Chapter 8 Fenris
Fenris
I’d gotten up before her to make breakfast, but one glance around her kitchen reminded me just how much time she spent in the infirmary. She ran on coffee and whatever she could scrounge up from the cafeteria.
Shocker.
Short of the leftovers I’d brought the night before and a jug of milk with a science experiment growing on top of it, she didn’t have anything substantial, certainly not enough for me to make her a feast deserving of the morning after a mark.
She’d marked me.
She’d fucking marked me.
Slipping on my boots, I thought about leaving her a note to let her know I’d be back, but if I hurried, I could get there and return before she even realized I was gone. Wyn might act like she preferred to plan years in advance, but she secretly liked surprises, especially when food was involved.
So I stuffed my hands in my coat pockets and shuffled through the snow, grinning like an idiot as the bite on my neck twinged. Maybe I should have been more upset about it. She hadn’t asked. Hell, we’d only been doing whatever this was for five days.
But my inner beast howled with delight. It confirmed what he’d known all this time, and the human had taken years to figure out. She was my mate. There was no other explanation. And she’d claimed me.
Yeah, maybe she’d done it in the heat of the moment, perhaps compelled by some unknown magic that only our animals understood. But she’d done it. And there was no taking it back.
Technically, I could reject it. I could refuse to mark her and let the bond fizzle out over the course of the next few months.
But I wouldn’t. I’d get her food and hand-feed her in bed, and only once I’d forced her to admit this was a good thing, I’d lean over her beautiful naked body and sink my teeth into that creamy skin.
I practically shook at the thought.
I didn’t expect to be ambushed by a group of six-year-olds fresh out of arts and crafts.
“Fenris!” Jessi shouted, her face covered in glitter and paint. “Look!”
She held up a piece of construction paper covered in the same stuff. By the looks of her, she’d gotten more on her fingers and cheeks than the paper itself, but nuance.
“What cha got there, huh?” I scooped her up and balanced her on my hip while she explained her artistic masterpiece.
“That’s momma and papa, and that’s our dog,” she said.
“Dog?” I raised my eyebrows. “You finally broken them down?”
“Well, not yet,” she admitted as I put her back on her feet. “But when they see the picture, they’ll know I’ll be so happy if they say yes.”
I laughed and rubbed a hand over her head. “Sounds like a good plan.”
“Where’s Wyn?” She glanced around with her bright eyes and grinned.
“She’s still sleeping,” I said. “I’m on a mission for breakfast.”
She scrunched her nose and giggled. “You smell like her.”
“Do I?” Of course, I did. I had her teeth marks in my neck and her magic in my veins.
“Yeah,” she said, but that didn’t seem to faze her. “Don’t forget the snickerdoodles.” She turned and scampered over to her teacher, who was currently wiping the hands of one of Jessi’s classmates.
“Fen!” called another pup. “Come see mine!”
Despite my time-sensitive covert operation, I couldn’t very well ignore the pleas of children.
So I set my spoils on a nearby table and walked over to admire each one, making sure they knew how much their families would cherish their work.
It reminded me of Lyra at this age, all gap-toothed smiles and wide-eyed innocence.
It was only after I managed to untangle myself from their revelry that I thought of Wyn’s heat, and what it might mean for my immediate future.
She’d told me not to worry about it. She’d told me it probably wouldn’t take, and I didn’t know if that made me feel better or worse.
If I did have a kid, I’d want it to be with someone like her—maternal, caring, and stable.
Yeah, she worked a lot, but we’d be a team.
And Gods knew I could see myself crawling happily into her bed every night, holding her and our pup close, protecting them from the worst of this fucked-up world.
As I walked back to her cabin, I even let myself admit that I loved her.
Hell, I’d probably loved her a lot longer than I knew, and if it was this easy to see a future with her in it, maybe I was even in love with her.
Magic matched shifters based on compatibility, and if I let myself consider that the mark on my neck was a sign of Wyn’s wolf claim on me, conscious or not, then maybe this was fate’s way of telling me what to do.
Except…when I got back to Wyn’s cabin, the place was dark. The bed was empty, and the fresh scent of her soap drifted from the shower, indicating she’d gotten up, realized I was gone, and left.
