son will ever truly be safe. It is only a matter of time before somebody or other sees him and recognizes him. As Finn grows up, he resembles Cedric more and more. There is nothing I can do about it.

Yet, Cedric never even had the chance to touch me on a full moon night. Even if somebody has suspicions, they would have no reason to believe that Finn is his son. And if I go along with Erik’s plan, the chances of even that much will disappear.

I lean back in my chair, looking at the ceiling.

I already know what I will do. Erik is willing to keep Finn safe. After seeing that even children are at risk of being kidnapped now, how can I sit still when I have a child of my own?

I guess it’s time to stop dancing around the subject.

Unlike the Eastern Wolf Kingdom’s palace or the castle in the Northern Wolf Kingdom, Erik’s home is more like a sprawling mansion on the outskirts of the city. It is surrounded by forest, acres and acres of it. The Veil is at the edge of the forest, near the ocean that borders it. No human or shifter is allowed there.

The comforts of the human world are so different. Even the staff in Erik’s home behaves differently than what I was once accustomed to. Erik is in a meeting, and the butler takes me to the palace gardens so that Finn can run around.

“The king had a sudden visitor. He asked me to make sure you stay in the gardens. Please don’t wander around.”

His words surprise me. The other times I’ve visited here, I have never received such a stern warning.

“Right.” I don’t really mind. Besides, Finn likes the gardens. My son zips past me, bursting from his human form. I watch him scamper about, a small, dark wolf, and I can’t help but smile. He sprints back to me, nipping at my heels, and I know he wants me to transform, as well.

I shake my head. “I can’t. You go play, but stay where I can see you.”

He huffs in agreement, and I head over to the gazebo where I can keep an eye on him.

It’s winter, but the flowers are in full bloom. The Human Wolf Kingdom has contracts with witches who live among the humans, and they regulate the temperature of the palace and its grounds. I consider this a useless luxury, and when I once pointed it out, Erik just shrugged casually and told me that being king should have some perks. But I don’t believe he is as carefree as he likes his people to believe. I find him to be sharp, astute, and highly manipulative.

I’ve always been sensitive to people’s moods. I’ve had to be, to survive. From what I know, before his older brother’s disappearance, Erik was the commander of the kingdom’s army. However, when Griffin vanished, Erik stepped up to the throne, and he has done quite well. But he hasn’t stopped looking for his brother. Even now, after all these years, he still believes that Griffin is alive somewhere out there. When Erik mentions him, which is incredibly rare, there’s a deep sadness in his eyes, a desolate yearning and despair that make my own heart ache.

Erik’s offer is tempting, even the part where his protection will extend to me if I agree to be his mate. But if I mate him, I’ll become visible. Bella and Vivian will find out about me. I don’t think either of them will like this outcome, and they will go to any length to sabotage me. If they can taint Finn’s image using my unknown origins, I don’t think I’ll be able to bear it.

I watch the small wolf run through the rose bushes, and I struggle to draw a breath. I know I’m overthinking. Over the years, Erik has let me know that he is aware of my past. I never told him who I was, but it shouldn’t surprise me that he knew. And now—

Wait. Where is Finn?

I can no longer hear the delighted howls of my son. I get to my feet and look around. I can’t see him, either.

“Finn?” I call out.

When there is no response, I feel a hint of concern. Finn often plays in these gardens. He knows every nook and cranny of this place, so it’s not odd for him to wander off. My son has an adventurous streak. But he always comes when I call.

“Finn!” I yell, stepping down from the gazebo and making my way over to where I saw him last.

When he doesn’t reply, alarm bells begin to go off in my head. This time when I shout his name, there’s a hint of panic in it. “Finn Avery! You answer me right now!”

I hear a muffled whine, and my heart sinks. Something’s wrong.

Without a second thought, I discard my human form and race toward where I heard the sound come from.

I round one of the hedges and see a man with his back to me. One of his arms is raised, and he’s holding a struggling young wolf by the scruff of his neck. My son’s arms and legs are kicking the air, but he seems too terrified to make any noise. Roaring, I leap forward and snatch him from the man, landing a few feet away from him. The familiar scent doesn’t register on me just yet. My wolf’s maternal instincts are at an all-time high.

I spin around, ready to attack the man, when I finally lay eyes on him, on his face. I am facing the one person I never truly believed I would ever see again.

Cedric Raine.

The sight of my fated mate leaves my wolf stunned. The shock is temporary, though. It’s followed by an intense rage when Finn whimpers.

Cedric is frozen in place, and I shift back, clutching Finn to me.

“How dare you touch him?!” I snarl.

Cedric’s eyes widen, and I see the surprise in them. “How is this possible?”

