Chapter 31

Thirty-One

WESLEY

“ W hat? How is that possible?” Finn asked. The dark blotch of discolor had crept up his shoulder again, expanding from his back, and stretching around to crawl across the stretch of his chest. From gone to quickly growing, I recalled the wriggle of magic before the portal appeared.

“You opened a portal in the water. Holy shit.”

“What? No, I didn’t.”

“Mate,” the wolf growled.

“Yeah, yeah,” I said. I rose shakily to my feet, clinging to Finn. He kept himself between me and the wolf. “What’s your goal here, Mr. Wolf?” I asked. “You can’t kill him because destroying your mortal soul would end you both. Am I the weak link here? ‘Cause if so, send me back to the mortal realm. I didn’t choose to be here. You brought me here. Why? You don’t seem to like me much.”

The wolf morphed into the human male form. Too perfect to be real, and now standing several steps from the wolf and Finn, more of the resemblance bled through. I cursed myself for not seeing it sooner, but Finn, the poor bastard, was in the thick of it. “Mate, mine, protect.”

“Super, caveman. I get your wolfy brain doesn’t work the same way, but you lived with a human half for a few centuries, right? You were old long before you met Sebastian. Shouldn’t you have picked up more about humans?” I waved a hand at his physical form, meant to entice? Or did at one point in history Finn look like that?

He flinched when I said Sebastian. Was that a sore spot?

“Sebastian is looking for me,” I tried. “And he’s looking for his Apa .”

“Pup is mine,” the wolf snarled from human lips.

“Makes a lot of sense now,” I said. “Sebastian being the way he is. Literally raised by wolves. No wonder he’s half feral. Everyone wonders why Xander was such a piece of shit dad. But it’s because there was no Xander, right? Just the wolf pretending to be human.”

He stalked our way, shadows pooling around him, ice dripping like glass breaking with every step. Winter’s touch clung to him, even though he still fought. Was it the curse that brought the madness, or simply the wolf dragged into the fallacy of human thinking?

Finn faced him, keeping me at his back and stared in the face of the snarling beast who paused only a hair’s breath away. The cold slinked up Finn’s back, chilling my fingers. I refused to let go. Did proximity to his other half make the curse grow?

The wolf reached for me, but Finn blocked his touch. “Don’t touch him.”

“Mine,” the wolf said. The man’s rage filled face focused on Finn. Mouth gaping wide and spittle flying as it spoke. “Weak.”

“You can think whatever you want of me, but if you want to keep him safe, let him go,” Finn demanded.

The wolf’s human hand morphed into claw-tipped, blackened fingers, more like that of a bird and rose as if he would slit Finn’s throat. The man’s face shifted to a dark stretch of skin over bone, skeletal. A reflection of the curse, and I wondered how it had lasted this long with that nasty nightmare of Winter eating away at it.

Finn remained solid, jaw set in a firm line, shoulders tense and tight, shielding me first. “You can’t kill me,” he said, sounding certain. “Right?” Finn asked me.

“Spring’s mate was split and each time his other half nearly died, so did the wolf,” I offered, though in reality, I didn’t know. The new fae court sought to break all the old rules. Sebastian had set the book on fire and thrown it off a cliff. Winter shouldn’t have been able to curse any of the other sovereigns, and yet she’d infected them all. Spring and Summer had broken free, could Autumn?

I wrapped my arm around Finn’s stomach from behind and rested my cheek on his shoulder. He relaxed as though my trust meant more than anything I could say.

“We done here?” Finn asked the wolf.

It growled and made to swipe, but vanished in a flurry of shadows, leaving us in the eerie silence of a dim morning of the clover field. I sucked in a deep breath, lungs still aching, chest tight from the water and the hit that shoved me into the tree.

Finn turned and I realized I was still shivering. “We need to get you warm.”

“You’re the Autumn king,” I said.

“I guess. Whatever that means.” He held me tight, forehead pressed to mine. “Your pupils are huge. Are you okay? Did you hit your head? Why is your skin like ice?”

“Almost died,” I said. The wolf wanted me dead. Why? Because it couldn’t kill Finn? And if Finn and I were bonded now, thanks to the undeniable heat that still made my ass ache, if the wolf killed me, it might very well end Finn. Mate bonds were tricky things. Did the wolf understand that?

