Page 34 of Wolf’s Fated Bride

“I’d love to.” Wow. I hadn’t expected that. “My brother will lock our pack inside because of the temperatures tonight. We have less than an hour before it becomes dangerously cold out here. Even for wolves.”

“Less than an hour, you say?”

I nod.

“We’d better make haste, then.”

Excited to track, because I never get to do that, I rush past him and undress inside the kitchen, then pad outside as a wolf. They’re all towering over me, but that’s fine. I’m a girl wolf, and girl wolves are built smaller. Even an alpha girl wolf is smaller than most beta males.

Blade stays in his bipedal form.

When he whistles, the wolves take off. They’re so fast! I struggle to keep up with them and very quickly get left behind. I can still see them climbing the mountains, but I can’t expect them to slow down for me. They expect me to search for Ash near the ocean instead of the mountain range. I probably couldn’t scale it in time to get back to the castle before I freeze anyhow.

Trouble is, I have a feeling I’ll find something on the mountain east of the tower. It’s the one opposite the slopes they’re currently ascending.

I pause to assess, whining, torn between staying close to them, even as they leave me in the dust, or following my instinct and running the opposite way. Because the weather is getting worse, it’s stupid of me to separate from the pack, but I’m not a sheep. I can’t just follow the flock.

I’m a wolf, a predatory species, and I know the terrain. Technically, I don’t need a bunch of male werewolves to run with me.

I run as fast as my legs can carry me and scale the mountain toward the first cave. I enter it, sniffing the ground for Ash’s scent, but he’s not in here. I’m unsure why I’m sure about that, but I know it like I know Maren’s already asleep with my mom running her fingers through Maren’s hair.

My paw throbs with its own heartbeat. It burns like hell.

Running over snow soothed the burn on my paw, but in the cave, the uneven ground makes me wobble. I recall how Ash also had trouble with his paw. Oh man, I think he did pass some disease on to me. We both need to see Lindsey first thing in the morning.

Outside, the high winds sweep the cave and throw me against a rock. I hit my flank. Ouch. Now I have a burning foot and a bruised flank. That Fireborn alphahole better be around here somewhere.

I scale the mountain until I reach the second cave, which I enter as fast as I can before the wind sweeps me off the edge of the cliff, and I tumble down the mountain. Inside, I shake out my fur, then pad deeper into the cave toward some muffled sounds.

As I near the source, there’s a continuous roar, as if a tornado is spinning inside the cave. My instincts tell me I’m nearing Ash Fireborn, and possibly his fire.

I follow the tunnel toward a glow, which grows brighter and brighter as I approach. It’s a red light. The roaring sound of fire is unmistakable now.

At the end of the tunnel, I come upon Sven holding an electronic device in his hand, aimed at something inside the cavern. We don’t use electronics the way humans do. It’s bad for our mental health and cognitive abilities, which are crucial to our ability to shift from animal to bipedal.

I poke my head in to peer into the cavern.

Ten feet below, Ash stands knee-deep in a frozen pond, a perfect circle of melted ice around his legs. Eyes closed, he concentrates on wielding elemental fire in a figure eight around his body. The flames take the shape of galloping horses. They race in an infinite loop, diving into the water and surging back out behind him.

A fire purge.

I pad to the edge to get a closer look.

“Stay back!” Sven shouts. Startled, I slip. I try to step back, but the ground is slippery. I slide down the cavern toward the fire wolf.

Ash’s eyes snap open. The horses vanish, and the flames explode. The force of it stops my sliding, and I scream at the top of my lungs. A wall of fire engulfs me, roaring all around me. I try to dodge left, then right, but there’s no escape. There’s no escape! I’m burning, trapped in an inferno.

Ash walks calmly through the fire and stands in front of me with his hands over his head, his eyes the size of dinner plates. He bends at the knee and crouches before me, then reaches out and captures my muzzle. He stares into my eyes. I don’t know what he sees, but his eyes are not red but brown. They’re chestnut brown.

When he touches his nose to my wet one, I pull back my lip and growl.

Cooties! I don’t want his cooties on my nose. Or on my cheeks. I try to backpedal, but he holds me tightly.

“How the fuck are you doing this?” he asks.

Errrr. Doing what?

Ash stands with his hands on his hips, drawing my attention to his middle. He’s nude. It’s very distracting. I look away.