I am not okay. Not even a little bit. My wolf is seething, trying his best to break free. I can’t let him; he will go on a rampage, and just now, there are a lot of easy rogue targets waiting for him right outside our front door. I thought holding Maya close to me would help, but it’s not doing a damn thing. My wolf growls softly, the angry rumble vibrating deep in my chest. * Stop. We will scare her. *
But Maya looks unperturbed. She takes a step back though, and looks me straight in the eye. “Run it off.”
“I can’t. I’m too angry. I’ll lose control.”
“Then lose control for a little while. It’s not that bad. I’ve given over to my wolf many times.”
“Yes, I know, and what did your wolf do while you took a little nap in your subconscious?”
My question comes out sharper than I intent, but my mate just keeps looking at me, completely unbothered. “I have no idea, but I never heard about any bodies being found in the woods.”
I give her a tigh
Edric's POV: ~ I told you, ~ my wolf growls. He’s pissed at me, and is fighting for control * Calm down, we’ll find her. * ~ She left. Went rogue again, because you told her to leave. ~ * She didn’t leave. * She was in the room for at least an hour while I slept. I easily pick up her scent and follow it through the house, all the while fighting my wolf to stay in control. All he cares about is Maya. * Stop it! * I bark. * She’s in the house, relax. * ~ You don’t know. She could be injured. Dead. ~ * Does she smell dead to you? * I follow her scent to the first floor library. Maya’s sitting at one of the tables, surrounded by a pile of books, the little green lamp on the desk bathing her in a golden glow, giving her an almost ethereal appearance. * See? There she is. * Like me, my wolf is irrational when it comes to Maya, but now that he’s seen her, he settles down. Smiling, I lean against the do
I’m a bit dazed, feeling Edric throb inside me, the warmth of him filling me up from the inside, spilling through my entire being. Is it always this good? I doubt it. This must be a werewolf mate thing again – like those little bolts of electricity that shoots through me every time he touches me. Edric doesn’t move. He lies with his head turned away from me, his breathing ragged, biting into his fist while the thumb on his other hand caresses my jaw. The smell of his blood suddenly fills my nostrils. Okay, that’s new, until two days ago I wouldn’t have known the difference between his blood and mine. I push him off me, already missing his heavy body on mine, the way he fills me up. Obediently, he rolls off me and away. “What are you doing?” He growls. A deep, menacing sound. Well, crap, that can’t be good. And to my surprise, a low rumble burst out of my chest. What the fuck? * Don’t growl at him! * I admonish my wolf. ~ He wants to mark us. ~
Edric's POV: This is probably why everyone, my father included, warned me against having sex with my mate before I mark her. My wolf is out of control. The more I try to fight him, the harder he fights back – all so he can get to Maya and claim her. Apart from marking her, the only option I have left is to run it out of our system…I think. I hope. I definitely can’t do anything with Maya again until after the ceremony. If I weren’t an Alpha, I could just mark her and get it over with, but I don’t have that luxury. I shift as soon as I’m far enough from the house, leaving my clothes in a pile behind a tree. I give my wolf equal control. He needs it. We run as fast as we can, trees flashing by us in a blur, twisting and turning through our territory, dodging when we catch other wolves’ scents, soaring over fallen trees and ducking through the undergrowth. Maya. We catch her scent about a mile south of the waterfall. She shifted.
Agony. That is all. I have become one with the pain. It clouds everything. It was a little better, easier, when Edric was here lying next to me. Now that he’s gone, there’s just pain. Joshua picks me up and easily carries me to the ATV. Doc shifts and runs after us. That is all I know. Thank all the stars and heavens in all the worlds, I pass out. When I wake up again, I’m in the clinic and Doc is leaning over me. “I’m sorry, Luna, I know it hurts, but I can’t give you anything for the pain. While the silver’s in your system, nothing will work.” I whine. I don’t want to cry, but I can’t stop myself. I’ve never felt such pain. It’s as if acid is slowly burning its way through my system. “You’re not dying,” Doc says in his calm, comforting voice. “It just feels like it. We are going to start now.” Start what? Doc injects something into the I.V. bag. If I could scream, I would. I thought feeling the silver cycle th
Edric's POV: My poor mate. She looks like something that had been left out in the summer sun to roast alive. Her whole body, from her hairline to the soles of her feet, is red. Blisters and scabs cover her from head to toe. Not one part of her has been spared. I can’t find one patch of clear skin. Silver leaves scars. I expected some scarring, but nothing like this. It doesn’t matter to me what she looks like, but what will this do to her health? If she looks like this on the outside, what kind of damage did the silver do to her insides? I don’t move. I can’t leave her alone when she’s like this. She must be so afraid. I mind-link Doc instead. “Get in here.” I don’t even bother to be polite. He must have waited just outside. Doc steps into the room, but registers no surprise or concern. Maya groans softly when he pulls the sheet down to her waist. My wolf growls at Doc. I silence him, but Clarke just ignores us. I’m sure I’m not the first
Edric's POV: I stare at Marcus, completely confused. Nothing he just said makes any sense. Either they misinterpreted the prophecy, or he’s talking about something else. “What are you talking about? Maya isn’t here to destroy werewolves. She is a wolf.” No one really understands the prophecy. Interpretations of it vary wildly. It all just depends on who you talk to. I’m one of those that simply don’t know what to believe, but I’m sure it will be revealed to us in time. “I’m not talking about the prophecy. Maya is The Star Child.” “The what now?” I’m so surprised that I forget I’m in the filthy horse stable and sit back, my ass hitting the concrete with a jarring thump. I run two fingers over my mouth while I process his words. The Star Child is a werewolf fairy tale. My mother read it to me many times when I was a pup. Sweet Goddess, has the man lost his mind? “The Star Child isn’t real.” “I’m not talking about the pups’ story
Someone’s calling my name. “Maya?” “Just ten more minutes, mommy.” “Maya, wake up!” “Do I have to go to school today? I don’t feel well.” A hand on my shoulder sends a lightning bolt of pain down that side of my body, and my eyes fly open. Jolie is leaning over me, a small frown on her face. “Thank Goddess. I thought you were hallucinating or something.” “Just dreaming…I think.” I clear my throat. It still burns a little, and it feels scratchy when I talk, but it’s not unbearable. “Doc gave you the good drugs,” she chuckles and runs her hand over her belly. I can see a definite bump forming already. “Are you okay? Is the baby okay?” “Yes,” she smiles, “the little munchkin’s just kicking up a storm.” “Already?” “Hm-hm. My mother only went four months with me and Edric...but we are twins, that’s usually a shorter pregnancy…I shouldn’t go over five months.” Werewolves have shorter pregnancies than h
I glance at Edric. I’m very tempted to tell Darius all about my human parents, but the frown between my mate’s eyes changes my mind. Maybe it’s better if as few people as possible know for now. Though, it’s in the prophecy: A wolf but not a wolf…whatever the hell that means. May be a wolf born to human parents, it may be the prophecy is bullshit and The Moon Goddess has something else entirely planned for us. “Maya?” Darius pulls me from my thoughts. “Why don’t you tell me what you think you know, and I’ll tell you if you’re right?” He nods, agreeable for now. “Have you ever heard of The Star Child?” “Oh for fuck’s sake,” Edric groans. “Not this again. It’s a story. A werewolf myth at the very best.” What in the blue hell is a star child? “It’s in the texts,” Darius says, his dark brown eyes hot with anger. “I looked. There’s no mention of a star child.” “No, there won’t be, because the Lycan kings removed every mention of him