My Mate

Chapter 2 — The Bond

—Kael's POV—

I didn't sleep after I found her.

I ran all the way back to the den, to the stone house we built into the mountain at the heart of the Whispering Wilds. My Beta, Joren, was waiting for me on the steps of the Moon Temple. He took one look at my face and his eyes went wide.

"Where the hell have you been? The rogue got away, we had to -"

"I found her," I said.

That shut him up.

Joren has been my brother since we were pups. He was there the night we found my father's body. He knows what my wolf has been like for ten years. Cold. Half dead. He has watched me turn down every she-wolf who offered herself as Luna.

"What do you mean you found her?" he asked quietly.

"My mate," I said. My voice cracked. "My fated mate. She's real. Selene actually gave me a mate."

Joren stared at me, then his nose twitched. He leaned in and sniffed my mantle. His face changed.

"You smell like white ash," he said. "And... human? Kael, where did you find her?"

"In Bramble Hollow."

His face fell. "No."

"Yes."

"Kael, no. You can't. The truce -"

"She's the hunters' daughter," I said.

The words hung in the cold night air. I had not said it out loud until then, and saying it made it more real.

Joren grabbed my arm and pulled me inside the Temple, away from the other wolves who were gathering for the Blood Moon rites.

"Say that again," he whispered.

"Varric and Mirelle of the Silver Thorn. The ones who killed my father. She's their daughter. Her name is Aurora."

Joren let go of me like I had burned him. "The Moon Goddess has a cruel sense of humor."

"I know their scent, Joren. I have smelled it in my nightmares for ten years. White ash incense, silver, and my father's blood. It was on her cloak. It was all over their house."

"And the girl? Does she know what you are?"

"No. She thinks I'm a trapper. She thinks her parents are border guards."

Joren paced. "You have to stay away from her. You know what the Order does. If they find out their daughter is mated to the Nightclaw Alpha, they will use her as bait. They will kill her to get to you."

"I know."

"If you claim her, the pack will -"

"I know!"

My voice echoed off the stone walls. My wolf surged forward and my eyes flashed silver. Joren immediately bared his neck, submitting to his Alpha.

I forced myself to breathe. To calm down.

"I tried to stay away," I said, quieter. "I ran. I came back here. And look at me."

I held out my hands. They were shaking. My skin was too hot. Since I left her at that cottage, it felt like there was a physical thread tied around my ribs, pulling me back south, toward Bramble Hollow. My chest ached. My mouth was dry. The mate bond does not like to be ignored. The longer I stay away from her, the sicker I will get. Eventually my wolf will go feral and take over just to find her.

Joren saw it. He has read the old scrolls.

"Gods," he muttered. "You're already lovesick. It's been two hours."

"I need to see her again."

"Kael -"

"Not to claim her. Not yet. I just need to make sure she's safe. That rogue is still out there. And if her parents find out what she is to me..."

Joren sighed. He knows when I have made up my mind. "If Varric catches you near his daughter, he will shoot you with silver and hang your pelt next to your father's. You know that, right?"

"I know."

"And you are still going?"

I looked south, toward the human lands. I could still smell her faintly on my mantle, even though the wind was wrong. Wildflowers after rain.

"She was worried about me," I said.

Joren blinked. "What?"

"When she saw me, she wasn't scared. She asked if I needed a healer. She looked at me like... like no one has looked at me since my mother died."

I didn't wait for him to answer. I pulled my father's mantle tighter around me and walked out of the Temple, back into the forest.

I told myself I would just watch from the tree line. Just to make sure the rogue hadn't circled back to her farm. That was my duty as Alpha. Protect the border. That was all.

It was a lie. My wolf knew it was a lie. I was going back because the bond was pulling and I was too weak to fight it.

I reached the edge of the Wilds just as the sun set. The cottage was dark except for one light in an upstairs window. Her window.

I stayed in the shadows of the trees, far enough that the hunters wouldn't smell me, close enough that I could see.

Elara was sitting at her desk, writing something. Her brown hair was down now. She had changed out of her dirty apron into a simple night dress. She looked so small. So human. So breakable.

Then she looked up. Straight at the tree line. Straight at me, even though I was hidden.

She couldn't see me. Humans can't see that far in the dark. But she stared for a long moment, and then she did something that made my heart stop.

She smiled. A small, soft smile, like she knew I was there. Like she was glad.

And she lifted her hand and waved. At me. At the monster in the woods who was supposed to be her enemy.

I pressed my hand against my chest where the golden thread of the bond was burning.

Tomorrow is the Festival of Selene in Bramble Hollow. Every human in the border towns will be there. Her parents will be busy with Order duties.

She will be alone. I will see her again tomorrow.