CHAPTER19
Cate tookin the sight of the beautiful wolf before her, and though she was happy Gunner had finally shifted, her heart broke knowing this was the last she’d ever see of him.
The tears rolled down her face without warning, and a sob escaped. She wiped a tear away quickly as she watched Gunner throw his head back and howl. When the answer of his kind sounded in the night, she knew it would not be long.
The white wolf’s eyes turned toward her, amber rimmed in beautiful gold.
“Go. Be with your pack.” She forced a smile.
Gunner cocked his head to the side.
“My work here is done. Your wolf is free. You are both free.”
Gunner approached her swiftly, nuzzling his head against her bare legs. Cate sobbed again as she let her fingers stroke his soft fur.
“Goodbye, Gunner,” she said through tears.
The wolf whined, and she turned away, taking up residence in her cabin once more, locking the door. Cate slid down the door, and in the walls of her home she let go completely. She wrapped her arms around her knees, burying her head in her arms, and she cried, heart-wracking sobs.
Spike padded over to her, nuzzling her side as Gunner had, and a whole new surge of guilt and sadness tore through her. She pulled the hellhound to her. Spike whined next to her, setting his paw on her foot. Belle meowed, making her presence known. She wrapped her tail around Cate’s calf, brushing her head against her sweetly.
Cate could hear the howls outside and a scratching at her door. How badly she wanted to open the door, let Gunner in. He had a life, a family, a lineage to uphold. She could not take those things away from him, and she wouldn’t. Immortality was not designed for mortals.
Mortals with fragile hearts, driven by emotions.
By love.
Love was not meant for creatures, like herself.
She’d watched far too many loves of lifetimes end in despair, and she would not allow herself to feel such things. Not this time.
It will be different this time.
Gunner would live his life as he should. Perhaps now that he had shifted, he’d take over his pack. Find a wife, have some heirs. Die at a ripe old age, as life had intended for him.
And that would have to be enough.
Cate did not realize the scratching had stopped until the sun peeked through her windows. She held onto Spike, a purring Belle at her side, and only then, when she was certain it was over, did she rise from her spot on the floor.
The dawn of a new day was here, and once again, Cate was alone.
But it is better this way, isn’t it?