Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Sometimes, Idalis walks next to me, a quiet smile on her beautiful face. She laughs at what I say, though I do not truly understand the words that come out of my mouth. It’s a bewitching sound. A sound that soothes the depths of my soul. There is no fighting, no war, only peace with her beside me.
Sometimes, she is not there, and I’m determined to find her. Nothing will stop me from reaching the place where she has gone. I do not have a map, and I do not know where it is, but I know nothing that appears before me will prevent me from finding her again. It may slow me, or hurt me, but it cannot overcome me. The fear is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. We must find her. My wolf howls in pain without her.
When I drift closer to wakefulness, the creaking of the cottage surrounds me. The gentle hiss of the wind and the pitter-patter of the rain on the roof. It’s a quiet place when the storm settles. Birds cry in the sky as they pass.
Though I am not entirely used to the sounds, none of them alarm me. I’m still so tired that I simply drift off again.
At some point, there is a new heaviness on my body. It covers me like the blankets, and I sink into an even deeper sleep—one in which I do not dream. I am not aware of the world at all.
It is true rest, something I have not experienced since I was a child. I must’ve rested deeply then—I was a child, after all, and children cannot be kept from their rest. But as an adult and a soldier, there has never been a time when I did not have to keep one ear pricked for approaching danger or the footsteps of a commander or a call to battle. I’ve always been on alert, waiting for orders. My lone wolf scarred but at attention and waiting for purpose. I’ve spent so long in readiness for the next task set before me that I had forgotten what it was like to rest like this. To feel so complete. To be with her.
The most beautiful witch. Who soothes my soul. Who accompanies my wolf.
Idalis’s spell must have been a good one, because even her presence does not pull me from the bed. I never forget that she is there—unless I am in that dreamless sleep—but my wolf is satisfied that she is close, and even he curls up to rest and does not grow impatient.
In one dream, I’m crossing the fields, but Idalis is not with me. Her scent is on the air, strong and pure, and I let my wolf nose it as much as he wants, following his lead on which way to go.
Her cottage is ahead of me, somewhere in the moonlight, and my wolf howls with the joy of an impending hunt. My muscles are warm and loose, and my heart thrums with anticipation. She’s there. She’s there. My mate.
The love, the desire, the need to be beside her… it’s all-consuming.
I’m so sure of it in the dream. Idalis is my mate, made for me and I her. So mote it be. The dark skies are clear above me, filled with moons and stars, and I can see for miles across the field.
Finally, I see it, there in the distance. The cottage is a dark shadow against the darker tree line, as it was the night of the storm, but light glows from behind the shutters, outlining each window and the door.
The wind stirs, carrying the sound of Idalis’s laughter. I adjust my pack on my back. This is one of the dreams where I have it, then. That single touch tells me that it is heavy with the florals, rolled up into bundles. I have collected twice as many as I need for my wedding.
I’ve gathered the florals for Idalis so that we have abundant power for our ceremony.
A grin spreads across my face, and my heart ticks fast with delight. Yes. Our wedding. That’s why I have left Idalis in the cottage and roamed the forests of Athica.
Our union is just there. It’s so close. I will be there in a matter of minutes, and when I open the door, the scent of my mate will fill my lungs, and her body will fill my arms, and then I’ll be able to mark her with a sealing bite on her neck under the full moon. Followed by languid licks and open-mouthed kisses as I fuck her deeply and roughly just how she likes it.
I lengthen my strides, taking up more and more of the land with each step. Nearly running to see her.
I have so many things to say to her. I have so many promises to murmur into her skin.