Noah awoke to the feeling of a soft bed beneath him for the first time in over a month. Pain radiated from his chest, each breath bringing a fresh wave of agony. If he remained completely motionless, the sharp knives stabbing him in his ribs, dulled to blunt sticks. With a moan, he snuggled deeper into the soft, feathered mattress, enjoying the forgotten pleasure that comfort could bring.
He attempted to return to sleep, but he was burning up, sweat causing the blankets to stick to his skin. Panic filled him as the feeling of being cooked alive activated his body’s survival instincts. Desperate to avoid being smothered, he kicked the woolen blankets off the bed, allowing the cool autumn air to reach his skin.
With his eyes still closed, his foot connected with something much heavier than a blanket, sending jolting shockwaves of pain through his chest. A startled yelp shocked him back to reality, bringing with it the memories of his escape and his battle with the vampire.
Bolting upright, he opened his eyes to see his outstretched foot dangerously close to a wolf’s snout. The wolf was curled up beside his legs, gifting him whatever comfort her warmth and touch could bring. Silver eyes blazing, the wolf stared deeply into his soul, portraying emotions that he couldn’t decipher.
“My mate! Please watch where you swing your snout. Your clumsiness could have injured my foot… but don’t fret, I will forgive you.” He puffed his chest out proudly at his display of mercy.
All the emotions in her gaze vanished, and she growled deep in her throat before shifting back into her human form. Arms crossed and lips pressed into a firm line, his mate stared down at him, not saying a word.
Noah fidgeted at the attention. Lies came to his lips like moths to a flame, and humor, his stalwart defender, stood ready to protect him from honest emotions and true vulnerability. As he gazed into her eyes, something shifted within him, and he abandoned his two companions that had ensured his survival for over a decade.
“I’m sorry, Sylvie. I didn’t mean to put the pups in danger,” he said, wiping the smirk from his lips and removing the mask from his face.
Silence greeted his apology. Disappointment radiated from her eyes, and the guilt gnawing at his heart threatened to overwhelm him. He never thought a look could hurt him so much, but his mate’s dismay rivaled a cane through the chest.
“Sylvie, I promise you I won’t try to escape ever again. I made the biggest mistake of my life when I left.”
“You think I’m mad because you tried to escape? Hell, I’ve expected that for weeks, Noah. Honestly, I was proud when I returned from the pack meeting to see that my mate had bested an entire wolf pack using only his cunning and guile,” she said with a smile before erasing any humor from her face.
The popping of knuckles disturbed the silence of the cabin as she clenched her fists and turned her back on him. Anguished sobs escaped her mouth and her shoulders trembled as emotion overcame her. His heart clenched as he gazed upon his mate’s shoulders, struggling to hold the weight that he had burdened her with.
A growl sounded out, and she snapped and snarled at the air, causing him to flinch. No tears stained her cheeks when she whipped her head around, her silver eyes burning like lava. Okay, maybe she had been trembling from anger, not sorrow.
“Tell me, my mate. When you made your mad dash to freedom, did you perhaps forget your common sense in the cabin? Please enlighten me, because no matter which ancient scrolls I read or what wise elders I speak to, I cannot understand. How did you arrive at the decision to fight a master vampire?” Sylvie asked, her soft voice many times scarier than her yells.
He took a deep breath, calling upon his courage and preparing an ingenious argument. With a growl, she cut off his defense in an instant.
“Tell me, how did my clever mate transform into such a bumbling ignorant moron? A warrior wolf wouldn’t fight a vampire alone, let alone a weak human like yourself!” Her voice rose with each word, creating a high-pitched ringing sound in his ears that at least drowned out the brunt of her fury.
Yep, she was not happy. Not one bit. How could he be so foolish? Of course, her calm voice wasn’t scarier than her howls of anger. Compared to the paralyzing terror he felt now, poised Sylvie was beyond soothing.
“You can’t have expected me to let that vampire slaughter the pups while I hid in the woods? The only reason they were out there was to find me,” he said, scoffing in disbelief. “Don’t tell me my mate thinks so little of me. I am not a coward, Sylvie, no matter how weak I may be.”
