The sound of paws on the kitchen had me crying harder.
What was he doing?
I heard the fridge open, and then the freezer, and then the microwave.
A few minutes later, the microwave beeped, and the smell of steak hit me so hard I nearly groaned.
A tray was placed in front of me a minute later, and then a rough tongue stroked my arm.
The wolf left again, and came back with a fork and a butter knife.
Guess he didn’t trust me with a sharp knife. Not that I blamed him for that.
I ate the food slowly at first, and then rapidly. I was starving, and despite being frozen and then microwaved, the food was still really good.
When the plate was empty, my tears were dry and I was feeling a little better about my life situation. The wolf snuggled up against me, and I didn’t have the energy to push him away.
I wasn’t going to run from him anymore; he knew it, and I knew it.
And despite the shitshow that the werewolf thing was, I was still alive. Theoretically, the mating process would end at some point, if Del was to be believed about that.
Unlike the wolf, she was trustworthy, so I believed her.
After the mating process ended, I’d be free to go my own way—maybe even earlier, if my wolf decided to reject her mate, which seemed pretty likely to me given the way he’d followed me across the damned country without pause.
Unless that was romantic to a wolf.
Although, I guess it would’ve seemed romantic to some humans, too…
Deciding to worry about that later, I remained where I was on the floor, and rested my head on my arm. The wolf’s fur was soft, and I just laid there for a good long while. I was so damned tired, but if I slept, I would wake up exactly where I was, in exactly the same situation I was in.
The only way to change things, was to get the wolf to bite me.
“I’m not sad anymore,” I whispered to the wolf. “And I know that there’s no other way for this to end, so bite me. Please.”
The wolf’s red eyes stared into mine. His expression was still a bit sad, and I wondered if he felt bad for me.
For some reason, I hated that he might pity me.
I rubbed his fur gently, scratching him behind the ears.
He licked my face, and then lowered his teeth to my arm. They cut into my bicep and then everything went numb, before my vision went black.