“Just like I am now, right?” I shook my head at that. “You can deny it all you want, but I know that scent is yours.”
“The honeysuckles?” She laughed, then took the rabbit in her maw before slowly making her way toward the stream.
“Unlikely.”
That time a twinge of bitterness returned. The smell was definitely coming from her, and it wasn’t because my wolf had accepted the pack, either. It was because of her. It’d always been her.
The warmth I felt around Ash, the soothing scent… Fallen was always in the background, watching over us. Guarding us.
I’d tried to ignore it, I’d tried to explain it away as some kind of fluke, but even as we neared the stream, the only thing I could think about was her. Her beautiful chocolate wolf was the first thing I saw when I woke, and her voice was the last thing I heard back in the parking garage.
She was always there, leaving my side only to return hours later.
When they found me in the city, Fallen could’ve injured me the same way I’d hurt Ash. Instead, she stilled her hand and forced me to the ground without ever breaking the skin. It didn’t make sense before, but now I knew…
Fallen was my one. Fallen was my mate.
The realization should’ve excited me. Instead, all it did was make me sick to the stomach. By the time we reached the stream, I struggled to fight my nausea back. Fallen, on the other hand, was more than happy to split the rabbit with me.
I winced at the crunch of bone and the visualization it caused in the back of my mind, turning away from Fallen in case it offended her.
“Aren’t you hungry?” she asked, padding up beside me before gently pressing her shoulder against mine.
“Not really,” I lied, ignoring the growl in my stomach as the disgusting sound of bone echoed in my ears. “It’s all yours.”
“You’ll get used to it,” she said, dropping the rabbit beside the stream before standing in front of me. “Your wolf’s need to hunt has passed, so now your human senses are starting to return. It can take some time before a wolf can successfully eat what they hunt. It’s perfectly normal.”
I released a sigh of relief and bowed my head, doing my best not to wag my tail when she gently pressed her head against mine. It’s a wolf thing, I told myself, having seen the other members of the pack do it whenever they gathered around the bonfire.
My heart didn’t agree. The longer Fallen sat close to me, the more confused I became. My wolf told me it was normal, that it was something wolves do, while my human heart said something else entirely. Any form of affection came across as just that. Fallen wasn’t an elder, she wasn’t a parental guardian.
She was a pack mate, a superior, and one of the most beautiful wolves I’d ever seen. She was the only wolf in the pack with her dark chocolate fur. She stood out against everyone else and it wasn’t just because of how she looked, either. It was because…
No, I chided myself. You barely know one another. That’s not how these things work.
Maybe not in the human world, but as a wolf? I honestly wasn’t sure.
A part of me willed my legs to move, to back away before I did something I’d regret.
I didn’t move, and as Fallen slowly exhaled in front of me, I lifted my gaze and gently licked her on the cheek. Fear gripped m
e as soon as I realized what I’d done.
Drawing away from her, I searched the surrounding trees for a place to hide, but no place would be able to mask my scent from her. She’d simply track me down and then what?
Scold me? Attack me? Ban me from the pack?
To my surprise, Fallen didn’t do any of those things, and as a soft rumble rolled up her chest, I met her gaze. Her eyes had the same golden hue as before, but this time the hint of fire sparked behind them.
In the next instant, she pushed me, forcing me to the ground beneath her before rapidly licking the sides of my muzzle along with the tip of my nose.
Not knowing if her aggression was because I’d overstepped or because she felt the same way, I did what any wolf would do. I rolled on my back, exposing my white belly to her. What happened next was completely up to her, and much like our hunt with the rabbit, time slowed.
Her scent grew, enveloping me until I was practically swimming in it. Her breaths were even and slow, her licks on my muzzle attentive and calculated. When she lowered her head to groom my neck, I thought I was through.
“Ease your mind,” she soothed between licks, nuzzling the side of my neck before finally laying beside me with her head propped up on my chest. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I’m sorry,” I apologized, touching noses with her. “I thought you’d be upset.”