He steps toward me, and I immediately move backward, baring my teeth at him. “That’s far enough.”

“Leanna,” he breathes. “I thought you were dead.”

Is that hope I hear in his voice? I always wondered how I would feel when I saw him, if I ever did. I always imagined the perfect scenario where I would lash out at him and make him regret what he did to me, that I would make him grovel. A fantasy meant only to soothe my deeply wounded heart. But when I look at him now, the only anger I feel is driven by the instinct to protect my child. Under that anger are thick, roiling fear and pain, a heavy sadness that permeates me to my bones.

“I’m sorry,” I finally say, trying to calm down and focusing on the fear. “I think you’ve mistaken me for somebody else.”

I look different. I know I do. And eight years is a long time to forget somebody he knew for only a short while.

Holding Finn tightly in my arms, I begin to walk away from him. My heart is pounding like a drum against my rib cage with each step. There is fear in every breath I take.

Let him accept that. Let him think he made a mistake.

I feel his hand on my arm, and I am whirled around. Cedric’s eyes bore into mine, and his grip is tight, almost to the point of painful. His voice is hoarse. “You can’t fool me. I know you, Leanna. You can change your hair all you like. You can’t change your face or your scent.”

I narrow my eyes at him and pull away from his hold. “Stay away from me.” When he moves to touch me again, I yell, suddenly overcome with emotion, “I said, don’t touch me!”

Finn whimpers in my arms, and I hold him even closer, protectively.

Cedric’s eyes flit to the dark wolf cub, and an emotion flickers behind his eyes. “That’s your child.” I take a few steps back, ready for an excuse that might actually work, and he says harshly, “Don’t deny it. I can smell him. He has your scent.”

Wolf shifters carry the scent of their mothers, just a trace of it, from the womb. To identify their father, shifters have something similar to the DNA tests that humans conduct. For our kind, drops of blood from the child and the potential father are placed in a bowl of water. If they are truly father and child, the blood drops combine; if not, they stay separate.

There is no way that Cedric will be able to recognize Finn as his own child right now because he can’t see the boy’s facial features. And I’m sure that as long as Finn is terrified, he won’t shift back, feeling safer in his wolf form.

I clutch my trembling pup to me. “Stay away from us!”

Cedric looks shocked to the core. “You—How are you alive? Who—Who is the father of that child?”

A part of me, a cold vicious part of me, feels a sick sense of satisfaction at how stunned he looks. He expected me to be dead. He wanted me to be dead. What a surprise, seeing me alive and thriving after all these years! I hope it hurts him. I hope he—

“Whose child is that?” he snaps, rage in his eyes now.

His anger is startling, and I take another step back. “What’s it to—”

“Watch your tone, Cedric!” Erik’s voice comes from behind me, and he sounds irked. “Leanna, take Finn and go inside!”

I’ve never heard him sound so pissed. I start to walk away, but Cedric blocks my path, his eyes flashing. “I don’t think so. I’m not letting you leave my sight again.”

“Watch it, King Raine,” Erik says coldly. “I won’t tolerate my son and his mother being threatened.”

“Your—Your son?” Cedric goes pale, and my wolf strains inside me, not liking this turn of events.

“Yes.” Erik comes to stand beside me, taking Finn from my arms and holding him. “My son and heir.”

“Your son,” Cedric breathes, looking dazed. He looks like someone has punched him in the stomach. “You and Leanna. Do you even know who she is?”

Erik stares at him silently, and I flinch inwardly.

Even now, he’s going to try to sabotage me? Erik knows what happened, or at least part of it. If Cedric really decides to—

“She’s my fated mate!” Cedric snarls.

I go still. That wasn’t what I expected.

“Your fated mate?” Erik sneers back at him. “But you’re mated to Princess Vivian from the Eastern Wolf Kingdom. Do you really expect me to believe that you are mated to another woman and have a fated mate? You do know that once you give a female your mating mark, your bond with your fated mate disappears. You have no claim to this woman.”

Cedric glowers at him. “Vivian does not bear my mating mark!”

Erik scoffs. “So what? You refused to mark your queen, and now Leanna should serve as your mistress? Is that what you’re trying to imply?”

Erik’s absurd conclusion has my head whipping around so I can gape at him. Cedric didn’t say anything remotely like that!

However, the king of the Human Wolf Kingdom has his eyes on the Northern king. He doesn’t even glance in my direction.

“That’s not what I meant,” Cedric snarls. “When did this happen? When did you and Leanna—” He can’t seem to form the words, apparently too enraged by the idea.

Erik smirks. “Around eight years ago. I found her on the palace grounds, badly injured. She and I are old acquaintances, you know.”