“We were right behind the pups, Noah. You see them as human children, helpless and defenseless, but they would have lasted until we arrived,” she roared at him, the look in her eyes transforming from anger to fear.
“You’ve been unconscious for days, Noah. Even after you ingested as much vampire blood as you could, it was only able to stabilize you. If my pack mate did not collect fae medicine as a hobby, you would still be in a coma.”
“Sylvie, I know I took significant damage, but in the end, I prevailed! The pups returned home safe and sound, and I surv—”
“You pierced your own lung! I nearly lost my mate!” she yelled in hysterics, slamming a fist down onto the table. A thunderous crack shook the cabin as the table exploded beneath her strength, launching shards of wood through the air.
Wincing as blinding pain shot through his chest, he gingerly got out of bed and shuffled his way toward her. With her back to him, she stared into the ash-filled hearth, her muscles flexed and filled with tension. He wrapped his left arm around her in a gentle hug while his right hand fell to her waist. Her raven hair tickled his nose and he breathed in her intoxicating scent. Releasing the tension in her muscles, she leaned into him with a contented sigh, taking comfort in his arms.
“I’m sorry, Sylvie. I should not have put you through something like that.”
Sylvie cradled the forearm that wrapped around her chest and caressed the hand on her hip, running her fingers along his knuckles in loving strokes.
“I can’t lose you, Noah. You are too important to me,” she whispered.
Noah chuckled as he held her even tighter against his body. “You won’t, Sylvie. Believe me, I am either blessed by a god or cursed by a demon. Nothing seems to be able to kill me.”
She whipped around with such speed that it left him hugging the air. “Use to taking such foolish risks, are you?”
“Well yeah, this isn’t even in my top five closest brushes with death. This one time I …” he trailed off as he caught the look on her face, wisely keeping the past where it belonged.
Clearing his throat with a few well-timed coughs, his eyes fell to the floor. “Of course, that was the only dangerous thing I’ve ever done. Too much excitement for this lad, to be sure. Better to stay in the safety of the cabin and leave the fighting to my powerful mate.”
He nodded to himself as if he had reached enlightenment. He dared a glance, peeking at her to see if she was buying it. She wasn’t.
“Noah,” she said through gritted teeth, her foot thudding against the wooden floor in exasperated taps.
“I promise Sylvie, I won’t take risks like that again,” he said, giving the situation the seriousness it deserved. He reached for his cowboy hat, preparing to tip it to seal the accord, but felt only his hair beneath his fingers. His eyes clouded and his mind wandered miles away as he ran his fingers through his black locks.
“I felt it, Sylvie. For the first time in years, I actually felt it,” he whispered.
Sylvie cocked her head in confusion. “Felt what?”
His gaze cleared, snapping to meet her eyes with smoldering intensity. “Fear! I was afraid, Sylvie. I was afraid to fail. I was afraid the pups would get hurt or worse. I was afraid I’d never see you again.” His head dropped as he choked on his emotions. “Sylvie… I finally found things I fear losing.”
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Sylvie placed her hand below his chin and gently lifted his head, forcing him to meet her eyes. “Of course, you’re afraid, Noah. Everyone is afraid of losing their home and family.”
His breath caught in his throat at her simple explanation, and tears formed in his eyes. A home? Family? Are those the things that he had been searching for in vain his entire life? If that was what Sylvie and her pack had gifted him, then he would do anything to hold onto it.
She searched his eyes, nodding at whatever look she saw on his face. “Good. Now return to bed, and I will bring you some food. You are still too injured to be moving about like this.”
She left without another word, slamming a new door that she must have installed while he was in a coma. Alone in the cabin, his throat tightened as he gazed upon the shards of wood that had once formed the greatest table of its generation. He gathered all the splinters of its broken body and threw them into the hearth. After igniting its remains, roaring flames engulfed all that was left of the young sapling who dared to be great. He stood at attention, performing the kitchen salute he had learned from the workers.
He did not insult its memory by shying away from its final moments. The burning wood hissed in defiance, not yet ready for its story to end; none ever were. Another hero had been captured by death, reduced to ashes just like so many before it. He gazed at the glowing embers of the fallen champion in deep contemplation. Like 125, he wanted to meet death with a smile upon his face, satisfied with the tale his life had woven. He feared that until his final moment came, he could never know what end would grant his wish.
