Wolf Fated

Chapter Seventeen

Mitch

Day falls into night. Then day again. I watch the sun pass until stars dot the night sky. The moon shines and then disappears when the gray light of dawn wipes it away. It’s day again and I go through the same motions I did the day before. And the day before that.

My world is a colorless, hollow husk. The same as me.

My wolf is silent. He’s withdrawn into the deepest recesses of our shared soul. He blames himself for the loss of our mate. His unending guilt is a constant sickly presence gnawing at the edges of my consciousness.

Night ends. Another day begins. I get up from the bed I’ve lain in all night, shower, dress and sit in my office.

Sally finds me slumped behind my desk where I stare at scattered papers and reports I can”t even begin to focus on. She wordlessly sets down a burger and fries from the diner, but the smell only churns my empty stomach into nauseous knots.

”Mitch, you have to eat,” she says gently, worry creasing her brow. ”The town can’t have it’s sheriff and Alpha wasting away to nothing.”

I grunt a hollow thanks. She”s right. My clothes hang looser with every passing day but I can’t seem to care. I know I need to eat but I can”t seem to muster the appetite. I look up into her familiar face, see the sympathy that radiates from her.

”I had everything when I found my mate. And I ruined it all in one gods-damned night.”

Sally”s expression softens and she lays a comforting hand on my shoulder, giving it a sympathetic squeeze. ”Oh sugar, you didn”t ruin a thing. Fate has a way of working itself out, you”ll see.”

I nod numbly at her platitudes, but they roll off me. Even if Sarah did return to me, how could she ever truly love all of me? The man and the wolf, whose animal nature goes against everything her human mind understands?

Sally pats my shoulder once more. ”Just try and eat something, okay? I”ll leave the grill on for you after my shift if you feel like joining the land of the living tonight.”

I mumble thanks, knowing there”s no chance in hell I”ll be seeking company. Hell, I’m no company to keep. Sally seems to realize the futility and gives me one last worried glance before letting herself out.

As soon as the door closes behind her, my wolf chuffs wearily in the back of my mind.

Lost mate.

He sounds tired. Sick even. I reach out to give him comfort. It’s not you. Not your fault. He doesn’t listen. Just retreats to the back of my mind until I can barely feel him.

I know the warning signs of what’s happening to me all too well. Wolves don’t do well without finding their mates, let along losing them.

He”s on the verge of going feral. Of completely divorcing his consciousness from mine. If that happens...I’ll become feral.

The thought makes me call out to Zane, my Beta, and ask him to come into my office. When the burly wolf shifter appears, I spit it out before I can reconsider.

”If I go feral, you”ll have to cull me,” I state flatly. ”I might not be that far away.”

Zane”s eyes widen in shock and he shakes his head vehemently. ”Like hell I will! We”ll find another way, some way to reach you before it goes that far.”

”And if we can”t?” I say, feeling more tired with each passing moment. ”Culling a feral is the humane thing to do, Zane. Especially as my wolf is an alpha. He can’t become out of control. It will put everyone here in too much danger. You know the laws as well as I do.”

He frowns, clearly troubled, but doesn”t argue further, then looks up at me, choosing his words carefully. “You really think you’ll be like the feral you culled?

I stiffen at his words, the first inkling of unease prickling along my nape. ”What do you mean?”

”Something about him was a little off.” Zane spreads his hands in a placating gesture. ”Ferals don”t come into populated town areas. They sure as hell don”t go sniffing out closed cabins, prying open locked doors and windows to get inside. And they definitely don”t seek out a sleeping, vulnerable mate before just...waiting around for the Alpha to show up.”

The bottom drops out of my stomach as realization washes over me in a sickening wave. He”s absolutely right—that whole scenario makes no sense for a typical feral attack. One look at Zane”s grim expression tells me the thought has occurred to him as well. I’ve been so consumed with myself, I haven’t done my job as sheriff or Alpha. That should have been the first thing I noticed.

The hairs along my arms and nape prickle. Zane is right. Ferals have lost the ability for higher thought. They act on instinct alone, little more than rabid wild wolves themselves, albeit wolves that reap a lot more damage.

That feral didn”t want to kill Sarah. Not at first anyway. He wanted me to find them together, to send me into a blind rage before...before what? Taking me out while I was distracted protecting my mate?

But why?

But before I can articulate any of these swirling theories, movement outside catches my eye. I glance up just in time to see a small navy blue Honda Civic drawing into the parking lot in front of the station. The driver”s door opens and a curvy figure unfolds, long red familiar curls spilling over a green sweater as she glances around uncertainly. It takes long moment for me to make sure I’m not hallucinating.

