Page 107 of Hawke

Little did she know I would see his head hanging on the basement wall every day.

“And I’ll taste his heart on my lips,”my wolf hummed.

“I’m sure with time, it will certainly happen, Sunshine.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Hawke

Everymorning,wemadesure Bram was healing, and Delilah and I cooked breakfast together like a truly domestic couple. The sounds of sizzling bacon, cracking eggs, and the rustling of papers that Bram read each morning made it feel, well, normal. And normal is what my mate needed right now. I needed her at peace.

Along with that peace, Bram told us strange tales of his extremely long life. About how the realm of Elysian was once peaceful eons ago. That there was once love and happily ever afters, which put Delilah in a much better mood after seeing her ex-husband.

Her mind was a jumbled mess as I rummaged through the bond we shared, which I believe Bram had picked up on as well. Bram recounted stories of our home realm, his voice filled with nostalgia. He recounted different varieties of shifters, of bewitched hamlets and the animals that called them home. Delilah was entranced by the tales of undiscovered magical lands, exquisite palaces, and powerful kings and queens late into the nights as we gathered around the fire.

It kept her mind away from the darkness and her worry, but it also brought up questions the next morning.

However, Delilah surprised us when she asked if the veil between Elysian was near a turquoise lake. Bram and I both sat across from each other at the kitchen table in shock for the longest time until Delilah turned from the kitchen stove with a pile of bacon.

The veil was indeed over the infamous turquoise lake, Cracker Lake in Glacier National Park in Montana. Supernaturals could only cross during the winter months since the veil was situated mid-air over its waters.

We urged her to continue with what else she knew, and how she knew, and she shook her head.

“They’re just dreams,” she laughed. “Like fuzzy dreams of watching the pretty colored lake turn to ice and walking over the ice. Then when we went to the other side, it was…purple. Lots of purple leaves and when they fell to the ground, they turned to gold.” She took the piece of bacon and popped it in her mouth. “Then I remember feeling hot, and I wake up.” She shrugged and ate as if it was no big deal.

But it was a big deal. The trees of Elysian were a royal purple, and in the fall, the leaves transformed into a brilliant gold and silver when they scattered across the forest floor.

How would she know such a fact? Elysian was not known by any other human, and if she had dreams of this world, then there must have been a significance to it. Had she been there before and just forgotten? Was she truly part wolf? Had she been brought to the human realm and suppressed her wolf?

Thousands of thoughts ran through my head, and Bram’s, I’m sure, was doing the same.

Bram stared at her, not in longing but in curiosity. He thought of her as a riddle he wanted to decipher. I could see the gears turning in his head. It was both the warlock and the scientist in him. All warlocks had their own ticks for figuring out problems, and I could see him wanting to run experiments on her.

But that would not happen, not on my watch.

My possessiveness would never wane, and the thought of even a godfather-like male family member wouldn’t impede that. We would just have to live with the mystery of why my mate had memories or dreams of a place we used to call home.

Christmas came and went, but with no snow, and no other humans to declare it a holiday. I did not feel like Delilah felt like she missed anything. But next year, when the Iron Fang was decorated, I would be sure she had the best Christmas ever. Our home would be filled with Christmas trees, presents, family, and, most of all, no more worries about her past coming for her.

But each day we spent in this retreat, my mate worried more about her safety. She worried about Bram and my life, that somehow Shane would find us like he had before, that he would torture and murder us in front of her and find the Iron Fang. None of these things would come true. It would never happen.

Delilah believed Shane had unlimited resources. He was a part of the East Coast Mafia and had so much at his disposal. It was a miracle she’d escaped when she had. She’d made a mistake handing over her driver’s license when she’d tried to build a new life away from me.

Anxiety gnawed at her as she fretted over the situation.

But my mate’s expression never changed, and her body language was devoid of any indication of worry. She maintained a facade of cheerfulness, but my wolf and I knew the truth.

How long had she pretended to be happy at the Iron Fang while I blatantly ignored her?

I’m such an ass.

Thoughts of running away popped into her mind frequently, which I quickly redirected with a firm swat to her ass. With a good fucking, I redirected that shit. We would not have any martyrs. Delilah was mine, and Bram and I both would protect her from her human stepbrother.

When we’d jumped over the barricade of cars with my bike, I’d gotten a good sniff of all those assholes. They were all human, without any remarkable features—their faces as plain and forgettable as the yells of annoyances they made. They would all be quick deaths for sure, but Shane, I wanted his torture to last. And maybe Chad too, because he popped up in my mate’s fading memories far too much for my liking.

They both fixated on her; they couldn’t take their eyes off her. My mate’s terrible memories were fading faster than I could dig through them. I would destroy them both. They were both obsessed with her, I knew that much. But my obsession with Delilah far outweighed both of theirs combined. Did that make me worse than them?

My jaw ticked.

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