***
One week. For one entire week, Sylvie confined him to the cabin, no matter how much he pleaded his case. During his recovery, he saw no one aside from Sylvie, which left him hoping that Sylvie had commanded the pack mates to stay away from the cabin. Otherwise, he’d be forced to accept a lonely existence.
Every night he called out into the darkness, begging the shadows for forgiveness, but the siblings never appeared to jump through his window. As soon as his injuries healed enough to climb a ladder, he was barging into their home, whether they welcomed him or not.
In his spare time, which was almost every minute of every day, he practiced balancing his cane on its handle over and over again. So great was his talent that he had been forced to move from the level surface of the floor to the uneven hay mattress of the bed. He balanced the cane for hours until he became depressed that his greatest talent lay with such a useless skill. He’d trade it for super speed in a heartbeat, no questions asked.
Unbeknownst to Noah, he had become a stay-at-home mate, eagerly awaiting Sylvie’s return and basking in the excitement of her day. From the stories Sylvie shared with him, the wolves were beginning to respond to her new style of leadership. She was the Alpha and her decision remained final, but she kept more counsel these days. Gone were the days when she doled out physical punishments for questioning her commands. How often she took the wolves’ advice, he didn’t know, but at least she let them give it.
Leaving him bored in the cabin for long stretches of time, she joined the scouting patrols, adding the Alpha’s strength to the exhausted unit. With the scout’s spirits bolstered by the presence of their Alpha, they renewed their desperate search for the Unseelie. To the bafflement of all, they found no signs of their existence.
Perhaps a more imminent threat was the Vampires, but no coven had called upon the wolves for an explanation yet. Enemies were closing in on all sides of the pack, and the stress took its toll on Sylvie, keeping her awake late into the night.
After a full week of recovery, blinding pain no longer shot across his ribs with every jostle or breath. This marked the end of his confinement, and if Sylvie disagreed, he would challenge her to a duel. A foreboding sense of unease ran through him at the thought, causing him to shiver. No! He needed to believe in himself. He could take her.
He wrung his hands in excitement, not nervousness, as he glanced toward his mate, suddenly terrified that she could read minds. Sylvie was biting her lip, seemingly deep in thought while she sat at their new table. This young upstart had to fill the shoes of a titan, and Noah didn’t think it was up to the task. No one wanted to follow on the heels of a legend.
“Sylvie, your brow is so wrinkled that I almost mistook you for Calla. What troubles you, my mate?” he asked, smiling at his own humor before darting a glance toward the lodge. Wait, how sensitive was a wolf’s hearing? Ice ran down his spine, and sweat beaded on his brow at the thought of Calla hearing his joke. He had promised Sylvie not to take such risks anymore.
She turned to look at him, her silver eyes glowing so brightly that they reminded him of twinkling stars in the night sky.
“I am debating on how much protection you actually need, Noah. Guards don’t seem to be enough for my mischievous mate,” she said, the twinkling in her eyes now seeming sinister instead of beautiful.
“Now hold on, Sylvie. If I don’t drug them, the guards do a magnificent job of protecting me. Let’s not do something rash that we can’t take back,” he said, scooting back toward the head of the bed as she slowly stalked toward him.
“I thought a temporary one would be enough for our purposes, but it seems like I will have to enact a more permanent solution.”
She had a wicked gleam in her eye, ignoring his pleas and never once pausing her pursuit. He scrambled as far back onto the bed as he could and propped a pillow in between them, shielding himself from his mate’s lecherous machinations.
“Sylvie, don’t come any closer! I don’t need additional protection.”
Her eyes, burning with hunger, feasted on his bare chest. Battling her instincts, she tore her gaze away from him and turned toward the wardrobe where his usual ruffled shirt and trench coat awaited their return to glory.
“Hmm. That coat you like so much will narrow our options quite a bit.”
She resumed her seductive stalk, crawling on the soft mattress inch by inch. When she reached his impenetrable shield, she used only the weight of her arm to push down on the pillow, his traitorous arms surrendering without a fight. A sultry smirk spread across her face as she felt his defiance crumble, her victory all but assured.