Sarah.

My mate.

She…she”s back!

I”m frozen for a single gut-punched moment. She looks thinner, paler, with bruised half-moons beneath her eyes...but still the most beautiful woman I”ve ever laid eyes on.

Then her gaze lifts and locks onto mine through the window, piercing and electric even at a distance. My chair clatters over as I surge upright, staggering for the door in desperation.

Zane is forgotten, the whole world narrowing to this singular, shining point of light in the darkness of my existence.

”Sarah,” I breathe as I stumble out onto the sidewalk. I search her expression for any hint of fear or revulsion. But there”s only wary longing and heartfelt sadness reflecting in her eyes.

Gathering my tattered shreds of hope, I start toward her again. ”You came back...” I want to add ‘to me’ but I can’t articulate the words.

Sarah hesitates. ”Are you sure you even want to see me again?” Her voice is barely above a whisper, laced with trepidation and self-doubt. ”After how I left...you should be furious with me.”

Confusion wars with the tidal wave of relief and longing crashing through me. ”Want to see you? Sarah, seeing you here is the answer to every dream, every prayer I”ve had since you walked away.” I take another tentative step closer, drinking in the delicate slope of her jaw, the familiar blend of wildflowers and warm summer rain scent of her calming the surging emptiness inside me. ”I want nothing more than to see you with every fiber of my being.”

Her teeth worry at her lip, catching the tender flesh. ”Is that why you put money in my account? So I”d have to come back to pay you back?”

My stomach plummets at the implication—that she”s only here out of some misguided sense of obligation, not by her own choice to embrace our bond. ”No, sweetheart. I couldn”t let you leave town with nothing to your name, not after that bastard cleaned you out.” The thought of her trying to start over with nothing makes me grind my teeth in quiet fury. ”I had to make sure you were taken care of, even if you never wanted to see me again.”

Sarah”s eyes widen at the vehemence in my tone before softening. ”So I guess it was you who got Mark to give me back my money too, huh? I probably shouldn”t be surprised.”

A rueful smirk tugs at the corner of my mouth as I remember phoning the little weasel and threatening every legal consequence I could dredge up. “Having friends in high places, like witches who work out in the human world, made backing up my threats too easy. Kathy was more than happy to cast a little ”incentive” spell Mark’s way when I told her what Mark had done to you. I hear it on good authority he’ll be celibate for about a year, whether he wants that or not.”

Sarah huffs out a surprised chuckle. ”Should”ve had her make it two years if you ask me.” She shakes her head, squaring those slender shoulders as if bracing herself. ”But that”s not why I”m here, Mitch. I...I came to see you.”

The words are like a physical blow, momentarily stealing my breath. This is it—the dressing down I”ve been dreading and internally lacerating myself over for weeks. I steel myself for the onslaught of justifiable anger at how thoroughly I broke her trust, shattered any chance at the happiness we could have shared.

I”m not prepared for the ragged emotion lacing Sarah”s voice, or the shimmer of unshed tears in her warm green eyes. ”I…need to apologize. For leaving you like I did when I should have known better. I should have trusted you, Mitch. But most of all...” She swipes angrily at the dampness spilling over her lashes. ”Most of all, I should have trusted myself and the bond between us. None of this would have happened if I”d just had a little faith.”

My wolf stirs, emerging from his self-imposed exile. He sits up straighter as Sarah continues, more alert and engaged than he”s been in weeks.

”This whole time, I”ve been so angry at myself for not listening to my own heart. For letting my stupid doubts sabotage the most precious, miraculous thing fate has ever given me. For letting a scumbag like Mark make me think the worst of myself.” Her lower lip trembles, but her gaze remains locked fiercely on mine. Pleading for understanding, for a second chance I would have walked through fire to grant.

”I don”t know if you can ever forgive me for that, but I owe you the biggest apology of all.” She reaches into her car and retrieves a sheath of neatly stacked paper. Then, wordlessly, she extends it toward me.

”What is this?” My breath catches in my throat as I read the title on the top page: Wolf Fated. ”Sarah...you wrote a book? About wolf shifters?”

I glance up at her, reeling between wonder and disbelieving awe.

Sarah gives me a small nod. ”I...I owe the biggest apology to your wolf, Mitch. More than anyone, it was him I gravely underestimated and misjudged that night.”

