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CREVEN

Shifting with my mate, running through the land that surrounded our home… hunting, playing, even running the perimeter, all of that should’ve equated to a nice way to spend the afternoon. Instead, it turned into a full-on nightmare.

I wasn’t naive. I didn’t leave the recycling center thinking we’d fixed things with Daniel. I knew full well that he hated us— me, especially. For whatever reason me being marked as rogue was personal to him. It made no sense. It wasn’t as if he had been from my den or anything like that.

Not that it mattered why he hated me, just that he did. It didn’t matter if he hated us because our shoes were ugly or because we’d done some unthinkable crime, the result was the same. Daniel or maybe his beast, despised us. If only I’d realized how much.

When we ran into him at the recycling center and he pulled his crap, I assumed he got off on being a bully and that would be that. Daniel played the big bad wolf game instead of ignoring me the way others were supposed to. The law I was to be shunned, ignored, not antagonized and tormented.

I didn’t know anything about his pack other than what he spat at us during our first confrontation, but I didn’t need to. They were weak. His behavior off of pack lands shouted that loud and clear.

As horrible as that day, I’d believed that as long as I stayed away from him, our issue ended there. It wasn’t like I planned to ever encroach on his land. I was smarter than that. And in a way, it was exactly the kick in the ass I needed to pursue my current work.

Had I handled that day the best that I could?

Probably not. The entire situation had caught me off guard and I was in full on protective mode.

But as many times as I replayed it in my mind, I had no idea how my behavior turned me into enemy number one for the alpha, one worth hunting me down.

I was literally one fox living with one wolf as we minded our own damn business.

Hardly a security issue or a true threat.

It wasn’t enough. I’m not sure anything would’ve been.

He found us, came onto the land we’d been using, and then he forced my mate to do the unthinkable.

As much as I wished none of it had happened, not a single fiber in my being cared that he was with the goddess.

Good fucking riddance to that piece of shit.

My mate’s wolf made the only decision he could. And now that it was over, Daniel’s body lay there, lifeless. Nothing but a carcass. And my mate was shaking beneath me as I buried my face into his throat, wanting to give him comfort, but also needing to feel that he was alive.

There had been a second there when I was sure that Larkin was the one who was going to bleed. Daniel was no weak-ass wolf and my mate’s, while strong and fierce, was an omega, one not trained by a pack. The entire fight could easily have gone the other way and it was too much to bear.

Closing my eyes, I still saw those images of them facing off. I doubted I’d ever be able to forget them. It had been close, too fucking close.

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” I kissed my man’s shoulder and neck, his arms slowly coming around me, all of him trembling in my embrace. He didn’t say anything for a long time, the two of us just holding each other. And when I looked up, I saw the tears streaking down his eyes.

If he’d grown up in a den like mine, this kind of challenge would've been something he was familiar with. But he hadn’t. Everything about today’s fight was foreign to him. It was a miracle he survived. I couldn’t imagine what he was going through, not that it was over and his wolf had retreated.

“My love.” I kissed his one cheek and then the other, wanting my scent to be on him, to give him that small comfort. “You had no choice. We should’ve known he was coming— I should’ve known.”

He held onto me tighter.

“His wolf was broken, that’s the only explanation for him violating the law so boldly.

He was to ignore us, to shun us, to pretend we didn’t exist. When he chose to hunt us down, that was him throwing out all the rules and in a sick way giving us permission to do what you had to do. It was a form of a challenge.”

Later, I’d explain to him that within a pack there was always a challenge protocol. That even though this… this was nothing other than a challenge. And that meant death was inevitable.

I pressed my lips against his, just leaving them there, wishing for him to feel all my love and safety. My fox was freaking out at the way my mate was coming undone. I tried to pull back, unsure that I was going to be able to control my beast while still being the mate Larkin needed.

My mate’s arms held me there and that was all the encouragement my fox needed to lunge forward. Before I could regain control, our teeth sank into my mate’s shoulder, marking him as ours.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I jumped back as far as I could, trying to regain control of my fox and failing miserably. He forced a shift and circled my mate over and over and over again.

Mate . My fox needed everybody to know that. Not that anyone was here. Just the corpse of that piece of shit who came here to challenge us and tore our peaceful afternoon to shreds.

Larkin’s hand went to his shoulder, covering the wound I’d left, his jaw open, watching my fox as he circled him, my mate twisting and contorting to make sure that he never lost sight of my beast.

“Creven, come back to me. Please stop pacing. You’re making me scared.” His trembling turned to rock, his tears still coming. “I need you back. Please, please come back. Stop.”

His pleas were enough for my fox to give me control, allowing me to shift back.

“I’m so sorry.” Now it was me who was crying. “I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have done that. I?—”

“Don’t be sorry. Fate made you mine. It’s only right that I wear your mark. We’ll figure this out. I promise. But first…” He glanced over at the dead wolf. “We should take care of this.”

He wouldn’t shift back to human and avoided the danger of a person discovering his body, but that didn’t mean other shifters wouldn’t scent him as one of their kind. We needed to burn the carcass and not wait it out, hoping that enough animals would come and devour it.

It was good, though, because it gave us something to do. Something that wasn’t thinking about what had just happened, what it might mean for our future, and what the fuck we were going to do next.

We carried the wolf back to our cabin and set up the fire pit like a burial pyre.

With no ceremony, we placed the wolf on the sticks and set it ablaze.

It wasn’t as big as the one they used for my father.

And there were no kind words sending him off to the goddes…

no saying goodbye. There was no love lost here.

This was alleviating a problem, nothing more.

I felt bad, but if he’d had strong family ties, a strong pack—he wouldn’t have been here alone. At least, that was how I justified it to myself.

As the fire burned, I held my mate, watching it only to make sure no sparks would cause any threat. The two of us were shaken up but safe in each other’s arms. And for now, that was all we could ask for.

But tomorrow? Tomorrow we had some things to figure out.

Because one thing was for sure, that mark on my mate was nothing but a target on us both.