Chapter Fifteen
Vulf
If only one moment in a mortal’s life could be bottled, I would choose this one.
Fresh air caresses fur. My warm little doe clutches my withers. Azuran flies as the wind at our back. Everything is right in the world.
“There are so many animals here!” Terra exclaims.
“So many,” I tilt my head to respond. My vocal cords stretch over the unusual language in my wolf form, gravelly and sharp. “Azuran keeps a beautiful diary.”
“For real?”
“No,” Azuran snaps, though his voice fluctuates with the boundless gusts of his form. “I merely keep a nature journal.”
“Right, right,” Terra laughs.
My heart jolts. The two of them make my heart soar. What joy, to hear the loves of my life teasing each other. To know they are aware of my past, of my differences, and feel comfortable with me regardless. To know they find the same companionship in one another without jealousy.
To know they both long for the type of connection a knot brings, and they both want mine.
A neglected cub. A failed werewolf with nowhere to call home. Me. They want me.
“That’s not surprising. Our Daddy is sensitive, isn’t he?” she teases.
I snort. “You barely know the half of it.”
For the rest of the ride, I’m content to listen to Azuran and Terra converse about the way things used to be in her neighboring territory. The bliss in their voices encourages my feet faster, though I pause at anything my goddess might find interesting.
“You lived here? Why didn’t you say so?” Terra’s voice pierces my thoughts, which had drifted into daydreams of more days like this, full of picnics and pleasure with my mates.
Azuran must’ve mentioned something of my past. If not for him, would I have opened this wound? Moments like this are why I need him, lest I cocoon myself in safe zones, shielded from vulnerability.
“It was brief and unpleasant. I lived as a half-starved wanderer after my clan abandoned me. I look forward to new memories here, with you, to lessen the pain of the past.”
“Puppy,” she pouts, her arms circling my neck. “I look forward to that, too.” She kisses the fur below my ear, then lightly clamps her teeth around it. “Enough frolicking. Let’s go home and play.”
My tail whizzes back and forth. I skid to a halt, turn, and leap, trusting Azuran’s wind to carry me.
“You guys are efficient as fuck,” Terra says with a giggle. We land on a cloud, Azuran joining us.
“We’ve been together a long time.” I shed my wolf form for my werewolf one. I haven’t used my human facade since the day Terra admitted to loving me the way I am. “I wouldn’t be here without him.”
Azuran caresses my head. “The feeling is mutual, pet.”
“Technically,” Terra drawls. “Neither would I. I’d be slutty little Terra the succubus.
Probably sleeping on Chad’s couch.” I growl.
Terra laughs and ducks into my arms, which naturally fold her closer, her antlers settling below my chin.
“For the record, I’m glad I’m here. Maybe I’ll go by my full name here. I mean, it kinda makes sense.”
“Your full name?”
“Laterra. My first foster parents thought it was ridiculous. No one even told me until I was seven.” She gives a soft laugh. “The ground here has a voice. I heard it as we ran through the meadow, clear as day. Weird, right?”
“No,” Azuran and I respond together.
She glances between us, green eyes glistening. “It was louder in Aevium, but all jumbled up.”
“Did you talk to it?” I prompt, tasking myself with detangling her hair from her antlers. “When it spoke to you, did you answer?”
“I did,” she hedges, “but maybe I shouldn’t have.”
“You did the right thing, Wildflower.” Azuran tilts her chin toward him. “Of course your land speaks to you. It has awaited its queen for centuries. And? What did you say?”
Laterra bit her lip, doubt briefly clouding her features. “I made a promise I don’t know if I can keep.”
“You’ll keep it,” Azuran replies easily. “What was the promise?”
“I promised not to abandon it. But I don’t know how to revive an entire forest!”
“So you’ll stay?” I inhale sharply. “Shit, sorry, that’s selfish of me.”
She only laughs, twisting in my arms. “Of course I’m staying, Puppy. Why on earth would I ever go?””