Page 61 of Witch Untold
“Yes. Not at the risk of your own life.”
Yeah, not happening. “There are always risks in those kinds of situations. Being the anchor, being an Elite, it’s all a risk. I won’t make promises I can’t keep.”
He opened his mouth, probably to protest, but my scalp prickled with awareness and my attention was drawn across the snow toward the treeline.
Tor, Rune, and Leif padded into the clearing. Three massive dire wolves, lethal and dangerous.
Mine.
Crimson, midnight black, and golden, their coats contrasted against each other and stood out starkly in the moonlit snow.
I stilled as their gazes locked onto me.
Cora…
They said my name in unison, in an exhalation of relief, and my heart swelled with emotion.
“We’ll continue this later,” Elijah said. “Go.”
I pushed up on tiptoes on impulse to kiss his cheek before leaping over the railing and running toward my wolves.
They bounded forward to meet me, surrounding me with their huge frames and cocooning me in the heat of their bodies. Rough tongues laved my face and a laugh bubbled up my throat.
This was home. This was safety. This was…love.
Ilovedthese guys. I fucking loved them.
Cora, what’s wrong.Rune’s concerned voice filled my mind.
I shook my head, unable to speak, throat locked with emotion.
What’s wrong?Leif added. What is this?
Cora, talk to us,Tor demanded.
I’d almost lost them. I’d almost died, but I had a second chance. I was here. I was with them, and nothing—not the threat of tomorrow, or the threat of what might happen in a century—was going to hold me back any longer.
Cora, dammit, speak to us!Rune pleaded.
I’d said the words to Tor in the bathroom before the strange metamorphosis of my hand had distracted from my declaration. We hadn’t circled back to it. Hadn’t addressed it since, but the time was right now.
The words tangled on my tongue but were crystal clear in my mind.I love you. I love you guys.It was a weight off my chest to admit it, to accept it.I don’t care what happens in the future. I don’t care because I love you, and I’ll keep loving you until I’m fucking dead and maybe beyond that too.
They stilled, and then the threads connecting us began to thrum. A cacophony of emotion crashed into me, and there was no mistaking the heat and security of their love as it wrapped around me.
Fuck, Cora, we love you too,Leif said.
So fuckin much,Tor added.
Always.Rune nuzzled my cheek.
The cold, wet ground barely registered as I wrapped my arms around each of them in turn, reveling in the sensation of their fur against my cheek, rough in places, silken in others. Mine. They were mine.
Something stirred deep inside me, primitive and eager, reaching for the threads, wanting to become one with them. This was new…Dark. It didn’t belong.
“Bad guys are almost defeated,” Sloane said from behind me. “I think we can safely begin our celebration.”
The dark thing retreated. Had it even been there? Had I imagined it?
