Page 34 of Fawn

“Oh, please don’t argue,” I beg. “I have come to a decision.”

They both freeze.

“I cannot stay here. Never able to shift. Always fearing. What if I had a little doe babe, and she was only playing with wolf pups, and they got confused? My mama never had another child. She always went away when she came into season. I cannot bear to live like that. She loved my papa, but they always had to hide, just as they hid me!”

“You will not need to fucking hide, lass,” Wolf growls. “I am the pack enforcer and will kill any fool who does not treat you with respect. As if I would not care for you when you come into season? As if would let you or our children live in fear?”

“It’s not about you,” Seven says coldly. “Nor what makes you comfortable. It is about what is best for Fawn. If she says she wishes to be among herownkind. We ought to respect that. If you love her, as you just claimed to do, you will bear the discomfort for you a powerful wolf and your shoulders are broad.”

I lift my head to peer back at Seven, feeling Wolf’s arms tremble where they hold me. There are many parts to what was just said that vie for attention: that wolf loves me, that he told Seven this, that for me to feel safe, he must leave his pack for me.

The problem is too great, the push and pull too strong, and in many directions. “I hate the thought of you leaving your life here for me,” I say quietly. “I want to trust that I could live here, but I also have a lifetime of my mama and papa and how they chose to hide, and it creates a source of great conflict in my heart. Today, many things have become apparent that perhaps should have been so before. I never wanted to return to a herd, and I have noknowledge of life in one. I don’t even know how my mama met my papa, nor why they chose a wolf pack for their home.”

Wolf cups my face. I see conflict, but also worry in his eyes. “I love you, Fawn. I have done so for some time. But I was too pigheaded to admit it even to myself and placed many prejudices and obstacles in my way. This pack, my role here, has been my life, but I’m not a young man, and that offers me much, including perspective. What if something happened to me? My life is not without dangers, and being the pack enforcer comes with more than its share.”

I go to speak, but he shakes his head.

“This is a lot. It is also sudden. But I am also a man who knows his mind. I would go with you if you would have me. I would follow you. I would gladly take on the burden of being an outsider, and without hesitation—I would do anything that would make you happy.” He lifts his eyes from me and glares over my shoulder. “I would even put up with Seven.”

Chapter Twelve

Seven

Fifteen years earlier…

The wolves chase me. I do not like to run from a challenge, but three mature wolf shifters, even if my death is not on their minds, will punish me severely for trespassing on their land.

I consider stopping anyway, but it will be hard to save my Fawn if I accidentally die.

So I run all the way to the border with the bear shifters and onto their lands.

The wolves continue to chase me a short way before turning back.

Committed now, there is only one way for me to go. I run through the bear’s turf, evading patrols and never stopping for many days and nights until, nearing exhaustion, I reach the safety of my home territory.

“Hail, Seven!” I am greeted by a patrol soon after entering our lands.

It offers a boost to my flagging reserves, and I continue on to the palace, where my father, already forewarned of my return, waits for me in the throne room.

My legs are shaking with fatigue as I bow before him.

“Shift, son,” he commands, stepping down from his throne to join me.

I have not been in human form since I saw my little Fawn, and my wasted body protests the lack of nourishment.

His smile is rueful as he pours a cup of water from the pitcher resting on the nearby table and passes it to me. “You have been gone for some time.”

I gulp the water down, aware that he is waiting for my news. No stag returns without completing his quest, which is different for everyone. In each case, they return to the king and share what they have done or learned. Only the young stag can decide when he is worthy when he feels through deed or new knowledge that he is now a man.

“I traveled through the bear shifter land and onto Oberian lands, where I met the subject of my next quest,” I announce.

He chuckles, giving me an up-down look. “Most stags consider surviving a night on enemy land challenging enough. You have been a week in enemy lands. Now you come back and announce you must accomplish a second quest?”

I shrug. I had not thought the matter through in detail. Maybe it is forward of me to presume a second quest.

“I found a fawn living among the Oberian pack, playing alone. She shifted to human and seemed curious about me. A wolf shifter—her father, I presume—found us talking and snatched her protectively to his arms, and in a way that made me certain her nature was being kept hidden. He must have hailed his pack. More wolves arrived on the scene and chased me off their lands and into the bear shifters’ territory. I made sure they did not catch me.”

My father rubs his jaw thoughtfully before he calls a servant standing discreetly by the doors to bring food to his study.

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