Death Knows Our Name (Rocky Mountain Wolves #5)

Chapter One

~Leo~

Life worked best when everything was planned in advance. Careful preparation and meticulous organization were the building blocks I used to construct the ordered existence where I felt most comfortable.

And in only a few days, it had all fallen apart.

In the forest near the Ravenstone pack border, Alpha Amanda's voice cut through the silence.

“I wish that every wish this genie has ever granted is now undone.”

Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, the air around the genie, Kalo, began to vibrate. As the closest one to him, I felt it sooner than everyone else, but before I could do or say anything about it, a fierce wave of energy flowed out of him, nearly knocking me over.

Everyone around us began shouting and shifting as the enemy forces crossed onto our allies’ land and battle erupted, but my attention never left Kalo.

His eyes were wide with wonder, fixed on a distant point that I couldn’t see, and in that moment, flush with power and satisfaction, he was almost too beautiful for words.

I’d never thought of a man as beautiful before. To be fair, I’d never thought of a woman as beautiful, either. The visceral reaction that other people seemed to have to physical appearances had never entirely made sense to me.

My mother used to tell me I just hadn’t met the right person yet, that I’d understand it when it happened to me, but in my mid-20s, I still hadn’t felt anything of the sort.

Not until I arrived at the Ravenstone pack and felt the pull of the mate bond.

Not until I met Kalo.

And as I watched him, bathed in the afterglow of his power, my eyes suddenly seemed to lose focus. Although I was staring right at him, I lost sight of him for a second. He seemed to become almost translucent, nearly vanishing, and something painful stabbed at my chest.

What the hell?

I blinked, and he was back, right where he had been, still staring in awe at something that wasn’t there.

And then he began to vanish again.

“No!”

I reached for his shoulder, but my hand found empty air, and I remembered what Amanda had said: undoing the wishes might kill Kalo. When his power was taken from him, when he was no longer a genie at all, he might not survive it.

Was that what this flickering meant? Was he being taken back to some other supernatural realm, or simply to the afterlife, whatever that might be?

That couldn’t happen, not when he’d just gained the freedom he’d wanted for so long

Not when he didn’t even know we were mates.

I couldn’t let it happen.

Frantically, I scanned the clearing for anyone who might be able to help. Amanda and Evalina huddled over Troy, who was fighting his own battle against mortality. They had enough to worry about already.

Felix and Darius had already shifted to join the fight. All the Ravenstone men were busy.

There was no one but me and a magical being I had no idea how to help.

Kalo reappeared, and that time I managed to grab him, pulling him down onto the ground so he wouldn’t be hurt.

“Stay with me.” The words came from somewhere deep inside myself that I didn’t fully understand. “I’ll keep you safe.”

The genie’s golden eyes fixed on me curiously. “Is the world always this bright for mortal eyes?”

It wasn’t any brighter than usual, but I didn’t get a chance to tell him that before he began to fade again. My chest compressed with the same pain, the sensation growing tighter the more he disappeared, and I finally realized what the feeling was.

The mate bond was severing. As Kalo left this world, it was tearing in two.

No.

He flickered back, only to vanish again. One moment, he was solid and trembling beneath my hands, and the next, I was clutching at air.

Panic surged through me.

“I need help!” I roared as I lifted my head. Wolves were running past, snarling, bleeding, and locked in desperate combat. None of them heard me.

None of them saw him disappearing like sand through my fingers.

“Evalina!” I shouted towards the trees where I had last seen her. “Anyone! Please!”

But the fairy was gone. No one was coming, and Kalo was fading faster.

His body returned again, shuddering violently, and his golden eyes opened, frantic as they searched mine. The wonder had vanished and, in its place, I saw a fear that hadn’t been there before, as if he’d glimpsed something dark beyond the light.

“Leo…” he whispered. “It’s going to take me…”

“No,” I growled, clutching him tighter. “You’re staying here.”

His fingers pressed into my arm weakly. “The magic’s gone. I don’t belong here.”

I tried to force calm into my voice even as terror twisted my stomach. “You belong with me.”

A smile flashed across his face, just long enough for my heart to swell with hope before he vanished again.

My wolf howled inside me, a wild and guttural sound I barely kept behind my teeth. It couldn’t end like this. I wouldn’t let it.

There was one option. The mate bond could help bind him to this world, giving him a better chance of escaping whatever force was trying to take him, but only if it was sealed.

Normally, there would be discussions and declarations and acceptance, but we didn’t have time for me to explain it all to him. We might not have any time at all.

So, when he flickered back onto the ground beside me, his breath shallow and his eyes unfocused, I made my decision.

Shifting partway to let my fangs elongate and my wolf take over, I bent over him and sank my teeth into the soft flesh of his neck.

Right where his neck met his shoulder, my mark seared into his skin, glowing white-hot against his brown skin as it branded him, and a jolt of connection surged through me, blinding in its intensity.

With all my might, I focused on that invisible tether now connecting us, and I pulled.

Kalo cried out with a broken, strangled sound before going completely still.

But he didn’t disappear again. He lay there unconscious, but solid and breathing.

Alive.

My forehead dropped against his as I exhaled a long, shuddering breath. The pain in my chest eased, confirming the bond was secure, and for just a moment, I let myself breathe.

Around us, the battle continued. Never before had I abandoned my post in the middle of a fight, but I’d already broken one cardinal rule of being a werewolf, so what was another one?

Positioning Kalo’s arms around my neck, I hauled him to his feet and over my shoulder, and I walked away from the fighting.

Hours passed, during which Ravenstone emerged victorious. Troy survived, and fought a challenge against the enemy Alpha, for reasons I didn’t fully understand. Darius gave me updates through our pack mind-link, even though I offered him no explanation for my absence.

He didn’t know that I’d spent the last few hours sitting on the edge of the spare room bed in the Ravenstone pack house, watching the rise and fall of Kalo’s chest.

My mate hadn’t moved at all, but the mark still burned against his neck, a silent reminder of what I’d done.

What if he was furious when he found out? What if he didn’t want a mate?

What if he didn’t want me?

What if he never forgave me for making the choice for him?

A quiet groan pulled me out of my spiralling thoughts, and instantly, my body tensed. Kalo’s head turned on the pillow, his brow furrowing before his eyes blinked slowly open.

They’d lost their supernatural glow but they were still stunning, a golden colour that perfectly complemented the brown of his skin, and my breath caught as our gazes connected.

He stared at me, his eyes tracking back and forth as he took stock of his situation, and I stayed silent, waiting for him to take the lead.

Finally, his hand drifted up to his neck, brushing the raw skin there, and when his fingers paused on the mark, he winced.

When he finally spoke, his voice was so hoarse, it was barely audible.

“What did you do?”