“I need to get you warmed up,” Finn said. “Your skin is like ice.”

“Not ready for more foreplay, cowboy,” I said, words suddenly slurred as the chill snaked up my spine. Was I infected with Winter’s curse too? “Ass still aches. But you can kiss me as much as you’d like.”

His cheeks turned pink, but he tugged me into his arms, leading me, and taking my weight. “We’re back in the regular part of the realm, right? Let me find that tree.”

“Realms are a creation of the king’s magic. You could make a tree,” I said, but let him lead me until my feet wouldn’t lift anymore. My energy sapped away as the adrenaline faded. That part of being human really sucked sometimes. “Why is the only stamina I have related to running from something as a Stag, or being fucked within an inch of my life as a fawn? Couldn’t I have gotten marathon skills as a human, too?” I cursed fate.

“Not sure I caught all that,” Finn said. “But I’ll run a marathon with you when we get out of here.”

“Would rather you fuck me again.”

“That too,” Finn said. He helped me sit near a tree, the long branches of a willow, the leaves gone yellow flowed around us. “Can you glamour a fire or something? Clothes? Warmth?”

“Glamour is an illusion.”

“Fuck,” Finn cursed. He pressed himself against me, chest to chest as if he could single-handedly ease my chill when his body heat waned too.

“You’re king of this realm. Create a fire, or magic or something.”

“Right…” Finn trailed off. “And how exactly do I do that?”

“Uh, wish to?” I knew Sebastian’s magic had structure as most of the mortal realm required checks and balances. Kiran’s magic, while wild and unstructured, needed Nicky and Toby to craft it into usable things. Within his own realm he could go a little crazy with the chaos of his unchecked magic, which spiraled him into an unending drain on his power. Before I’d been taken by Winter, Sebastian had yet to establish a set realm. Likely, as the alpha wolf was a wizard and his mate, it would be a crafted and very structured thing standing adjacent to the mortal realm.

Autumn so far chose a mix of structure and chaos. Touches reminiscent of Underhill with spreads of mortal forests, and simple structure laced within. Was that because the wolf built the realm? Or had they begun before the tear in their soul?

“Wishing isn’t working,” Finn said. “Wishing for blankets, or clothes or even the trees to let in some sun. If wishes were pennies…”

How much magic did the human half have? “I don’t know,” I said, answering him and myself. “Good news, though.”

“Yeah?”

“You won’t starve.”

“There are no berries here.”

“Ha, no. I mean I’m your mate. I feed you energy. Even without mortal food.” Winter’s curse had completely vanished after our heat, and Finn glowed. He’d been devouring the magic energy I generated. The entire point of my existence was to work as a battery for a sovereign. I thought to choose Sebastian. Winter took my power by force. And Fate mated me to Autumn. I was fucked coming or going, but at least I’d enjoyed my time with Finn. Was there any use in hoping some of his boyish charm would remain once he reunited with the wolf?

Hot tears warmed my shoulder. I turned to try to catch Finn’s expression, but he wouldn’t look at me.

“Why are you upset?”

“This is all my fault.”

“How do you figure?”

“I am this Autumn king, right? The wolf brought you here.”

“Yeah, the wolf. Not you.”

“But I am the wolf.”

“Yes and no.” I captured his face between my hands and kissed the tip of his nose. The sorrow in his gaze unnerving.

“It wants you dead. Doesn’t that mean, I…” he flinched.

“No.”

He shook his head, breaking free from my grasp, but gathering me up to cradle me in his arms. “Is this okay?” he asked after a minute.

“Sure,” I said, not certain what he was asking about.

“To hold you, I mean.”

“Oh,” I said. “Yes.”

“And to cry. My moms always said it was okay to cry. Let it out. Don’t bottle emotion as it would swell until it broke me.” He took a deep breath. “And this is a lot.”

“Your moms sound brilliant. I’d love to meet them someday.”

“Yeah?” He let out a startled laugh. “Sometimes mom jokes are as bad as dad jokes.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“I’m sorry.” Finn held me. For a thousand things and for nothing, I assumed rather than asking. But that was okay. The chill began to ease with his embrace, as did his tears. We both had dragons in our past, his more literal than mine. Maybe fate wasn’t wrong about mating us. I couldn’t help but enjoy the small kisses he peppered all over my face as he held me close and wondered if he really was meant to be mine.