Page 17

LIVIA

“How long until we get home?” I asked, trailing after Caelan.

We had been walking through the woods for an hour now, and I swear he had to be lost. None of this looked familiar.

“Probably twice as long as it took to get to the fucking wedding.”

“Do you even know where we are?”

He turned around, his brown eyes hard. “I’m not in the fucking mood right now, Livia.”

“Why are you so mad?” I said, crossing my arms.

“Because,” he said through clenched teeth.

I flared my nostrils and stopped, narrowing my eyes at him. “Oh yeah, that really answers my question. If you didn’t wanna deal with me, then you should’ve left me there. It’s not my fault you’re lost.”

“For the thousandth fucking time, I’m not lost.”

“Says every guy ever when they’re lost.”

After snarling at me, he turned back around and continued walking through the forest. I let him get a way ahead, then hurried after him because I didn’t want to be left alone. I probably would’ve been able to get back to the cabin myself, but I wasn’t gonna test it right now.

“I wasn’t going to leave you there alone. You’re my mate.”

“Well, it doesn’t feel like that. You don’t even wanna mark me.”

“I want to mark you, but I can’t.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re trying to protect me, or something like that, huh?” I hummed in annoyance because that’s what he always said and waved him off. “Doesn’t matter anyway, because you don’t want anyone to know that we’re mates.”

“Neither do you.”

I glared at the way his back muscles flexed underneath his shirt, nostrils flared.

I hate him. I fucking hate him.

“I wanna learn my magic,” I said.

“We don’t even know if it’s magic,” he said through his teeth.

“Do you not want me to be strong? I can’t shift into my wolf?—”

Before I could finish my sentence, he growled. “Of course, you can’t shift into your wolf. I’ve known that since I met you. You can’t protect yourself regularly against threats. Who the fuck knows what happened in that arena. You–”

“Is that what it is?” I asked, finally stating it out loud. “You don’t want to be mated to somebody who can’t shift?”

“No, that’s not what it is. I’m trying to protect you.”

“No, you’re not. If you wanted to protect me, then you would’ve left me with those witches so I’d learn magic.”

“I don’t know who the fuck they are. And the fact that they knew your mother, when they had never met you? I don’t trust them. I’m not gonna leave you with random people while you’re being targeted by the Whispering Pine. They want to fucking kill you. Do you not understand?”

I stopped, flared my nostrils, and snapped my mouth closed. He was right, but I didn’t want to admit it aloud. His ego was already too big, and at this point, I just wanted to get home so I could sleep in my own bed and not have to share again with him.

“Come on, Livia. We don’t have all fucking week to return home. Our pack is probably being attacked by the Whispering Pine and rogues, if we haven’t been wiped out completely already.”

“Well, I’m fucking sorry,” I growled. “Forgive me for enrolling in the games.”

“I’m not gonna fucking forgive you. You were supposed to be at the wedding.”

“Well, I wasn’t.”

Another low growl left his mouth. “Do you think–”

Suddenly, a low roar echoed through the dark forest, and a rogue lunged in our direction. His claws slashed through my thigh, and I cried out in pain, the blood oozing from my wound. Caelan was on him in a millisecond, already ripping out his throat.

Another rogue ran over, then another, then another, and then we were surrounded again, like we had been before we reached the witches’ cabin. My heart thumped in my chest, and I desperately tried to remember how I’d done magic earlier.

If I could save us, maybe I could prove to him that I could use it, that my powers were real, and that I could protect myself and the pack. But how… how had I done it? How did I summon the magic before?

I wasn’t sure. It seemed to… to happen naturally.

With my back pressed against Caelan’s to protect his rear, I counted the rogues around us. Five, six, maybe as many as eight or nine. And all of them were staring at me, their canines dripping with saliva.

They looked wilder than the others, in more of a daze.

“Stay close to me, little mate,” Caelan–or should I say his wolf –whispered over his shoulder. My heart leapt in my chest from the new nickname his wolf had given me, but this was not the time! Though the heat was building between my thighs once more, growing hotter.

The rogues leapt in all directions toward me . He slashed their throats over and over before they could even touch me again until he was covered with blood.

I tried to summon my magic, but it didn’t work. I didn’t know how. I wanted to. I wanted to help in some way that I could. But I had never been able to. Maybe he was right… maybe this all was a fluke. Maybe something else was happening, and I really didn’t have magic.

I wiped sweat off my forehead. Was it getting hot in this forest? Or was it just me?

Lycos, it is really hot.

Blood soaked through my shirt, and I pulled it off my body. So hot. So, so hot. Why was it so hot? It had to be my heat, back again, torturing me for not completing the mating bond back at the cabin.

When Caelan killed the final wolf, he looked over at me, his eyes glowing completely gold. “Don’t do this to me, little mate. You know I can’t control myself around you.”