A low, sub-vocal rumble emanates from my chest as my wolf makes himself known before he explodes through a forced shift. My tattered clothing flutters to the ground as he launches himself toward Sarah in a flurry of inhuman speed and motion.

I try to harness him back but Sarah laughs when my wolf dances around her like a jubilant puppy, nuzzling and licking at her hands and face with unbridled affection.

”Thank you for protecting me,” she murmurs, cupping his broad muzzle and running her fingertips over the white star on his forehead. ”That feral would have killed me if you hadn”t stopped him. Thank you for being there...for being my real protector when I was too blind to see it.”

An earsplitting howl of pure, unbridled joy splits the air as my wolf rears back, every sinewy line of his body exuding elation. Sarah stumbles back with a breathless laugh at his exuberance, her entire being shining with happiness.

Then, in a sinuous shift of energy, the great russet beast dissolves and remolds into my human form once again, leaving me standing naked in front of my mate. Sarah”s cheeks flush as her widened gaze rakes over every hard line and corded muscle of my body. The scent of her desire blooms thick and intoxicating in the charged air between us.

She raises her hand and clenches her fist before she can touch me. ”Thank you doesn”t seem enough for everything you”ve done for me, but I...I realize now that leaving was the biggest mistake of my life. Despite my doubts and fears, I love you. Truly, deeply love every exquisite part of your soul, both man and wolf. I can only beg that someday, you might find it in your heart to forgive me for throwing that all away.”

Her words race through my entire being, igniting sparks of joy and renewal, and cutting away the bleak heartache in an instant.

She turns then, as if preparing to leave. I can”t bear the thought of letting her slip through my fingers again.

I won’t.

I reach out, snagging her slender wrist and pulling her to my chest with infinite gentleness. ”When do I get the chance to speak, hmm? To tell you how I feel about your being here...about having you back in my life?”

Sarah”s breath hitches, resignation dimming the fire in her eyes as she braces for a harsh dismissal. For me to echo the anguish and heartbreak she”s inflicted upon herself. But all I feel is soaring, unbridled euphoria at having her warm body against mine. At her second chance I never dared dream would be granted.

I place my fingertips on the racing pulse in her neck. The soft warmth of her pulse thrums beneath my calloused fingertips. ”I love you, sweetheart. More than the air in my lungs or the wolf in my soul. My love isn”t born solely from the sacred bond between fated mates. Although that greatly enhances and elevates the depth of what we share, my love comes from the core of who I am. Both the man and the wolf, who will forever more cherish and protect his mate above all else in this world or the next.”

Fresh tears spill over her lashes and slide down the elegant sweep of her cheeks. With a feather-light caress I brush them away.

”I love you, Sarah.” I gather her pliant form against me and revel in how perfectly we fit together. ”I”ve loved you from the moment I first saw you and will love you until my final breath. I’ll love you between now and then with everything I am. I love every little thing about you with my whole heart. I love you because you’re my mate, and the woman I choose. I love you, now and forever.”

A breathless giggle-sob escapes her and she winds those slender arms around my neck, burying her face against the thundering pulse in my throat. ”You only have to tell me you love me once for me to know it”s true.”

I brush the pad of my thumb over the swell of her. ”It will never be enough. I”ll tell you every day for the rest of our lives together. Until you never doubt how thoroughly, how completely, you”ve claimed every facet of my soul as yours.”

Sarah”s laughter slowly fades, her expression sobering into one of naked vulnerability and trust. One that steals the very breath from my lungs. ”I believe you, Mitch,” she vows, cradling my face in her palm with infinite tenderness. ”With every part of my heart and soul, I believe.”

She believes—in me, in us, and the profound destiny that links our souls together.

Slowly, reverently, I dip my head until our brows are nearly brushing and our mingled breaths merge in the air between us. ”Then allow me to show you just how cherished you are,” I rasp, my lips a hair”s breadth from her lush, waiting mouth. ”Allow your mate to lavish you with the soul-deep worship you”ve always deserved.”

Sarah”s breathing is ragged, eyes flickering shut as she arches toward me in wordless acceptance. A low, needy sound escapes the back of her throat, both a plea and a demand.

”Take me home, my mate,” she manages in a breathy whisper. ”And this time...I swear on every star in the heavens, I won”t run from anything except into your arms. Now and forever, we have each other.”

With a fierce growl of possession, I seal my mouth over hers in a searing brand of a kiss. My mate is home with me, safe in the shelter of my embrace. Loving each other. Sharing a life together. Fated forever.