Page 97 of Protected By Her Mate

“What does he have?” Destiny asks, her interest piqued.

“Yes, Magdalene,” I say from between gritted teeth, positive I’m going to hate her answer. “What do I have?”

“You have your immortality.”

I open my mouth, about to remind her my immortality means nothing to me anymore, but she stomps on my foot, damn hard for a creature so much smaller than me.

“I know it’s a wrench giving it up, but you don’t have a choice.” Speaking to the room at large, she says, “Destiny, will you accept his immortality in place of Charlie’s life?”

Several long seconds of silence tick by, then Destiny says, “I am intrigued. No one has offered me their immortality before. It is a great sacrifice indeed. Magdalene, child, how do you intend to strip him of his immortality? It’s not something I’ve seen done before.”

“He’s going to give his immortality to another, which will help us maintain balance across the realms.”

“Ohhhh,” Destiny sighs, sending a gust of wind through the library. “I do love a good balancing act.” She falls silent for a moment, then says, “Alright, I accept Lennox Wolven-North’s immortality in place of Charlie’s continued existence. It is a life for a life, and you both will eventually die a human death, which satisfies me.”

My heart almost beats out of my chest. The idea of sharing Charlie’s life instead of watching it pass by is almost overwhelming. I envision Charlie and I sharing our lives, laughing, loving, fucking. I see Luke in my mind. See us playing ball together and all the other things dads and kids do that I don’t know about yet.

“Thank you,” I say, trying to keep my emotions in check so Destiny doesn’t realize this is a gift and not a punishment.

“Are you ready?” Magdalene says, gripping my arm as Destiny whirls around us faster and faster, sending books flying off shelves.

“Ready for what?”

“To gift your immortality to another.”

Chapter 36

Service before self

LENNOX

“What’s happening?” The room around us disappears, but we haven’t stepped through a portal. Instead, the weight leaves my body and I feel like I’m being yanked through a tunnel at a ridiculously fast pace. It’s not like teleportation, which feels like being squeezed through a tube.

“We’re travelling through time,” Magdalene answers.

I turn my head to look at her and see a person-shaped blur that appears to be split apart into layers. I lift a hand, waving it in front of me and realize I look the same. “Whoa.”

“Cool, right?” Her voice sounds like it’s echoing in a chamber.

More like terrifying. My wolf is restless inside me, wanting to put all four paws back on solid ground.

Sparks ignite in the air in front of us and Magdalene says, “We’re almost there.”

It’s a good thing she knows how to navigate whatever this is because I don’t have a clue what’s going on. “Where are we going?” Then I remember we’re moving through time and ask, “When are we going?”

“I realized something tonight when we were discussing immortality with you and Charlie. Immortality is something magical beings are born with, but immortality and the physical self can be separated. Wolf shifters have been proving it for millennia. Almost without fail, when a wolf shifter’s mate is human, the wolf shifter will allow themselves to die after their mate dies, essentially separating the being from their immortality. But since things can be neither created nor destroyed in the natural order, where does the immortality go after an immortal being passes?”

“I don’t know. Where?”

“The most obvious answer is that their immortality jumps to the next being in need of it.” I’m not sure her reasoning is obvious, but I nod like I know what she’s talking about.

Suddenly the comfort of the spinning void is stripped away and I find myself hurtling through the air toward what looks like a mountainside with some kind of gathering. The scene is a blur rushing toward us at a pace that has me bracing for impact.

I’m slammed into the side of a rockface with enough force that a small shower of rocks rains down around me. Landing on my feet, I spin around and see there are many familiar faces.

“Lock!” I gasp, seeing my brother. Next to him stand Sarena and Rush.

They ignore me. In fact, despite there being a dozen people on the cliffside, no one seems to notice me.

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