“Fuck,” I murmured and ran my hands back through my hair. My instincts told me where she’d be. In the short time since she’d marked me, my inner wolf had reformed around hers. The tether between us wouldn’t fully solidify until I put my fangs in her skin, too. But I didn’t need that to know.
She’d go to work. She’d lose herself in the med-bay to drown out whatever regret she had about last night.
And surely, an overactive mind like hers would analyze everything.
She’d think I didn’t want the mark. She’d think I was angry with her, that I’d skipped out in the dead of night like the rumors she’d heard about me.
I took a deep breath and debated what to do.
I could go after her the way I’d done the morning after her heat broke.
I could bend her over her desk, drag my fangs along her neck, and remind her who she was dealing with.
Or I could follow through on my original plan.
If she thought she could hide from me, that she could bite me and run, that I wouldn’t chase her to the ends of the fucking earth, she had another thing coming.
* * *
I found her in her office. Her sweet citrus scent carried me through the space like mist wrapping around my heart until I stood in her doorjamb and watched her type on her laptop.
Her curls were piled up on top of her head, and she chewed on her bottom lip, so seemingly lost in thought, she didn’t realize I was there.
I let myself trace the long lines of her neck with my gaze, sweeping over her shoulders and the swell of her breasts and arms. Gods, how I wanted her, even after how many times I’d already had her.
“Still running, little wolf?” I asked.
She jumped and glanced at me, opening her lips to form that perfect O.
“Fen,” she breathed, sounding almost surprised to see me. “What are you doing here?”
I held up the bag of food I’d made and the cup of coffee, taking a few steps inside so I could set them on her desk.
“You didn’t eat this morning,” I said. “I know this because you have nothing in your cabin except spoiled milk.”
“I didn’t— I wasn’t—” She swallowed and glanced down as I started unpacking the pancakes and eggs, placing them in front of her. Her stomach had the decency to growl, proving my point for me. “Fen, you can’t keep doing this.”
“Doing what?” I feigned ignorance. “Making sure our best healer has fuel to get through the day.”
She ran her hands over her face and sighed. “No, just…You can’t keep showing up with food and expecting me to just…”
“Eat?” I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “The audacity of these dominant wolves, am I right?”
“Stop it,” she said, and the ice in her tone made me pause.
You expected this. Let her say her peace. Thaw her out.
“Look, I’m sorry about last night.” She dropped her gaze to the bite on my neck, one I’d decidedly not covered up before coming to find her.
“I shouldn’t have done that. It was wrong of me to take that choice from you, to not talk about it first, to bite and mark and not consider your feelings… or your consent.”
I vaguely remembered my wolf telling her to do it. Somewhere in the mix of fucking her, our inner beasts had connected, and mine had wanted it. Encouraged it. Urged her on.
“I know,” I teased and sat in the seat opposite her. “Quite naughty of you.”
“If anyone had done that to me, I’d be furious,” she said and crossed her arms. “It’s a blatant transgression of our rules and…and…and I’ll report it to Kodiak as soon as my shift is over.”
I raised an eyebrow and let her continue, knowing full damned well she wouldn’t be reporting it to anyone. I’d put my mark on her, and this whole thing would be over.
“In the meantime, you can reject it, and let it fade, and we’ll move on with our lives.”
I nudged her coffee toward her and nodded to it. “I added the oatmilk, the way you like.”
“Are you listening?” She balked and refused to acknowledge the food in front of her, despite another angry rumble from her stomach. “Fen, this is serious.”
I nodded. “Very serious.”
She took a deep breath, and I sensed she was steeling herself for the fallout. We weren’t fully mated, not yet. But the first signs of the bond took root in my body. I could feel her hesitation and anxiety like my own, a sinking weight in my chest that tightened and squeezed my lungs.
Silly little wolf. There’s no reason for that.
“Eat,” I said.
When she stubbornly refused again, I sighed and stood to walk around her desk, standing next to her. I picked up the fork, cut into the pancake, stabbed it, and held it to her face.
“Eat,” I said again, this time using my wolf’s voice. He didn’t like seeing her reject our offering. He didn’t like knowing she was trying to work on an empty stomach, that despite all we’d done to take care of her, she wouldn’t take care of herself.
She licked her lips, stared up at me, and opened her mouth.