Page 8

Chapter 8

Ward

W ant burned hot inside me. I tamped it down when she looked my way because after the run-in with the Hōki, we were finally moving at a brisk pace. The only helpful part of the attack was it instilling a sense of urgency in Evie. And no matter how much my bear tried to convince me, I wasn’t far enough along in persuading her we were better together than we were alone—whether she wanted to call that mates or not. Every time I had to defend her as my bear, I braced for her to rear back in horror. I wasn’t ready to have her travel beside him. I needed to use our many hours of walking and many nights on the road to my best advantage.

They racked up quickly as we fell into a steady, ground-eating rhythm. Her renewed pace allowed us to cover ground faster than ever. I slowly won her trust. Two nights sleeping in the open and she automatically pressed the full length of her body against me last night. The bond arced a little stronger between us, and it made the day’s walk easier. Evie relaxed enough to be curious.

“Are there eagle shifters?” She stopped to look through the weeds on the side of the road and I didn’t have the heart to hurry her when she foraged.

“Yes, they’re assholes.” Sometimes I told people that’s how I got my scar just to mess with them.

“Are there lion shifters?” she asked, moving on when she found nothing.

I huffed. “Unfortunately, they tend to be vain about their hair in both forms.”

“Then there must be griffon shifters?” Evie picked up some fallen fruit from the tree we passed and stuffed it in her pockets.

“Yes.”

“Dragon shifters?”

I paused with a heavy heart. They were magnificent. “Not anymore.”

She took a deep breath at that. Silent for so long, I thought she finally ran out of questions. “I didn’t see any amphibians at the temple. Are there toad shifters?”

I laughed. “Of course not. Where would it live?”

She pondered that as we passed the stacked stone fence of a farm. Evie jogged forward to consult her book and pick some berries with more speed than I had witnessed for the entire trip. I might have stolen a few things out of her pack to make it lighter as we got ready for the road and it paid off when we got within a mile of the first town west of Vinguard—Acerni. I needed Evie to look a bit more kindly on being a shifter and a mate before we got to that feral werewolf town. So I was answering her endless round of questions until it was time to stop for the night. Through the shifter stronghold was the only way to get to the Elden Pass—those who lived there weren't the model of the calm, orderly shifter I tried to be. Not all shifters believed their human sides were a good thing.

I found a nice dry spot by a lovely winding river. The boughs of the draping, small-leaved Castiellimon tree provided a pretty windscreen and rustled like soft chimes. Evie started the fire in fewer tries than before, and she blushed again when I praised her. I gritted down the thought of what it would do to her when I praised her for coming all over my cock. I was just getting her to relax, and I wouldn’t destroy it with my overwhelming lust.

She pulled even more out of her pockets this time as she foraged all day and I was more than happy to cook anything she gave me. The deep satisfaction of having my mate lick the spoon clean of my cooking touched a part of me that slipped away with my bear.

She sighed in contentment. “I’m glad one of us is good at this.”

“There would be nothing for the pot without your help,” I reminded her.

“Thanks,” she mumbled.

Godds, hadn’t anyone ever praised her for anything? That I would have the honor of doing so for the rest of our lives made a grin break out over my face. Evie smiled back, but her eyes snagged on my long, jagged scar. Over the years, I worked hard to make it look non-threatening. I self-consciously touched the length of it.

“You can ask,” I said.

At least it was curiosity shining in her eyes and not disgust. Or worse, fear.

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” She scooped the night’s stew into her mouth to cover her own discomfort.

“I guess I could get rid of it with magic, but it reminds me of the value of temperance.” The words came out casually while my whole body tensed. I flexed my hands. I didn’t enjoy telling this tale. Only one other had ever heard it.

“Well, now I have to know. No one uses the word ‘temperance’ in a sentence without a fantastic story.” She smiled a wide grin, like we were sharing a secret.

I thought I could trust her. My bear knew that without a doubt the moment I set my teeth on her, but people and monsters were more than instinct and Fate. It was impossible not to want my mate to accept all of me before the werewolf village would test her resolve to see me as cute. I needed to know if she would bolt in fear in case my bear couldn’t resist Veretis’ call when we found the next relic. I fiddled with the strap on my dagger sheath.

“When I was just out of Trinity University, my classmates were determined to find the Eye of Souls—a blessed jewel our tutors told us had been missing for decades. I figured it resided in the keeping of the Queen of Souls. An excellent deduction, if I do say so myself.”

Evie smiled at my small joke.

“With enough of us, we were confident we could flatter, convince or barter with the witch to give it to us. Off we went on my very first adventure, only to find the Queen of Souls did not have the Eye. The King of Trinity had it all along and had been using it to make himself immortal for several generations by harvesting the student’s souls. He already had enough power to establish a city. The Eye ensured he kept it. Our adventure quickly turned into a quest—one the King’s guard did not take kindly to as we breached the castle.”

