Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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I paused as the memory of that feeling rushed back. The buzzing in my head, the way my body involuntarily shifted, the intense feelings that flowed from my wolf in a torrent…
How could I describe it?
“I can’t describe adequately the feeling of your wolf going crazy within you. I was still getting to know my wolf, but we were very much in sync. He curbed the loneliness I felt when my friends were absent, and finally I was beginning to feel like maybe my future had promise.
‘When Hudson brought the flowers he gave them to Autumn but he was watching me for my reaction. The toxins were even more effective against my adolescent wolf, and the berserker rage overcame us both within a matter of minutes, although I struggled.
“My friends and brother watched in horror as I shifted to my wolf form, and instead of their companion, a fearsome devil wolf appeared instead.
“I p>
My words shuddered to a halt, and I swayed in front of the window as though rocked by a breeze.
I swallowed hard, then started up again.
“I was trapped within my wolf, helpless to stop what happened next. Malakai immediately shifted to try and communicate, but my wolf was incoherent, blinded by the toxin-induced rage. He could not be calmed.
“Autumn, knowing that my wolf would usually never hurt her, nuzzled into me to try and calm me down. But the scent of the flowers was on her fur, and it drove my wolf over the edge.
The room was silent, Avery’s eyes wide as saucers on the couch. I needed to finish this.
“Malakai and Hudson tried to intervene, but it was too late. Hudson ended up fleeing for his life, while Autumn and Malakai stayed to fight… and died p>
Avery rose from the couch and walked to me where I swayed in front of the window under the weight of the past. She wrapped her arms around me. The warmth of her touch was a balm.
“My wolf fled into the woods, deep into the wilds to the north. It took days for the effects of the toxins to wear off, and several more for my family to find me p>
Absently, my fingers tangled in her hair. I looked down at her solemnly. She had promised to listen without interruption, but her eyes were full of sympathy as she stared up at me.
She fit against me perfectly, as though she had always been there. I thought I would resent the proximity, but somehow it felt right to be telling her this. The words spilled out of me like a lanced abscess, poison that I had carried for years finally released.
“Hudson hated me since that day. We had never been close, but I had killed his mate, and he spent the last few years alternating between stealing other men’s mates, and seducing anyone I showed an interest in. It is his revenge for what I took from him p>
There were tears in Avery’s eyes, for my pain. For that young wolf who hadn’t understood what was happening,
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Chapter 96
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and for those he had lost.
I gently caught a tear as it spilled from her eyes, and wiped it away.
My wolf, who had been sharing my words and memories with an echo of our everlasting sorrow, broke his silence to say softly in my mind, ‘She fits us. She could be mate p>
‘We already have one of those,’ I reminded him, ‘Are you ready to abandon that connection p>
I sensed his confusion, and mirrored it back.
“My wolf wonders…” I said, then trailed off. I couldn’t finish the question.
What I really want to say- ‘Are you my mate?’ 1
But no good would come from asking. She couldn’t answer. I let it fade away into the quiet of the room.
Avery didn’t press the question. She just continued to hold me in her arms, as though she was the only refuge I needed.
I was starting to feel like perhaps she was.
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