Chapter 7

RAEGAN

She was my mate.

The realization should have filled me with triumph, after all, I had spent all my life waiting for the Moon Goddess to send me the one person who could change everything, and rewrite the cursed fate that had followed me since birth.

Instead, I felt unsettled and I couldn’t help thinking back to a time long ago, when Thirteen year old me stood before Heira, the Pack Healer, one morning after my wolf had gone on another rampage.

“How will I find her, Heira?”

I had glanced at her with hopeful eyes, hoping for something that could ease the uncertainty that the future held for me, wondering if I would ever be able to break free from the fate that bound me

“I do not have the answer to that, Raegan.” Heira had given me a soft, sympathetic smile. “What I can tell you is that you’ll know exactly when you find her.”

“The Moon Goddess will make sure of it.”

For years after that, I’d held onto those words, waiting for the day I would finally find my mate.

And now, she was standing right in front of me. Albeit a little untidy, and with a ferociousness I hadn’t expected.

Another strange thing was that I was more concerned about keeping her alive than I was about the curse. Especially because she looked ready to collapse.

Her face was pale beneath the dirt and dried blood, her lips almost colorless from the cold. Yet she continued to glare at me as though I were another threat she had to fight.

"I am not your mate,” she snarled at me, then added in the same breath, “I do not need your help either.”

I watched as she turned around, her pride somehow stronger than her battered body.

For a woman who had been surrounded by rogues a while ago, she was surprisingly quick to bare her teeth at me.

She took an unsteady step forward, knees nearly buckling. Even though she did so like a tree being swayed by the wind. She caught and held herself upright.

Stubborn.

That was the only word that came to mind. And in a place like the outskirts of Eryndor, it was only going to get her killed.

She took another step forward, but her body suddenly gave out beneath her.

I moved before she hit the ground.

Her body landed against my chest, surprisingly light in my arms.

Cicero rushed forward, but I held up a hand.

"Stay back."

His gaze switched from me to her, and then he nodded and stepped back. Mine lowered to her face. Her eyes were closed but thankfully, she was breathing.

I pressed two fingers against her neck, noting how weak her pulse was. It was far from normal, just like how pale her skin was.

My jaw tightened while Cicero leaned forward.

“Is she badly hurt?” He asked.

“Badly enough,” I answered, my gaze sweeping over her battered body.

There were bruises along her arms, dirt caked into her skin and several cuts that looked recent. The torn state of her clothes told me enough about what had happened without needing to ask.

My eyes hardened. "We're returning to the palace."

Cicero gasped, his eyes widening slightly. “We are?”

I knew what he was thinking.

I had spent days hunting rogues, refusing to return until they were dealt with, and now I was abandoning the hunt because of a stranger.

But she wasn’t just a stranger. She was my mate and although the thought still felt foreign, my wolf refused to see her as anything less.

Propping myself on one knee, I lifted her carefully into my arms then took off my cloak, draping it carefully around her.

It could have been my illusion, but she seemed to sink into the warmth it provided. My furrowed brows relaxed slightly and I nearly reached out to brush the hair out of her face but I stopped myself just in time and stood up, carrying her towards my horse.

Her head rested against my chest, her damp hair brushing my jaw with every step.

The moment I lifted her onto my horse and got in place behind her, something strange happened.

My wolf settled.

For years, he had been restless. Always angry. Always fighting against something neither of us could see. But with her in my arms, the constant pressure inside me eased.

The peace I felt was brief and unfamiliar, but it spread through my wolf as though he had finally found what he had been searching for.

It was only slightly, but still enough for me to notice.

My eyes narrowed, and I couldn’t help but wonder. For the first time, hope stirred within me, something I had buried beneath years of anger and disappointment.

Could she truly be the answer I'd been waiting for?