“Did you magic them into next week?” Her gaze lit up with excitement.

“I wasn’t a mage at that point,” I said in an even tone.

I don’t know what my face said that gave it away.

“But that’s why you became one?” she asked solemnly.

I only nodded. “A mathematics mage, to be exact. That was as far away from my bear’s feral instincts as I could get. I was wrong when I thought I was helping and shifted to confront the King and his guard. My bear only saw evil and destroyed. My classmates had never seen my bear. One of them gave me this.” I pointed at the scar. “They weren’t keen on stepping over the rolling heads, and shredded armor of those guards or the King’s dripping rib cage where he had kept the Eye. Immortality doesn’t do you much good if you’re not invulnerable as well. No one wants to spend eternity as a pile of mush.”

Evie’s eyes were as big as saucers and I braced myself for her to run screaming in the night. She frowned.

“What does a ribcage taste like?”

I blinked at her. “Is that a serious question?”

She hesitated. “Well, only if it’s good.”

“Immortals are not particularly tasty, no.”

“Nevermind then.” Evie slurped down her dinner and looked expectantly at me.

“Something else you wanted to say?” Did I want to hear it?

Evie looked me dead in the eye and, with complete seriousness, asked, “Is there more cake?”

I bellowed a laugh into the growing night, doubling over. “I didn’t know you would take murder so well, viper.”

“I’m working on going with this flow and those guys sounded like they deserved it. There were multiple times I wish I rained murder on my ex and he didn’t even steal my soul.”

I wasn’t so sure of that when pain clouded her eyes. I hugged her tight, longing to kiss her, share my relief, but our accord was too fragile, too right to break by blundering too far.

“Thanks for telling me,” she mumbled into my chest. “But I’m tired now.”

My bear could bellow and grumble all he wanted. We were both rewarded when Evie crawled straight into our bed roll, filling the blankets with her whiskey and orange scent. She leaned her negligible weight against me and sighed as I buried my face in the back of her neck. It was close enough to her being pinned beneath me I could fall asleep, wrapped up in her.

* * *

I woke with a start but managed not to move a muscle. Danger froze me in place.

“Evie?”

My mind registered the question in what sounded like my voice. Every sense ratcheted up to high alert.

“Evie.” My voice echoed again in the dark. It was eerie to hear my voice not coming out of my mouth.

“Ward?” Came Evie’s sleepy reply. I searched for the thin mate bond I knew was there. She couldn’t have gone far. There. A thread leading off into the tall grass beyond the river.

Racing toward the end of the bond, my blood froze in my veins. The muscular back half of her snake stuck out of a portal hovering above a Devil’s Bell. Cream petals, stumpy legs, black stamen—it looked enough like an Angel’s Bell that she must have gotten close to it. The only thing keeping my mate out of the red-rimmed portal—its mouth—was the giant knot she tied herself in, making her snake ass too big to fit into the portal. The flower still worked to suck my mate further inside. She squirmed backward and my roar shook the earth. The flower released a puff of spores, attempting to prepare me for eating next.

Ripping open a channel, I shouted the structure of a purifying spell to filter the spores. I wanted to tear the Devil’s Bell apart, but the void my mate was currently stuck in would collapse, killing her. Darting forward, I grabbed her tail and pulled her back enough for her to wrap it around my wrist, almost crushing my bones.

The flower did not take kindly to my stealing its meal, closing its petals to stab inch-long thorns into my forearms. The pain ripped up my arms, but I would never let her go. Inching her out, Evie wrapped more of herself around me, but she shook. I needed to get her out before she gave up. My bear pushed at me to change, but I had to repeat the structure of the spell and I couldn’t filter the spores without my magic. Even my bear could only inhale so much before succumbing. My muscles strained to drag her back, the thorns tearing skin as I won another inch. Evie labored so hard she drew me forward.

All of my effort concentrated on jerking us back as my muscles burned and sweat ran down my back. I was a large man and still the Devil’s Bell slowly pulled her deeper into its maw. My bear breathed heavily in my mind. There was no way he was going to let our mate die.

Release me.

I stumbled forward at the sound of his thunderous voice in my head and my bear took the opportunity to shift into my skin, ripping Evie out of the flower’s mouth with pure brute strength. The force was so great; the portal left a magic rash against her scales. She gasped, flopping on the ground, heaving as I tore through the flower with a savage intensity that did nothing to satisfy my bear. I scented the rest of the murder of Devil’s Bells and rampaged through them, rending petals from legs before they could think of releasing any more spores.

“Ward?”

