Page 15 of Forsaking His Mate

“I promise we’ll give you a place to call home,” Hester says. “All we have is each other.”

Hester finishes treating me and tells me I can get up. I scramble to a sitting position, pulling my shirt down as she packs up the first aid kit.

“Thank you.”

“I wish there was more I could do.”

“It’s enough,” I assure her.

“You can stay in the main house until we can arrange a cabin for you. Apryle, can you show her to the lavender room?”

I grab Hester’s hands in my own and give her a warm smile. “Thank you,” I say, “for helping me and for preventing my pack from losing more lives.”

“Honey, that’s what I do. I collect tau wolves and I protect them from the hunters that want us dead.”

It sounds like a lonely and dangerous mission, but I don’t say that out loud. “I’m grateful.”

“I saw you many times over the years in my visions,” she admits. “I could tell you were happy and healthy until the last one. I saw you running through the wood, terrified, and so I made sure I was there to find you when you came to me.”

If she hadn’t seen it, I would be dead. I don’t doubt that for a second. Those wolves had followed us for miles, tracking us even in the truck. I wonder if they got as far as the sanctuary wards.

“You’re not a prisoner here,” Hester says, “but don’t cross beyond the wards. You won’t be safe then.”

I have no intention of trying to leave, so I nod. “Thank you.”

Hester smiles. “Sleep well, little one.”

I follow Apryle out of the room and up the stairs. There are photographs of Hester with different women lining the wall. Apryle is in one shot, but she’s barely cracking a smile and I see the pain in her eyes. I wonder what happened to her. Was she in a pack like me?

Apryle steps up behind me, staring at that photo too. “I hate that picture,” she admits.

“Why?”

“Bad memories, I guess. I didn’t have a pack or a daddy who loved me. That photograph was taken a few days after I arrived here,” she says.

“I’m sorry you suffered,” I tell her earnestly.

Apryle makes a sound in the back of her throat that could be a scoff or a snort. “What would you know about suffering? Your life was perfect until today.”

My life was never perfect. “I lost pack members. People I love.” I can’t stop myself from snapping at her. She doesn’t have a clue how I feel or what I’m going through.

“They died to protect you. Until I came here, I had no one on my side. Trust me, you’re lucky.”

I let that sink in, wondering what she went through, but she turns away and keeps climbing the stairs until she reaches the top. I follow after her, feeling like a lost puppy.

Apryle heads right when she reaches the landing and stops in front of the first door she comes to, twisting the knob and opening it.

I peer around her and into the room. There’s a large double bed with a lavender comforter and pink and purple pillowcases. The walls are painted lavender too, and the floorboards are sanded and polished, though there is a rug that looks like it will feel plushy under my feet.

“There’s a bathroom through that door there,” she points behind us. “You’ll be the only one using it. Hester’s room’s down the other end of the hall. There are new toiletries under the basin, take whatever you need. The closet will have clean clothes. If they don’t fit, we’ll sort something out in the morning.”

Gratitude washes through me. I could have been running alone after the hunters attacked, and as much as I hate to admit it, I wouldn’t survive. The hunters might kill me, but the loneliness would destroy me first. I’ve never lived without my pack. I’m not cut out for the lone wolf life. Those who live it can be driven to madness. Wolves are social animals by nature; we need those connections.

“Were you a lone wolf before this?”

She shakes her head, her hair bouncing around her shoulders. “Not exactly. I was living with the humans, oblivious to what I was. I could sense my wolf, but I just thought it was something I made up to protect my mind. I didn’t understand what was happening to me when I started dream walking. I’d never seen a wolf shifter until the hunters came, and even then, I thought I was high.”

Her tongue darts out to lick her lips. I understand that look in her eyes; she’s still traumatized by what happened to her. I take her hand in mine, squeezing it. “I’m sorry.”

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