Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 31025 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31025 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
“Thank you.” She reached up and kissed his cheek, and they both seemed to freeze.
He wrapped his arms around her.
Silence fell between them, and the night moved on. He heard birds, and then nothing. Another howl, followed by stillness. Calliope hadn’t fallen asleep. She was still stiff within his arms.
“What do you think will happen, if we don’t make it out of here alive?” Calliope asked.
“We never return home. We die here, and that is that.”
“Do you think the next couple will find our bodies?”
“I have no idea. No one has ever opted to die here.”
“I get that, I just ... what if something goes wrong? You’re a wolf, I’m a human, and what if I make a mistake? What if I die? I don’t want you to be trapped here.”
He held her tightly. “Calliope, I wouldn’t want to go back if something happened to you here. You’re where I would want to stay.”
He didn’t even want to think of Calliope not making it. What would be the point in returning home? She was his mate, there was no point in denying it anymore. They were bound together. The elders had deemed it so. He only wished he had tried. In the last three years, he could have done something, said something, so many things, so many times. It wasn’t like they lived separate lives. He saw her almost every day. That was the point in living within the pack.
Going a day without seeing her drove him insane. Not that he told anyone how he felt. He would just live with it, but sometimes just being close to her was enough for him.
“Even though I’m human?”
He looked down at her and frowned. “I don’t give a fuck if you’re human or not.”
“But—”
“Don’t,” he said. “I know the bad shit I said, and I didn’t mean any of it. I was stupid and confused. One moment you were my best friend, and the next, you were this ... girl I had feelings for.” It was not a good enough reason, he knew that, but it was the truth, and that scared him more than he wanted to admit.
There was a brief silence. She seemed to snuggle against him a little closer. It was still warm, at least to him. He held her as tightly as possible.
“I wouldn’t either,” she said.
“What?”
To him, she sounded so tired, which was adorable to hear.
“I wouldn’t want to leave without you.”
Chapter Five
The following day the temperature was within a bearable range. Calliope was once again provided with a pair of jeans and a shirt, which magically appeared on her body. They hadn’t stayed in the same place, and she had no idea what they needed to do to be removed from The Hunt.
Had they agreed last night they would rather be mated than die? She blew out a breath and Jaxson stopped.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
They already had breakfast and she quickly offered him a smile. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I’m just waiting for the next thing.”
He nodded, took hold of her hand, and began to walk her through the forest, and the bushes seemed to be getting thicker.
“What do you think we need to do?” Calliope asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, didn’t we ... you know, like last night, turn around and say we would like to be mated? We’d rather do that than die.” She pressed her lips together.
Jaxson stopped. “It’s not that simple. You know what they expect, right?”
“When they say mating, do they mean like a full mating?”
“I told you this,” he said. “When we got here.”
She groaned. “I know that is what you said but ... come on. Can’t there be a compromise? We’ve already agreed we would work on our mating. Doesn’t that help?”
Calliope wanted to get them both out of here so neither of them died. They had made mistakes as teenagers, and she didn’t want it to affect their future.
He cupped her face, tilting her head back. “I wish it did. But it’s not going to work that way.”
“So, we’ve got to mate?” she asked.
He nodded.
She took another deep breath. “Then why don’t we? Would it be that hard?”
“Are you ready?” he asked. “Like, truly ready for what is to come?”
Was she ready to go all the way with Jaxson? He’d been her best friend and then her enemy, and now he was her mate. They had so much damage control to work through.
“No, I’m not, but you’re meant to be my mate, right? I’m your mate, and we’ve got all this history.”
“I’m not going to force this. We can do this, Calliope. You and me. We’ve done a lot harder stuff than this.”
“I don’t want anything bad to happen.”
“Then it’s simple. Nothing bad is going to happen.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek. It was so soft and sweet. “Now, I think we should get a move on.”