Page 43 of The Fated Hunter Wolf
I was too numb to feel terror. Too broken to feel much of anything except the phantom ache where the bond used to pulse.
“Convenient,” Kenza muttered from the corner. “Just as you want to confront her, the traitor-bitch passes out again. This has been going on for days. Can we get a healer to slap her awake with some herbs or a spell or a frying pan to the head, maybe?”
The bed was too soft, and my will to communicate was at odds with my desperate need to sleep. Worse than that—I kept feeling echoes. Flashes of pain that weren’t mine, moments of desperation that came from somewhere else.
From him.
The bond might be severed, but something was still bleeding through. Like those who lose a limb still feeling its pain, but in this case, it was my soul that felt a phantom presence.
My wolf wanted the long sleep. The eternal sleep. She was withered, exhausted, dejected. My human side urged her to continue, for she was as much Crux as me and knew we had to carry on. It was our reason for existing.
Words formed in my ears every time I prodded her.
There is no reason for us to exist without our mate.
My own wolf was turning on me.
“Hey!” Kenza watched me from across the room, her arms crossed, lips twisted into something just shy of a sneer. She was pacing the perimeter like a caged wolf, and now I was awake—barely—she’d found her target.
She stomped to the bedside and sat so hard I bounced. Eve, Astrid, Anwen, and Raina were at the far side of the room. Kenza was small, both as a woman and a wolf, but I never underestimated what she was capable of. I may have been the enforcer and the stronger of us both, but she would fight dirty if she had to. And I was in no state to fight her now.
“You don’t get to just weave into real life when you feel like it,” she said. There was something else in her voice. Not just anger—fear. Fear of what I represented, what I might do to their carefully rebuilt pack. She was always loyal to Eve.
My eyes fluttered shut. A slap struck me hard enough to make me gasp, and my eyes whipped open again.
“Fated mates.” She spat the words. “You always find a way to make yourself the center of the drama.” She stood up and circled the bed. “What’s the matter, Sable? Still feeling weak from your rejection hangover?”
Another flash hit me. A burning sensation across my chest, an ache so deep it made me curl in on myself. Kenza saw my reaction and her eyes narrowed.
“Still feeling him, aren’t you?” she asked, and there was something calculating in her tone. “That doesn’t happen after a rejection. You’re either faking it or…”
She didn’t finish, but I could see her mind working. Kenza was smarter than she let on, and she was putting pieces together I didn’t want her to see.
My head throbbed.
She crouched beside me, her voice dropping to a low whisper. “Or is it that your pretty little wolf doesn’t want to come out anymore now she knows she’s fucked?”
Who does she fucking think she is?
My fingers curled into fists, but I stayed still.
“Poor Sable. Couldn’t keep her mate. Couldn’t keep her pride. Maybe that’s why you’ve always hidden behind your secrets. Behind that silver ring.”
My magic sparked, unbidden. The temperature in the room dropped a couple degrees and Eve’s breath misted in the suddenly frigid air.
Kenza smiled. It was sharp-edged. “There it is. Your fucked-up wolf.” Her wolf pressed forward, teasing mine. As long as she believed my powers were coming from my wolf side, I was safe. “You think I don’t feel her? Your wolf, pacing behind your eyes, all sad and pathetic. No wonder Rhys threw you away. Even your instincts are broken.”
My wolf surged up in one fluid, explosive burst.
I was off the bed before I could register the movement, my hand shooting out and slamming Kenza against the wall. The impact sent a shockwave through the stone, and dust rained down from the ceiling.
She grinned like she’d won.
And then she shifted, just barely. Claws extended from her fingertips. Her pupils blew wide. She swung at me fast, a trained fighter, aiming for my throat. I ducked, pivoted, and slammed my elbow into her ribs, sending her stumbling sideways.
“Sable!” Astrid screamed. Eve held her back.
The floor groaned as we collided and fell. Something was wrong with me—I was moving too fast, hitting too hard. Strength from my blood was seeping through now my wolf was damaged, and I had to consciously draw back to keep from seriously hurting her.