Her long raven hair fell in front of her face like a veil as she leaned toward his neck. She sniffed his skin and nuzzled his neck, causing him to shiver in pleasure. Bewitched by a salacious spell, he raised no resistance to her alluring attentions.
Her teeth scraped gently across his clavicle, and this time, she didn’t puncture the skin. In a swift motion that had him gasping in shock, she grabbed his chin, forcing his face to within inches of hers. Not breaking eye contact, she lowered her head until their lips gently met.
At the first tingling touch of their lips, the alpha instincts could no longer be denied. A growl reverberated in their mouths as she forcefully claimed possession of his lips. She was not gentle as her tongue penetrated his mouth, entwining with his in a battle he was destined to lose. The erotic attack stole his senses, leaving him dazed and vulnerable. With her knees, she pinned his hands to his sides, leaving him at her mercy. His obsession with control and freedom abandoned him, allowing the trust he had in his mate to shine through.
She finally broke the kiss, pulling back to stare at him with blazing silver eyes. “Hmm. What’s this? My rebellious mate, who bows his head for no one, has surrendered his freedom to me?”
Shuddering at her words, he attempted to regain control of his faculties, swearing to the male species that he would not fall so easily. She chuckled at his feeble attempts, taking pleasure in his futile defiance. Shifting her weight slightly, she freed one of his arms, bringing his hand up to her mouth. She placed delicate kisses on his shaking palm before sucking on his index finger. He held his breath at the seductive scene, powerless to deny her.
Her silver eyes found his and she cocked her head, searching his eyes in deep consideration. His brain had just registered the shimmer before she shifted into her wolf form, crushing him beneath her weight. She opened her maw wide, displaying her razor-sharp teeth, and chomped down on his hand, piercing his flesh and breaking his bones.
A scream of pure agony was torn from his throat. He punched at her snout, gouged at her eyes, and head-butted her forehead; anything to make the pain stop. And still, her jaws clamped onto his hand, spurting blood all over the bed. After what felt like hours, she finally released her grip, and he scrambled off the bed, pressing his back against the wall and holding his bloody hand to his chest. With wide eyes, he gasped for air, a needle-like pain spreading up his arm.
With a slight shimmer, Sylvie returned to her human form, blood staining her mouth. As she licked his blood from her lips, she reached underneath the bed, retrieving a glass jar. A fluorescent blue poultice glowed in the jar, merging with the illuminating silver of her eyes.
“Please don’t look at me like that, my mate. This had to be done,” she said, sighing as he backed away from her.
“Look at you like what? Like my mate just tried to bite my hand off?” he snapped at her, refusing to look at his ruined hand.
“If I wanted to bite your hand off, I would have with no struggle…” she said, gasping and eyes widening as she stared at his hand.
“Then why have you disfigured me, you devilish she-wolf!”
“I can’t believe it worked,” she whispered, ignoring his words as she continued to be enraptured by his mutilated hand.
Already feeling light-headed, he raised his shaking hand and wiped the blood away. Against his expectations, there were no gushing wounds or broken bones marring his hand. All that remained was a bright red scar in the shape of Sylvie’s bite, running from the back of his hand to his palm.
“What is this?” he whispered as he stared at a magic that he didn’t know the wolves possessed.
“I wasn’t certain it would work. Because you are human, I even prepared fae medicine in case the mark didn’t heal as it should,” she said, holding up the glowing poultice.
“What is it, Sylvie!” he yelled, shocked that she had attacked him when she wasn’t certain of the outcome.
“It is my mating mark!” she cried, scrambling toward him in excitement.
“Now every shifter, every vampire, every fae, and every human will see your hand and know that you are a wolf’s mate. Everyone will know that you belong to me and they will fear the consequences of touching what’s mine.” She grabbed his hand, proudly examining her mark on his skin.
“Sylvie, did you ever once consider that I didn’t want a mating mark?” he whispered.
She froze, a hurt look appearing on her face. “But you are my mate, Noah. Why wouldn’t you want to display our coupling to the world?”
He walked to the wardrobe, donning his ruffled shirt and trench coat. Heading toward the cabin door, he sniped his hat and cane off the novice table.
“Because I don’t want another brand that labels me as someone else’s property!” He slammed the door in her face and stormed off.