Forbidden Mate Beyond the Ice

Journal Entry 1

Zaskja Stormsson

My Wolf,

I awakened to the scent of blood this morning. I knew it was mine, not because my sense of smell is as sharp as yours (yet!), but because my abdomen throbbed and a dampness coated my thighs.

I bleed, Nordin.

I finally bleed!

I was so overwhelmed with relief that I wept. Eighteen summers. That is how long Fenrir has made me wait.

Do you know how often I lost hope as friend after friend underwent their first transformation?

Do you know how many nights Mor curled up beside me, murmuring reassurances that my turn would come?

Do you know how much it hurt to stay locked in skin when the rest of you shifted into your white beasts?

Do you understand why I’m on the verge of tears this morning? I am finally more.

How will you greet me tonight, as the pack gathers to celebrate my coming of stripe?

Will you allow your eyes to venture lower than my face for once—and not just to study the purple line that’ll appear along my spine to brand me as an active member of Clan Vale—but to see more of me?

Will you allow yourself to think of me, not as the forsaken babe you carried out of the Wilds so many winters ago, but as a female worthy of someday becoming your mate?

With all the love in my heart (even if you aren’t ready to receive it),

Zas