Chapter Thirteen Baldr

A fter a quick stop at the river, I was feeling much better. My stomach, now filled with cool water, no longer ached of hunger. But I knew that wasn’t going to last long. In fact, by the time Mist helped me limp my way to the forest on the far side of the grassland, my stomach was loudly grumbling once more. Not only that, but I felt like I was on the edge of passing out again. He helped me to the forest floor, tucking me amongst the roots of a massive tree.

As I settled against the tree trunk, I felt Mist's hand linger on my shoulder. His touch was gentle, almost hesitant, as if he was afraid I might break. I looked up at him, taking in his concerned expression. Even with his wild hair and scraggly beard, there was something undeniably handsome about him. His eyes, a deep forest green, were filled with worry as they scanned my face.

“Are you sure you're okay?” he asked softly. “You look really pale.”

I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but I could feel how weak it was. “I'll be fine,” I said, though my voice sounded strained even to my own ears. “I just need to get some rest and food then I’ll be as right as rain.”

Mist nodded, his brow furrowed. “I'll see what I can find. There must be some berries or something around here, right?”

“Probably,” I answered hesitantly. “But bring them back to me before you eat any. Usually my wolf nose can pick up if they’re safe to eat or not.”

“Maybe I can try to hunt…”

“Berries are fine. We don’t have any weapons or a way to cook game, anyway. I’m too weak to conjure up flames right now.”

Mist smiled, a look of pride washing over his face. “Well good thing I come prepared then.”

He took off his bag and pulled it open. In one hand he hefted up an old hatchet that was rusting near the handle and in the other hand was a box of matches. He really was prepared.

“I did pack some snacks,” I said, looking at my own bag forlornly. “But I ate them all on the way to get you after finding my mother’s spellbook…” I felt a bit ashamed for munching through it all, but I never would’ve been able to call up the realm gate if I hadn’t.

“At least you had some empty bottles in there for water,” Mist replied, patting me on my good shoulder. “And we’re alive. That’s what’s most important.”

“Yeah…”

“Give me a half hour,” Mist said, heading back toward the edge of the forest where berries liked to grow the most. “I’ll come back to you, I promise.”

He gave me a wave and slipped out of the trees into the sunshine. I sat there for a long moment, his words filling my chest with a warm fuzzy feeling. Of course, the butterflies in my stomach were all aflutter and thanks to my weakened state, I didn’t have the will power to stop myself from daydreaming about him.

I leaned my head back against the tree trunk, closing my eyes as I thought about Mist. The image of him standing naked on that hilltop with the tall grass blowing in waves around him was burned into my memory. Even rough and unkempt from years in captivity, he was breathtakingly handsome. I could still picture the way the sunlight played across his tanned skin, highlighting the lean muscles beneath. And when he'd rushed to help me up, pressing his bare body against mine…

I shook my head, trying to dispel those thoughts. Now was not the time to be fantasizing about my best friend. We were stuck in an unknown realm, possibly in danger, and I was injured and weak. I needed to focus on our survival, not my unrequited feelings. And especially not my dick.

But Tyr's words kept echoing in my mind. ‘You love him, don't you?’ And the way Mist had reacted… it had been a dead giveaway. Of course, if that wasn’t proof enough, there was the fact that he put himself between me and Tyr’s gun, risking his own life when he knew full well werewolves could survive a lot more than a single bullet. Maybe we both had the same thought that it might be silver or that it could strike my heart, killing me before my werewolf healing could take over.

I couldn’t help feeling a surge of affection toward him. Clearly he liked me. But how could I allow myself to like him back when I knew what the future held? My vision… the one of my death… it wasn’t far off. With the way things were going back home and the fact that Mist was free now… I knew I had maybe a month at most left before I would finally meet the great beyond face to face instead of just having visions about it. However, it was the way I went that scared me the most. I knew exactly how my last ten seconds in the mortal plane would play out and getting close to Mist now would only make the pain worse for him once I was gone.

My visions were never wrong, but my heart didn’t want to give up hope. Not yet. Not before we’d even begun to try.

Try? What did I want us to try? A relationship? Would Mist even want that from me? I knew he’d been trapped in that bubble nearly his entire life and that was bound to take a toll on a person mentally and emotionally. I didn’t want to say he was immature, but I was the only other person he’d known all that time. And the only one that had showed him even an ounce of kindness. If he felt anything toward me, it was probably just misplaced feelings. Once he got out in the world and started to meet other people, he’d find someone that made him truly happy.

