Chapter 5
Declan
The stomp of Fallon’s feet echoed in the forest. Anyone could tell Fallon was madder than a dry salamander.
I thought there would have been more time as we made our way up here for me to somehow explain the minor hurdle to my plan.
She had slept for a good portion of the journey.
Perhaps I had been too dazzled by the fact she splayed on my back.
And too worried about what the Old Magic would do when I had a mate in tow.
Those letters were right. It returned with me.
Not that it stopped my siblings from being nosey as hells.
Briggs approached first and I didn’t miss how Fallon kept her eyes glued to my sister’s face.
Ward’s shifters generally kept their clothes on at all times.
He even put baskets of them around the Keep for those of us who didn’t have the magic to create them ourselves.
The Old Magic probably would have whipped something up for Briggs, so she actively chose to make Fallon uncomfortable.
I couldn’t stop a soft growl from slipping out. Briggs hesitated, but put Fallon between us.
“We didn’t think Declan would ever find his mate, even if we hoped. You must be one brave woman.”
“Brave or stupid, it’s hard to tell some days.” Fallon maintained eye contact with me the whole time.
Briggs snickered as we started off toward home.
My anxiety didn’t lessen with the welcoming committee.
In fact, I had more to be nervous about.
Sombermane wasn’t like other places in the Harrowlands.
Maybe it was the isolating geography, or the wolves that kept the old traditions.
Perhaps we were just too stubborn to conform.
We maintained a connection to the Old Magic for generations until my father broke its trust. Crossing the border had it filling me to the brim in greeting.
By the shine in my siblings’ eyes, it did the same for them.
They couldn’t have had it easy with it missing all these years, when it had been part of the fabric of our lives.
“Scout ahead, wolves. I need to speak to my mate.”
Cosomo whistled and drew his finger across his neck like I was about to be murdered, but they did as I asked.
Fallon was definitely more of a lone wolf, reliant only on herself.
It would be a Goddess’ miracle if I could draw her closer to me while walking the fine line of my obligations.
The stubborn woman tromped on as I searched for words.
It didn’t matter that the towering pines didn’t have so much as a game trail for her to follow.
Godds knew she was going to get to Nightfell under her own power even though she was tired, hungry, and covered in road grime.
My siblings were far enough ahead of us as we trekked through the territory that I whispered to her.
“I can explain, Honey.” Just not fully when the magic that returned with me remained so fickle. With our bond incomplete, how would it judge us? Full mates whose broken bond sent it into hiding? Unfinished mates who needed completion for the Old Magic to answer our prayers?
“I don’t think you could possibly explain why you said the M-word regarding me.”
Setting aside all of our wolfie secrets, I wasn’t sure if I should take that personally. “Am I really that bad?”
She reluctantly uncrossed her arms. Ned nudged her, wanting to play and she threw a stick rather forcefully into the woods. At least it wasn’t at my head.
“There’s a plan, Declan. It might have been a hastily sketched plan, but it didn’t include me being mated to you.”
There always was a plan with Fallon. She would checklist anything to death. I just had to make her see that checking a few of my boxes was also checking a few of hers. The Old Magic was my problem. Her magic was her problem. We would work on it together.
“Mastering your powers, I remember. And my Momma can still help with that. It’s just… Nightfell is a pretty traditional place with a complex relationship to the Old Magic that lives here. What we do affects it. That means, well, Momma will only teach family.”
“We can’t be mates though. I’m…”
She left it hanging long enough that I leaned forward, needing to know what she would say. Fallon dropped too many sentences for her not to be hiding things. I only saw her change the conversation with her face because I had mapped it so well.
“We’ve been together this long and nothing has happened. I would feel something, right?”
I couldn’t hide my full-body flinch. Luckily, she contemplated her boots.
She really felt nothing at all? I was always in the kitchen with her.
And my teasing invariably made her smile.
I didn’t imagine that shiver when I ordered her on my back.
We were mates, despite the complications.
That had to be a start. Our goals aligned, mostly.
I would do anything to help her, even if she was stubbornly mad about it.
“We can pretend! Like a game. And I need your support too. I might’ve been expected to leave to find you… my mate, I mean. If I come back without one, I’m not sure they will let either of us stay.”
That put a stricken look on her face when I should have been reassuring her. I hated that. It cracked something inside me, but I wouldn’t waver. With that level of anxiety, how would I ever explain the other obstacles in this plan?
“You know me so well. It shouldn’t be hard. We’ll save that for the cooking stuff.”
“Will it be challenging to learn?” She meant the food, but I wouldn’t pass up my chance to extol my virtues as a mate.
“I’ll be an easy mate to get along with. I don’t snore and I brush my teeth three times a day. Just think of all the game I can bring to your door. I love your cooking already and…”
Each box I tried to tick only grew the corresponding tick in Fallon’s jaw. She took a deep breath and I held out my hands in surrender.
“You’ll do fine with the food. I promise it won't get complicated.”