Cedric struggles to speak, and when he looks at me, I see a strange emotion in his eyes. A look of betrayal.

I tear my gaze away. It hurts to look at him. But how dare he act like I’ve done something horrible when he was the one who betrayed me?!

“You had a child together?” Cedric asks, his voice heavy and filled with something that has my wolf lurching inside my mind.

“Yes, we did.” Erik puts his arm around my waist.

“So, you’re his mate?” Cedric looks at me. Why does he looks so anguished, like I have done him a terrible wrong?

I finally summon the strength to speak. “Did you expect me to come back to you? So you could finish me off?”

He flinches. “No. No, I would never have—Leanna, I never ordered your execution.”

My chest tightens, and I want to cover my ears. I don’t want to hear about the past from him. I don’t want to be faced with those memories. The last time I saw Cedric and talked to him was in his office when I gave him the small snack I had made for him. I still remember how I felt, the tight, pained sensation in my chest at his words to Bella about how I was just a tool.

A tool that missed him every night waiting for him to come home.

A tool that was meant to be discarded when he finally got the real thing.

A tool that believed in him till the bitter end.

I was so foolish back then, so desperate to survive, that I had clung to the idea of him, to the hope that he might care for me.

My body feels cold as I’m sent spiraling into the past.

Even in my wolf form, I wasn’t strong enough to fight the monsters that circled me in the Misty Forest. So, I ran. Injured, bleeding, I crawled to the edge of the Veil, a shimmering tower of light. I could hear the monsters gaining on me, and I had no reason to live—except for the possibility of the existence of a baby inside me.

I just wanted a chance. One more chance at life, with my child.

“Erik”—I hold out my hands—“give Finn to me. I’m going to go wait inside.”

“No!” Cedric snaps. “I’m not done talking to you.”

“Enough!” Erik looks really angry now. “You’re crossing a line, King Raine. Go inside, Leanna. I’ll meet you there.”

“Leanna!” Cedric roars my name as I take Finn and begin walking away. Each step is heavy on the ground, and my heart is beating wildly. My mind is a tangled mess, but the weight of the quiet son in my arms is all I need to keep going.

Erik protected me.

He protected me from Cedric, and I feel beyond grateful. I don’t know what I expected if it ever ultimately came down to it, but he had my back. I want to collapse to the ground, the relief is so immense.

The butler is waiting at the entrance, and he ushers me indoors. “I’ll fetch a healer for Master Finn.”

A healer?

I look down at Finn and realize, to my dismay, that he’s unconscious.

Panic is my first reaction, but his breathing is deep, and he seems fine. An assessment that the royal healer echoes when he finds us in a bedroom a couple of minutes later.

“Just passed out from the excitement and shock.” He gives me a meaningful look.

“Thank you, Jerry,” I reply, smiling shyly at him.

Jerry is Erik’s personal healer. He’s the one Erik brought me to when he found me bleeding and half dead in the forest. Healer Jerry is also the one who confirmed my pregnancy at the time. He was supposed to help me give birth, and when he found out I had opted for a home birth without his assistance, he was beyond pissed, scolding me about safety and health hazards. My ears still burn when I’m reminded of the lecture I received from him. He sometimes reminds me of Harriet.

For a moment, a pang of grief clogs my throat at the thought of the older woman who cared for me in my short time at the castle. My parting words to her were true. I’d never had a mother or experienced what having one could be like. With the way Harriet treated me, I sometimes wondered if that was what it felt like.

“Give him something sweet to eat when he wakes up,” Jerry advises before running his eyes over my form with a critical gaze. “What about you? Have you been taking care of yourself? You look weak.”

“I’m fine,” I assure him. “I’ve been eating plenty of meat like you told me to.”

He gives me a dubious look but sighs. “Very well. You should come in more frequently for checkups. You’re very careless with your health.”

“I will, Jerry,” I lie, knowing he’s going to keep nagging me until he’s satisfied.

I wait till he’s gone to stroke Finn’s fur. He must have heard what Erik said about being his father. Is that what shocked him? Or was it how Cedric treated him? I won’t find out before he wakes up, and when he does, I have a feeling he is going to have a lot of questions that I won’t be able to answer.

In all of his seven years, Finn has only asked me once about his father. When I told him I didn’t remember, he accepted that as the truth and moved on. I hoped he would never raise the topic again until he was at an age where I could explain a better version of events to him. As I run my fingers through his fur, I wonder if lying to him will be the right decision.

What is Cedric even doing here? Why did Erik tell me to come if he knew Cedric was also going to be here? Is this another one of Erik’s tricks?

I really do not understand this enigmatic king.

