Page 31 of Wounded Mate
Part of me wants to go with him, to stay at his side, where I belong. But I’ve never left Pest. And I don’t yet know if feeding from only one man will be enough to sustain me. At The Twig, I have my choice of meals. More clients than I could ever need. It’s safe. It’s known.
But in Varad? A rural country village? If I need a meal beyond Bela, how do I find such with no bustling brothel at my disposal?
The idea of seducing random farmers holds little charm.
“What do you mean?” He offers no clues for me to latch on to.
“Well, I live here in Pest. I always have, and I’d thought I always would.” I stare at the path before me instead of meeting Bela’s gaze. It’s a little easier to say hard things this way. “But Andras and Bowie are in Varad, and you’re almost there now.There’s only a week’s worth of travel left between you and them. I would never hold you back from your goal.”
“What?” The confusion he infuses into the one word almost makes me chuckle, but I’m too on edge to laugh.
“You must go. And I-I should probably stay. But we could visit? We could plan trips to see each other, couldn’t we? I mean, this doesn’t have to be a good-bye, does it? Only see you later. That’s okay with you, right? That we visit?”
“No, no, no, Val. You don’t understand. You’re my mate. The only thing I want in this whole wide world is to remain at your side no matter where we are. We stay in Pest, where you’re comfortable. Or we go to Varad to meet Andras and Bowie. Or we fly to the moon. But we do ittogether. Always together.”
Such sweet words. And I appreciate them, I do, but… “Bela, I’m not sure you’d be happy in Pest. You’d be stuck indoors all the time. Stuck in only our small circle. You need woods to roam and other wolves to run and hunt with. I won’t keep you from that by asking you to remain in Pest.”
“But—”
“Wait, there’s more. What happens if I accompany you to Varad, only to grow weak without enough ardor to feed me? I’ll never find another built-in support system like the one I have at The Twig, especially out in the country. But a wolf needs to roam. I just don’t see how we can stay together while still getting all our needs met.”
“I will feed you. Anytime you want, I’m yours to command. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Valius.”
A sad smile curls my lips. “I love you for that. But what if it’s not enough?”
“We won’t know until we try.”
That’s a good point. “Do you really think we can try?”
“We can do anything as long as we have each other.”
“It’s not that I want other lovers. You know that, right? I want you. My mate. But my whole life, I’ve had a rotating door of partners. I’m not sure what will happen to me when I don’t.”
“I will support you as you’ve supported me. If you need other lovers to sustain you, I will help you find them. No matter how against my nature it is to share my mate, I won’t let instinct overcome common sense. Your needs are more important than my feelings. I’ll adapt.”
Wow. How in the world did I manage to find a man like Bela? A man so full of love and understanding for me that he’d put my needs over his own comfort. What a gift.
With any luck, I’ll never need anyone but him again. That’s what I want. I want to trade them all in for the perfect one, just my Bela. Just my mate.
I gather my courage. “I want to go with you.”
He blinks. “Are you sure? I can stay. I’ll find a way to be happy here.”
“No. Wolves aren’t meant for the city. I never left Pest because at first I couldn’t, and after the curse was lifted, I never left Pest because I had nowhere else to go. But now I do. I have my mate and journey to Varad. I have another wolf to meet and another vampire and a pack to build if everyone is agreeable.”
“A pack,” he whispers. He says the word like it’s sacred.
“A pack. When do we leave?”
Chapter Fifteen
Bela
Two nights later,we’re all packed, and the brothel is temporarily closed to customers. Dominus and Sebastian have come to the city for the occasion. Leonas and Jeno did all the planning. Rizpah did all the cooking and chased anyone out ofherkitchen who dared volunteer tohelpor, more accurately, to taste test.
Annais, the incubus who runs the brothel now that Dominus is less involved, has decorated both parlors and ordered the other incubi about to tidy up to make everything look perfect for Valius’s going away party.
The ladies from The Peach and Pearl are joining us. We have musicians spinning lively tunes, and already several couples are taking a whirl around the lobby as if the place is a dance club.