Her wobbly voice was the most beautiful, alive thing I ever heard. I shifted and recited the structure of a spell to clothe myself as I raced back to her. She wouldn't appreciate that she was absolutely adorable, covered in slime, sitting human in a puddle of it.

“Are they gone?” she asked, wiping her face but only succeeding at putting more sludge on her forehead.

I kneeled next to her, trying to find some spot I could hold without getting disgusting. “My bear took care of them.” I hesitated to say ‘killed with extreme prejudice’. She still shook.

“I should be too big to be a snack. I hope by ‘take care of’ you mean ripped limb from limb.” Evie hiccuped.

There was no avoiding her slime. I scooped her into my arms and took her back to the fire, adding some logs to flare it into life. She snuggled into me, ooze squishing between us.

“Sorry.” She went to pull away.

“Shhhh. I’ve got you. It’s nothing. It’s gone. You’re safe. I will always come for you,” I murmured, clutching her in my need to have her safe and whole against me. Shaking came over her again instead of tears. I felt helpless against her distress, raking my fingers through her hair.

“It’s okay, Evie. It can’t hurt you anymore,” I said.

“I thought you said those flowers were peaceful vegetarians?”

“That was not an Angel's Bell. That was a Devil’s Bell. The blood-red tips of the petals were the clue. It was trying to feed you into its stomach by showing you your heart’s desire. What did it show you?”

A blush sizzled across her cheeks. Don’t say you. Don’t say you . “Uh… a rock collection. I’ve always wanted one.”

How could it be so charming that she still forgot I could hear her thoughts, even though she lied? I kissed her despite the slime, and pulled back, taking her by the shoulders to impart my seriousness. “Do not touch one, ever. Once inside, the Bell will only break off an atom at a time to feed. It’s incredibly painful and you go missing from time and space inside it. Not even magic can reach you.”

She shuddered, and I squeezed her tighter. “I got it. I didn’t need the visual. Is everything going to try and eat, maim, or kill me here?”

I wouldn’t lie to her. “Possibly. Everything in the Harrowlands usually tries to eat, maim, or kill right back.”

“Literally nothing in my village prepared me for this shit.” Her huff spattered wet goo onto me.

It wasn’t a small thing, this quest. I knew she should have stayed in the keep. I scraped her hair away from her face which screwed up with determination. “Then I'm going to bite back. Do I have venom?”

I huffed a laugh of surprise. “You could, but I don’t know if I want to find out.”

“I can’t even defend myself? I’m going to get you killed.” All of her fears came crashing against me in a giant wave of shame. It was so strong the emotion overwhelmed the basic bond. “I can’t run or fight or do stupid questing.”

“The shifters you saved would disagree,” I reminded her.

She scrubbed her face, pushing around the goo. “I’m so tired of crying all the time. Is there any part of this that won’t terrify me? Every time I think I have it under control, something crazy happens.”

I rubbed her back. “The Harrowlands isn’t always safe or kind. That’s why we stick together.”

“I should have known to leave that thing alone. I’m going to humiliate myself just like before. You’ll end up sleeping with Maggie, too.”

I stiffened all over. Her sister did what? Grabbing her face, I peered deep into her eyes. “That will absolutely never happen. This is the beginning of you and me. My bear knows it and I agree. I will win your heart even if it takes a Goddess and a bakery full of cakes to do so. In return, I will give you mine without hesitation or reservation.”

She blinked up at me. “And I should just trust you? You’re just going to hand me your heart? You might be cute and cuddly but you’re a big unknown with a stupid fated mates trick.”

“There’s no trick, Evie. Trust me, I wish there was because I’m already burning for you in ways I never thought possible. It isn’t comfortable to have my bear so in control but I will show you, one Devil’s Bell at a time if I have to, that I deserve your trust and I will keep yours in return. I just want you to try.”

My bear had been a hidden part of me for so long, what I said was true. He overwhelmed me with his confidence as he assured me the work of convincing her we had bonded would be worth it. Being mates wasn’t necessarily a choice, but love definitely was.

“Do you have to try with a mate? Aren't I supposed to fall in love with you, no matter what?”

“I get the feeling fated mates just tell their love story that way because they don’t want to reveal how they really got together. I expect I will have to protect, spoil and fuck my way into your life until neither of us would have it any other way.”

Even covered in Devil’s Bell saliva, I hugged her closer.

“Do you really mean that?” she asked.

“With every fiber of my being,” I said.

“I have a request, then.” Her serious expression stilled my heart with tense anticipation.

“Anything.” I didn’t have the power to portal us to Vinguard, but my coffers were open to her and my strength and magic were at her service. I would pull the moon from the sky if I needed to.

“I need a bath.” She grimaced. “What am I covered in?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Can I get it off now?” Evie said.

