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Chapter Twenty
Eris
Overwhelmed and confused, the moment he went to sleep I escaped. Left the side of the man I had spent days caring for while arguing with myself that he wasn’t my mate—while my wolf insisted he was. An argument I’d been able to continue, lying to myself about what my soul knew was true until the moment those beautiful brown eyes opened.
He was the man from my dream—not a dream, a vision. Any denial of that would be one lie too many. I leaned against the wall outside the cave and replayed the vision in my mind as I had so many times since it happened. I’d had a flicker of awareness of our connection then, but why hadn’t I known as I did now?
Because I had only seen him from the back. If he’d turned, would I have known? When I saw those deep, beautiful brown eyes, as I knew now? There was no telling, but even if I had, I wasn’t really present there, not in my full body. The tales and lore had mentioned something called astral travel, where your soul could go places without your actual physical self, often while you slept, and this seemed to be what happened. If I’d recognized my mate, could I have said something or done something so he’d have known I was there?
I tried to remember, but the books were still hidden away somewhere, and I hadn’t really focused on that section well enough to recall all the details. And since I hadn’t had a chance to speak to him or go close enough to try to touch him before I was whisked back into my body, I’d never know.
And that wasn’t very important now anyway. It was the past. But when I first saw him with my physical eyes, he’d been so close to death, I shuddered to think how near I’d come to losing my mate before we even had a chance to meet. The Fates had been kind, and my hope had been well-placed in the Prophesy. That was…if he also recognized me as his mate. Was there any guarantee of that?
Why did the elders hide everything away? I could have looked, tried to find more answers, but instead I just had to figure this out on my own. How cruel.
No.
I couldn’t think that at all.
Ingratitude would not make the gods or the Fates or whoever had created the Prophesy more inclined to help me. My mate was here, and he had taken some steps away from the edge of life. For which I should be incredibly thankful. Was incredibly thankful.
Would it be too much to ask that he recognizes me, too? I trust you, but we are only human. And wolf.
I got no answer, but I hadn’t expected one. And I didn’t need one. What I did have was a mate who lay asleep just yards away, and it would be a better use of my time to try to find as many provisions as possible to hide in the cave so that if the elders decided they were disappointed that he hadn’t died, I could still feed him and keep him hydrated and warm until we figured out what else we were going to do.
He had been traveling to find his mate. I thought I remembered that from the vision, and if so, he’d found me, but now what?
Now…I made sure he was getting healthy. I wouldn’t mention anything about being my mate unless he did because he needed all his energy for healing. My mate needed me.
Someone needed me for more than emptying slop buckets. And the tiny flicker of hope was growing inside me into a small flame.
I found him still asleep, so I crept out again and gathered some more foodstuffs, hiding them under my dress on the way back to the cave. I almost made it, too, before I encountered the one person I really wished would disappear into the ethers.
Zeke.
He stepped in front of me, his unwashed body sending waves of odor in my direction as usual. None of us had an easy time keeping clean, and I didn’t even have enough water to drink, but most people did their best. He made no effort beyond his face and hands. “Isn’t the stranger dead yet?” he demanded. “I would prefer you turn your attention to your future mate.”
I almost replied that I was already taking care of my mate, but that would have gone so very wrong. That thought hadn’t even entered my mind until now, but if his father or the other elders or Zeke himself could easily hurt Oz in his current state. No doubt he’d be able to take any of them on an ordinary day, but after his journey and illness, he wouldn’t be able to fight a toddler with any success.
So…nobody could know that he was my mate.
With that in mind, I attempted to step around Zeke without replying, but when he blocked me, I tried to look as sad as possible—with a silent apology to those in the stars who’d saved Oz—and said, “I was tasked with caring for a dying guest. There will be plenty of time to discuss other matters when he’s gone.”
“So, will that be soon?” he asked, tone heavy with impatience. “I thought he’d be long dead by now and we’d be planning our mating.”
I couldn’t help blinking at his comments. First, he was anxious for someone to die. Someone who, to his knowledge, had done nothing to affect his life. And second, what aboutno I will not mate youwas beyond his limited ability to understand? With every ounce of self-control, I bowed my head to hide as much of my outrage as possible and muttered, “I’m afraid so. The poor man.”
“Uh, yeah. Poor man.” Maybe he did have some level of intelligence? Or self-preservation because if he’d continued on his previous conversational track, I might have killed him on the spot. “Anyway, I’ll check back later. We will need to invite the other packs to our mating.”
I’d heard an old expression once,when pigs fly. I’d never seen one, but I believed they were very large fat animals who were tasty when cooked. And they had no wings.
But I lifted my face and used an image of my mate in my mind to bring a small smile to my lips. All someone would have to do is stop by the cave to see our guest was no longer in danger of dying. They would then follow through on their initial decision to oust him, and he wasn’t strong enough for that. So, I had to make it believable. “We’ll talk later. We don’t want to be disrespectful of the dying and plan future events for which he won’t be alive.”
“If he weren’t dying, he’d be invited,” he said, beaming at me as if I’d just accepted his proposal, one he’d never actually made.
“Of course. Our pack is known for its generosity with guests.” At least that much was true. Certain guests.
Having sent him on his way, I returned to my patient and tucked away the items I’d had under my dress, supported by the tie at my waist, the whole time I spoke with Zeke. I’d forgotten about them, but how he hadn’t noticed I’d never know. As thin as I’d become, they stuck out like an eight-month pregnancy.
My mate had a long way to go before he was healthy, and until he was, I would give him everything I could to help him. Once he was recovered, we could talk about more serious things, like being mates promised by the Prophesy.
