She’d been trying to scale a small rock formation, likely wanting to head up in the direction of the river that ran that way.
But her foot must have slipped, sending her falling back down, landing on the ground where I found her, clutching her leg with both her hands, her whole body rocking as she whimpered.
“Ow ow ow ow ow. Damnit. That’s what I get for trying to get active. Now I’ll die out here and get eaten by scavengers. Oh, ow,” she cried as she tried to move the leg.
Moving forward, my paw hit a twig, making it crunch.
Maribelle’s head snapped up, eyes huge, worried, before her face settled a bit.
“It’s you,” she said, exhaling hard before her voice hitched and a choked sob escaped her. “Listen, you have to stop being so loyal. I’m going to slip a leash on you and force you to live with me,” she said, wiping her cheeks.
I couldn’t help her in my wolf form.
And judging by the way she couldn’t seem to move, let alone put any weight on her leg, she was not going to get back home on her own.
Maybe it was time.
And even if perhaps it wasn’t the best time, there didn’t seem to be any other option.
Taking a deep breath, waiting for her gaze to find me again, I let the Change take over me, going back to my human form right before her eyes.
There was a long pause as she stared at me.
“I might not be averse to that living situation,” I told her.
“I knew it,” she said, shaking her head. “I mean, I didn’t know-it, know it. How could I? But I… you… it was the only time it didn’t hurt,” she said, eyes more vulnerable than I’d ever seen them.
“I know, baby. I’ve been feeling it too,” I assured her, reaching out, placing a hand on top of hers, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“But… why?”
“Because we’re mates,” I told her.
“Mates?”
“Yeah, True Mates, to be exact.”
“I don’t understand,” she admitted.
“Didn’t you feel it? Almost from the very beginning? The rightness.”
“I… sort of. I guess. I still don’t understand. What are True Mates?”
“Something like soulmates. But even deeper than that.”
“What is deeper than the soul?”
“The very fibers of your being. Didn’t you feel it? Like we were tied together. Like everything was wrong when we weren’t close.”
“Y…yes. I mean, I thought I was going crazy. Or getting depressed. I mean, I was confessing all my darkest secrets to a wolf that I let into my house where he could have easily eaten me.”
“The kind of eating I have in mind is a little different than the kind you mean,” I told her, watching as that cute as fuck blush crept over her cheeks.
“So… you’re a… ah… werewolf?”
“We tend to use the term shifter these days. Werewolves have weird ties to bullshit lies made up by movie and TV creators. But, yes. I have a wolf side.”
“And when you’re a wolf… do you, you know, think like a wolf?”
“Somewhat, yes. There’s a more animalistic drive. But I am also me in there as well.”
“What does it mean if I am your True Mate?”
“There’s no if about it, baby. You are. I feel it in my bones, in my marrow. You’re mine. But as for what happens, that’s… up to you.”
“Up to me how?”
“Well, you can accept me. And then there would be no more pain. Or you can reject me. You’ll feel pain that will eventually dull. You’d go on to live a normal, human life.”
“And you?”
“And I… would be driven mad by the pain. Until, eventually, I would probably let the wolf overtake me completely, so I no longer have to feel it.”
“What? Are you serious? That can happen?”
“That has happened, yes,” I told her, exhaling hard. “That is part of the reason I haven’t been fully honest with you from the beginning. Because of history.”
“What history?”
“The history between my pack… and your grandmother.”
“My grandmother?” she hissed, back straightening. “What about my grandmother?”
“Many, many years ago, your grandmother was proven to be the True Mate of one of my pack. When she rejected him, he was driven insane from the pain. He became a wolf. Then eventually he jumped over a cliff to his death. He was our alpha, our leader,” I added, knowing from my own father how deep that pain had cut the entire pack, how it had scattered us, leaving some to break off and form their own packs, becoming rivals to their once-brothers.
“Wait…no. No way. She never…”
“Baby, I wouldn’t lie about this. It’s true.”
“Would she have known he was a were… shifter?”
“It was before my time. I’m not sure. Either way, she didn’t want anything to do with him. And whether or not she understood what was happening, it had repercussions that still rock my pack to this day. So I was… hesitant.”