All eyes landed on Winter, who cringed with so many people staring at him. It was as if all of them were burning holes deep into him, his skin, his blood, his soul even, and he didn’t like it, not one bit. “Look away,” he hissed. Winter couldn’t help but look at Aether, and then he thought back to what the Moon Goddess had said when he last saw her. He had asked her if he would have a mate after Citrus. Her exact words had been, ‘You would not have another wolf as your mate’ Winter had initially thought that meant he would no longer have a mate; no one else was destined for him, and the one thing that had gotten him through his childhood had essentially been a lie. But maybe she knew. She was a deity. She most likely knew. But she knew about Aether and the merfolk, and damn, she couldn’

