Journal Entry 10
Zaskja Stormsson
My Wolf,
Ulf blames me for your absence. I can’t even fault him for it.
If I’d kept my love a secret one more year, you wouldn’t have fought with him about my impending future. Though I’m sorry for ruining your relationship, I’m not sorry Ulf used his Alpha pitch to forbid you from challenging Heinous Havrik.
I don’t want you to risk your life for me.
And before you get angry, I do believe in you, my Wolf. With every fiber of my being. But that doesn’t prevent me from being terrified of the Ravine Alpha and how far he’ll go to keep his hair attached to his scalp and remove yours.
I can’t live in a world without you. Just setting the words down on paper makes me sick to my stomach. So sick that I might actually throw up.
I hope you’re keeping safe in the Wilds. I climb to the pass each morning, and though you’ll be glad to know that no one lets me through, I watch for you. Yesterday, when two wolves returned, my heart damn near exploded thinking it could be you. But it wasn’t.
The returned shifters said they found no animals to hunt. That the dragons have rid the forest of wild game. Shifters are angry with the Hasam?ris and, by extension, with me, since I’m the reason for this cold front between vampyrs and wolves.
Just tonight, at the longhouse, I heard them discuss freeing Kjell. Your father says he’s considering it. He caught me eavesdropping and asked me to stop by his house on my way home.
I assumed he meant to rage at me some more, but you’ll never guess! He handed me a letter, which he urged me to read over a tumbler of aquavit. He calls the letter a truth offering, and the drink, a peace offering.
Nordin, do you know what was written in that letter?
My stomach keeps swishing as I recall the missive he’ll entrust to a wolf at first light—one he’s tasked with running south.
He’s finally writing to the Ljosam?ris to inform them that a child of theirs appeared near pack land fifteen years ago.
He says that, if I’m twenty-one, then you could stake your claim on me, and thus foil Havrik’s intent to take me, since werewolves cannot steal another’s mate.
Your father is tired of fighting with you and will do all he can to contribute to your happiness.
I can’t wait to tell you all this in person. Especially since I can’t leave this letter lying around or Mor will sniff it out. I don’t want to feed the antagonism she feels toward your father.
Please come home, my Wolf. My world is bleak without you.
With all the love in my heart,
Zas