But the situation had already turned complicated.
Beyond our secrets, I loved her the second I met her.
I figured out she was my mate the same day.
I had to believe we would sort this out.
Fate had drawn us together. Fallon was it.
There would be no other for me for as long as my soul and magic continued.
I just knew she wouldn’t appreciate that information thrown in her face at that moment when I was still trying to figure out how we could be together.
“How is us pretending to be mates not complicated? I need a full outline of what you expect me to do. You know I’ll put in my share of work if that’s what this takes to tame my magic and get back to Evie.”
I wanted to laugh so badly, but I understood Fallon was completely serious. “I can work on an outline. In the meantime, you can just relax and I’ll tell you when you have to do something.”
“Never in the history of the Harrowlands has a woman relaxed when told, Declan.”
“We’ll do fine, Fallon. Trust me. If I were your mate, for real, what would you make me for dinner?” Because Goddess knew we needed a change of topic.
She didn't hesitate. “Beef cheek in a tomato reduction with grilled bread and flaked salt. Maybe a cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread if I hadn't been roped into some insane fake mating situation.”
I would die for this woman. She rattled off my favorite dishes without a thought and insisted we weren't actually mates?
I didn't know if she couldn't sense the bond because she wasn't a shifter, or if pain had closed off every part of herself before I came along. It didn’t matter.
I wasn't afraid to bind her to me in any way I could.
Most of the time, if I got her talking about work, she relaxed on her own. So as I asked more questions about the pull-apart bread, she slowly drifted to my side.
When her steps grew clumsy, she was close enough that I scooped her onto my back with minimal protest and shifted.
“I can still be mad at you and let you carry me.”
You’ll see, I told her as I hopped a little to force her to dig her hands into my fur. I’ll be the easiest box on your list.
My siblings yipped as they shifted too. They surrounded us to rub fur and sniff at Fallon, who tried her best not to insult them by pulling away.
Do they have to come quite that close with those large teeth? she asked.
You’re not afraid of mine, I reminded her.
You have cute, razor-sharp teeth.
I couldn’t fault her for any logic that complimented me, even if it didn’t make sense.
As my family dodged and wove through the forest, racing each other and playing tag, her grumbles slowly melted in the face of the fun we were having.
She even leaned forward, shouting directions as we played hide and seek in the pines.
Pointing out the bush Eilie did her best to hide behind, we calmly trotted past only to have Fallon wheel me around to nip her on the tail.
Only Briggs snuck up behind us and pinched me in return.
Pouncing my sister into the dirt was the most entertainment I’d had in years. As Fallon reared back in laughter, it was worth it to get a hind paw to the jaw. My lady knew how to hold a grudge, just as I discerned how to wait out her bad moods.
We set out again at a brisk pace with the sun setting.
My siblings darted back and forth on the trail, bringing me snippets of their lives while I was away and asking me about my adventures.
Ned milled around my legs, keeping close when he wasn’t nosing Fallon.
I told some lighthearted stories that satisfied their curiosity and passed the hours while we made good time to the cabin situated halfway home.
Fallon’s hands flexing in the ruff of my fur was distracting in the best way until she pulled rather hard.
Yes, Honey?
“Are you getting bigger?” she asked.
I looked down at the trail and I was, in fact, further away from the ground.
Ned had to look up at me. I flexed my paws and found the Old Magic swirling around them, teasing.
If nothing else worked out, at least I had done this.
I missed this, the feeling of it eddying around us.
When I left, I didn’t think I would miss it.
Like a pup, I didn’t realize what I had until it was gone.
I was still a shifter, but I wasn’t this. I wondered if my family felt the same.
Oh yeah, don't worry. The Old Magic is just curious about my return.
“You talk about it like it's alive.”
It used to be for everyone, but now only in places like this. With the Godds banished, monsters moved away from anything tied to them, including Old Magic. They lost its wisdom and whimsy too.
“You’re just going to let it…”
It can’t do anything I’m not fated to do, Honey.
Her legs squeezed my sides harder. “You’re fated to be the size of a prison cart?”
I laughed at her, shaking all over. Just think of the game I can hunt!
“Now I see what you mean by those guys.” She pointed her chin at my brother.
I was easily twice the size of my siblings now that the Old Magic filled my well again. They grew a bit too. Their coats shone glossier, nails cut sharper. Old Magic mainly made you more yourself.
“Are you going to cough up magic fireballs or something?”
Did you want me to? I can try.
I heaved like my life depended on it, just to make her laugh, but sadly no fire was forthcoming.
“Okay, okay. No fire. Got it. Are you going to get much bigger?” Her voice tilted to a higher pitch. “Have I mentioned I'm afraid of heights?”
Shrugging her into a better position, I said, I won't let you fall, Honey.
Her quick inhale struck my heart as it hastened its pace. She squirmed a bit on my back. I worked to keep my gait even, fearing to startle her, because perhaps she finally grasped I meant it.