I just wished my heart would listen to reason. Because I wasn’t trapped in that bubble and I’d known plenty of people in my life. I lived in a resort to fuck’s sake. And yet, I found myself infatuated with Mist, anyway. For a long time I was worried I had a savior complex and that I only liked boys that had been mistreated. But as time went on, I realized that wasn’t the case. And now that I was able to see him face to face, to touch him and smell him, I knew that wasn’t the case. In fact, now a new problem had sprung up and this time, it wasn’t my cock.

Mist was my mate.

I’d realized it the first moment I hugged him after getting into the dome. At the time I didn’t have the luxury of trying to sort through those emotions. With Tyr after us, we had to act fast. But now that I was alone with time to kill, the word kept repeating over and over in my mind.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

When Thor brought Flynn home and told me they were mates when they didn’t even know one another, I thought he was crazy. How could anyone believe something so stupid and na?ve? But now that I was having those same feelings, I realized that I was the one that had been na?ve. As much as I wanted to push the feeling away, to tell the wolf inside me that he’d gotten it all wrong and Mist couldn’t possibly be my mate, I knew I couldn’t. The wolf was right. He always was. Just like the witch side of me had visions that always came true. It seemed my two lineages never made a mistake. But in this case, they were completely opposed.

If Mist was my fated mate, the one chosen for me by destiny itself, then why was I doomed to die before we could even spend time together? Why would fate be so cruel as to give me a mate and never let me have them? I felt my chest tighten and my stomach twist. It wasn’t fair that I had to deny myself the one thing that made me happy after spending a lifetime worrying about wolves, war, and prophetic visions. Why couldn’t I have something just for me for once?

I was pulled from my miserable thoughts by the sound of footsteps approaching. My eyes snapped open, instantly alert despite my exhaustion. The wolf inside me perked up, ready to fight off anything that might threaten me. But as I found the source of the sound, I realized it was just Mist, his arms full of berries and what looked like some kind of tubers. His earthy scent wafted toward me and I felt my body buzz with happiness to see him return.

“I found some stuff!” he called out excitedly as he drew near, a big proud smile on his face. “There's a whole patch of berry bushes not far from here, and I dug up these roots that look kind of like potatoes.”

He knelt down beside me, spreading out his bounty on the dry leaves of the forest floor. There were plump blackberries, smaller red berries I didn't recognize, and several dirt-covered roots. My mouth watered at the sight. Thankfully at least some of it was edible.

“Good job,” I said, genuinely impressed. “Let me take a look before we dig in though.”

I leaned forward, sniffing at the berries and roots. My heightened senses told me that the red berries were definitely not edible. I scooped them up and tossed them over my shoulder.

“Not those,” I sighed. Then I pointed at the raspberries. “But those are perfect.”

I picked up one of the tubers, rubbing the dirt away to reveal thick brown skin with a slight reddish tinge. They were long and sort of pointed on one end. I didn’t recognize the smell until I broke one in half. It was bright orange on the inside and the earthy, sweet scent of the core confirmed my suspicions.

“Sweet potatoes,” I smiled. “We can eat as many of these as you want! In fact, they might be good with some of these berries crushed up on them. Or a little salt if you have that stored in that magic bag of yours.”

“No salt…” Mist grumbled. “But I can get more berries.” He emptied his bag next to me, refilling it with the potatoes. “And I’ll take these down to the river to wash the dirt off.”

“Good idea. I’ll see if I can get a fire going while you’re gone.” I glanced around the dense forest surrounding us, spotting several fallen branches that would serve as fuel for our fire.

“Be back in a minute,” Mist grinned, like this was some big adventure for him.

But his smile was infectious, and I found myself returning the expression. I supposed, for him, this was a big adventure. It was his first time out of the dome and really on his own. He was probably enjoying his hard won freedom and I couldn’t blame him for that. Besides, he looked really cute when he was excited. More so than I thought possible. And in the span of a split second, I was back to fawning over him.

“Alright,” I muttered to myself. “Get your ass up and start this fire.” I let out a long sigh, staring at the sticks strewn throughout the woods. I had no idea what I was doing. “I wish I hadn’t skipped on boy scouts now,” I sighed.