Page 85 of To Keep A Wolf
Rina’s voice lifts, growing louder with some incantation she’s uttering. I don’t hear the words, nor do I care. If I’m dying today, I’m going out in a blaze of passion.
Levi’s mouth is a balm to the fire burning me up from the inside. And then, suddenly, I gasp as his teeth pierce my delicate throat. Blood rushes to meet him. But he’s already backing away and urging me to bite him too. I open my mouth to protest but find my teeth already lengthening for his skin. My wolf—she wants him. Any way she can get him.
Levi’s throat is at my lips.
I bite, sinking my teeth into the space just above his collarbone.
The fire inside me is chased away, replaced by a heat much more enjoyable. My wolf slams herself against my skin, desperate to break free. Levi climbs off me, urging me to sit up. The moment I do, I feel the magic of our mate bond rooting inside us.
The poison is no longer a threat. Even without shifting to complete the healing, my wolf is strong and whole, and nothing of its destruction remains. Even my arm is healed.
When I look back at Levi, I know why.
Worry, fear, hope, elation, love—they pour into me. Levi’s gaze reflects every single feeling, and I know whatever bond I thought we had before has just increased ten-fold.
Are you okay?
Levi’s voice in my head has me yelping in surprise. When I’ve regained control, I stare at him.
I can hear you in my head. How?
His brow lifts.Magic.
Rina—?
I start to look at her, but his answer stops me.
No. Not Rina. Us.
I don’t understand.
We’re mates, Mac. Our bond is strong.
But the poison. I should be dead—
Jadick was wrong. Love doesn’t make us weaker. It makes us stronger.
Are you saying love healed me?I can’t help the sarcasm as I say the cheesiest words ever.Your kiss was that powerful?
He sends me the mental equivalent of a smirk.Are you saying you don’t like the idea of a little sexual healing?
I shake my head.Whatever.
Fine, the antidote might have had something to do with it. The point is you’re safe now.He leans in, his wolf nuzzling me again.
And my mother? My—My father??
Vicki’s fine, they both are.
Relief floods me then. The idea of losing my dad to a war I brought to his doorstep would have been a loss too big to bear.
What about you?I suddenly remember Levi’s injuries.
Healed. But what matters is that I have you, Mac. And look. We get a do-over after all.
I soften at that, still reeling at the idea that we can hear each other this way. I try to remember how long it’s been since our pack could communicate this way. Decades, for sure. When I look over, I catch Rina watching me.
Her expression is softer, too, like she knows what we’re saying to each other. Impossible.