I stood with her in my arms. “Of course. The river should be warm by the bank.”

She squirmed. “I can’t take it if something else lives in the water and tries to slurp me like a noodle.”

My bear stumbled against my mind in his haste to want to fix it. He flooded me with power until it lay against my tongue. I opened a channel and whispered the structure of an enormous bathtub in front of the fire. I set her down to spill a few drops of blood into the tub and convert it into steaming water mixed with clearwood. The scent enhanced her natural orange flavor.

“Did you just…” Her mouth snapped closed. “Nevermind.”

I came back and tugged on her sticky clothes. She hesitated to lift her arms so I could pry off her blouse.

“Your charms are potent, mate, but shaking and slime aren’t the most arousing of combinations. Your virtue is safe for tonight.”

“Just tonight?” she asked.

“I did tell you I was going to win your heart.” I winked and her shoulders eased enough to let me help her take off her blouse.

She took off the rest and didn’t rush to the tub like I thought she would. It was only a small white lie that she wasn’t arousing, even covered in goop. Her ample, heart-shaped ass was perfect for the spread of my hands, but my bear didn’t push with her safe and warm in the tub.

She looked back at me, waiting. “It’s going to get cold.”

Her statement snapped me back from unsafe thoughts. “It’s perfectly warm, viper.” I knew the spell like the back of my hand. Ruby had asked for warm baths often enough I had to teach Dane some version a druid could accomplish.

“Then get in already,” she said.

“It’s for you, mate.” I waved her forward.

“I thought you were convincing me we’re some power couple? You’re just as gooey as I am.”

I wasn’t so noble that I was going to pass up the opportunity to have her naked against me at her invitation. I stripped, then scooped up the jar of soap and a comb from my pack. I didn’t miss the hitch in her breath as she watched me. I tried not to get too excited that she was actually giving us a chance, like I asked. If she stepped forward, so would I. I settled at the opposite end of the tub, so we faced one another, and handed her the soap, willing her to trust me even in this.

I breathed deep at the sight of her soaping her long, rounded limbs, glad she couldn’t hear my heart race. Thankfully, the water grew milky with the soap as I did the same and scrubbed away the flower’s saliva. The sound in the back of her throat had me stretching a little further to show her a bit more.

“Come here, little viper,” I rumbled.

She blinked into her snake form, draping out of the tub in long, looping coils. If she thought that would put me off, she was dead wrong. I patiently gathered every inch of her into my lap, reveling in the glossy leather of her scales against me. As I poured her back into the water, she eased into human form. Taking the comb, I slicked her hair with more soap and combed the suds through the long, earth-colored strands. Her shoulders relaxing thumped my heart. I could do this—one act of love at a time. I just had to have enough faith for both of us.

Her delicate fingers traced my calf. “No one should be this big and this ripped.”

I chuckled. My arms, chest, and legs were fairly defined, but I didn’t have a six-pack. I was built for brute strength, not muscles for show. “My mother would also agree. Luckily I came out cub first.” I wouldn’t get lost in the feel of her hair in my hands. Or bend her back to me and feast on her mouth. I was in control, not my bear who was ready to rut with her.

“Did she feed you whole cows?”

“Of course,” I smiled, laughing at her shocked expression.

“Alive?” Evie asked, with only a slight hesitation.

“When she was home, cows were for the dinner table, deer were for our bears.”

She took a moment before she spoke again. “Your bear was the one who saved me. I would have expected you would have him out and about more.”

I tried not to let chagrin color my voice. “You want to see him? He scares most people. Even more than I do.”

“That teddy bear? He protected me twice and you can just lock him up like that?”

I didn’t think of it that way. I was keeping everyone safe from him, including my mate. “He’s still there, always.” Too much since he kidnapped her. I let my bear bleed into my eyes, the glow reflecting on her skin. She touched my cheekbone and my bear lunged, pinning her to the side of the tub, demanding her mouth. I wrestled with him, ready for her to shift in fright. Instead, she arched up into us, moaning into my mouth, swiping her tongue against mine. The taste of her undid me, urging me to mate, mate, mate. Her hand clutched my hair and my heart stuttered. It took every fiber of my being to rip away. Terrified I hurt her. Evie smiled up at me, completely relaxed—chest and cheeks rosy, but unharmed.

She huffed a laugh. “He’s welcome to have a bath with us any time.”

I wanted to laugh with her, but found myself rinsing us off. The intensity of my reaction just proved his animal instincts were not to be trusted. Evie was going to see quite enough of that at our next stop. She giggled as I tossed her around, dressing her and pitched her back into our bed roll, pretending to sleep as quickly as possible. I had to keep control of him to win her over. What if my bear ruined everything?