I press a kiss to Finn’s nose and wait. My excitable son isn’t easily scared, so his passing out tells me exactly how terrified he must have been.

I’m trying not to think about Cedric. About how pained he looked to see me with Erik, how devastated, almost as if the idea physically hurt him.

Fury washes through me. The nerve! My fingers dig into the sheets of the bed Finn is lying in. How dare Cedric look at me like that?

The anger is followed by a wave of fear. He found me. He knows I’m alive. What if he decides to use some unscrupulous means to get rid of me? What if he tells Bella and Vivian that I’m alive and they—What if they decide to sow seeds of distrust in the elders of the Human Wolf Kingdom? What if the past repeats itself?

My vision is blurring.

All my hard work, everything I’ve done up till now, seems to have vanished in the wake of this turn of events. I stare blindly at the edge of the bed. As the years passed, I grew more and more confident. There was no way Cedric would find me. That false sense of security had me feeling comfortable.

What was I thinking?

I should have taken Finn and moved deep inside a far-off human city! I should have cut ties with Erik and eliminated interactions with wolf society. I was so desperate to make money and give Finn everything I hadn’t had that I overlooked the dangers attached to my lingering presence around my own kind.

And now, I feel like a fool.

I wouldn’t have run into Cedric if I had been smart and left when I had the chance.

I rest my head against my son’s small, unconscious body. “This is my fault. This is all my fault.”

“If you’re quite done blaming yourself,” comes Erik’s voice from the doorway, “maybe we should talk.”

I lift my head to look at him. He’s alone. I let out a sigh of relief. “Did he buy it?”

Erik walks over to me, glancing at Finn. “I can’t be sure. But he’s not happy.”

Tension crawls through me. “If this is going to start a conflict between the two kingdoms—”

“Don’t even think about running away,” he warns me.

“But—”

“Nothing is going to happen to the two of you.” Erik pulls up a chair on the opposite side of the bed. “Cedric wasn’t supposed to be here. He followed some Eastern rebels through the Veil, and he wanted my agreement to help track them down. If I had known he was coming, I wouldn’t have called you here.”

“That’s why the butler sent us to the palace gardens,” I realize.

Erik nods. “Cedric showed up in my office out of the blue. He must have caught your scent from the open window because he suddenly flew out of it like a madman.”

“What do I do?” I rest my face in my hands for a moment before looking at him again. “I’m telling you right now, Erik, I’m not going to let Cedric anywhere near my child or me. If I have to take Finn and disappear, I will!”

His eyes are resting on the boy. “Calm down, Leanna. You’re not going anywhere. I’ve already declared Finn as my heir to Cedric. But I may have miscalculated how determined he would be to get you back.”

“Get me back?” Erik’s words rattle me. “What do you mean, get me back? What is he trying to do?”

“Exactly what I said.” Erik meets my gaze evenly. “He’s not happy with this new development. I don’t believe it’s going to damage the collaboration between the two kingdoms, but he’s definitely going to be a pain in the ass. He basically said as much.”

I blink uncomprehendingly at him. “So, what’s next?”

“The only solution is the one I offered you the other day. I can only offer you protection if you agree to become my mate. Cedric can’t touch you in that case. But, Leanna, you only told me he was your mate. You never told me he was your fated mate.”

I don’t flinch from his sharp gaze. “You never asked. You never really asked anything, Erik. If you have questions, I can answer them. You just have to ask.”

Erik looks toward Finn again, and his voice becomes low. “Perhaps now is not the right time for questions. If you agree to be my mate, and the elders object, I can simply tell them that I had been expecting Griffin to be back by now, and that is why I have not gone ahead with the mating yet. Because I didn’t want to cement my heir’s position.”

I’m stunned. “Erik, are you really considering calling off the search for your brother?”

Erik falls silent for a moment. “I don’t know. But I do have to secure an heir for the kingdom. I may never stop looking for Griffin. If he comes back, the throne will be waiting for him, and Finn will be no worse off.”

What he’s saying make sense.

“So, we’re going to have a mating ceremony, then?” I ask slowly, accepting my destiny. There is no other way out of this, after all.

“Can I take that as agreement?” Erik shoots me a questioning look.

“If Cedric finds out that you and I are not together, even if he doesn’t go after Finn, he’s definitely going to go after me. I don’t trust him not to kill me. But if I am mated to you, he’s going to have to think twice about it. He cannot afford to start a war with the Human Wolf Kingdom, can he?”

Erik shakes his head. “No, I don’t think so. But if he hasn’t marked Vivian, you are still his fated mate. For that bond to break, I will have to give you the mating mark. Are you mentally prepared for that?”

I open my mouth to say yes, but nothing comes out.

I am, aren’t I?