Page 38 of Freed Wolfsbane

He gives me an apologetic smile and shrug. “Nah, languages are Kai’s thing. The gene must’ve skipped Xander and me, because we both suck at them, especially old people ones like Latin.”

“You’re in good company.” Other than Phoenician, which isn’t even me knowing it, I can’t speak any other languages. It’s all Dido, who probably has forgotten more languages than I’ll ever know.

“Do you need my assistance, child?”Dido asks. I probably called her to me accidentally by thinking about her.

No, sorry. But thank you, Dido. For everything.She’s been instrumental in helping me understand my wolf, me getting out of the facility, and even helping me process my messy emotions. I hope she knows how much her help means to me.

I see her smile in my mind.“It is my pleasure, Briar. I am so proud of the woman you’ve become, and it has been an honor to help you on your journey.”

Her kind words make me feel choked up. I wish I could help her as much as she’s helped me.

I’ll find a way to free you of the reincarnation curse. I promise,I tell her impulsively.While I have no idea how I’ll keep my word, I’m determined to find a way. After we figure out how to keep Ryker from destroying all shifters, of course.

She gives me a sad smile.“If anyone can do it, you can, child. But I doubt there is a way as I have searched for thousands of years.”

With all of us working on it, I know we’ll find something. I want you to get a chance to be with your mates again.

“I would like nothing more.”Dido looks away but not before I see a tear drip down her cheek. Scrubbing a hand over her face, she turns back to me with an arched eyebrow.“Perhaps you should focus on stopping the descendent of Aeneas first?”

I can’t help my snort at her kindly telling me to get back to work.Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ll get on that.Dido gives me a mildly exasperated smile before she fades out of my mind.

When I focus back on the room, Vale, Sam, and Jesse are chatting amongst themselves. Bastian is on his phone, but his head snaps up when I look at him. “Talking to Dido?”

Blushing, I duck my head when I realize I zoned out for who knows how long. “Yep. Sorry I spaced out for a bit.”

“You’re good. We were only discussing all the top-secret stuff about the Ryker mission you’ve been dying to know, so you didn’t miss much.” Bastian nonchalantly lifts his shoulder and flashes me a carefree smile.

I gape at him for an embarrassingly long time before realizing he’s joking. Glaring at him, I try to maintain my serious expression as his grin widens, but it’s pretty hard to stay annoyed with Bastian. Giving up, I let a small smile peek through.

Bastian and I talk with Vale and his betas for a while longer until they need to go take care of pack stuff. Pushing out of my chair, I stretch my arms over my head. Vale stands up from his seat and walks over to me. He opens his arms, and I step into his comforting embrace.

He squeezes me tight before his deep voice rumbles, “I’m getting too old for all you’re putting me through, Bee. Do an old man a favor and stop being a lone wolf. Let us help you for once.”

Huffing a laugh into his starchy button-down shirt, I nod against his chest. “You’re not that old, but I can do that.”

As reluctant as I am to admit it, Vale’s right. Trying to solve everything on my own just causes more problems. When my mates worked together, they found me, rescued hundreds of shifters, and shut down an entire Knights facility. When I tried to solve things on my own, I got kidnapped by the Knights and gave them the key to expanding the curse.

I’m so scared of losing anyone else because I know it’ll shatter me. I try to keep them safe by handling things on my own. But I only put everyone in danger when I don’t accept help. The only way we’ll stop Ryker is by being a team and tackling this together. Squeezing my eyes shut, I vow to do better.

After a long moment, Vale’s arms drop away, and I step back. I smile tentatively at his betas. Sam gives me a genuine grin in response, while Jesse simply dips his chin in acknowledgement. With one last wave to Vale, Bastian and I walk out of the office.

Bastian snags my hand in his and starts leading me back through the mansion. “Where are we going now?”

One of these days I’ll figure out the layout of their massive house. Probably.

“Back to the room. I’m sure I can find something to keep you entertained until Kai and the mage get back.” Bastian waggles his eyebrows at me suggestively, and I giggle. He smiles at me like he just won a million bucks, instead of just making me laugh.

We walk in comfortable silence for a few minutes until we reach the massive staircase that leads up to the bedrooms. “Hey, pretty girl?” Bastian asks.

“Yeah?” I tilt my head back so I can look at him and see him wearing an uncharacteristically vulnerable expression.

He tugs on my hand until I crash into his front. Wrapping an arm around my back, he uses his other hand to tilt my chin up so I’m looking in his captivating dark green eyes.

“I love you. I’m pretty sure I was half in love with you when you shared awesomely gruesome fun facts about Rome with me.” I let out a watery chuckle at that, and Bastian gives me a heart-melting smile. “Your integrity, kindness, selflessness, empathy, and everything that makes you the amazing woman you are just sealed the deal for me. I’m so fucking sorry I was an idiot and waited to say it until now. I should’ve told you the moment I knew. It shouldn’t have taken losing you to make me pull my head out of my ass and tell you how much you mean to me. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you, though, pretty girl.”

“Oh, Bastian, I love you, too. From the very first day, despite your hot-and-cold routine, I couldn’t get you out of my head. Your knack for lifting me up when I’m down, understanding the fucked-up parts of me no one else does, being able to make me smile more than I ever thought possible, and really everything about you made it impossible not to fall for you. But you have nothing to be sorry for, okay? You told me in your own time, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

His face lights up at hearing me say it back, but he shakes his head when I tell him he did nothing wrong. Shrugging, he says, “Agree to disagree.” Then he swoops in for a quick kiss. I wrap my arms around his neck to hold him to me, wanting to make him believe me that he has nothing to be sorry for.

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