Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
“Yes,” the gnomes answered in unison.
“But Henri, my friend, the wolf, said he heard him too.”
They shared another glance before their small eyes landed on me. “Yes.”
This didn’t feel possible. Pressing my palms together, I tucked them under my chin and whispered, “My friends… can I call you that?”
“You may,” they agreed.
“I don’t know what any of what you’re saying means,” I admitted. “I was abandoned as a baby. Whoever left me didn’t care enough to put clothes on me. I highly doubt that anyone who could do that, who could go over thirty years without ever having anything to do with me, would suddenly care now.”
I wiped at my face without thinking about it, without realizing that my eyes had started tearing up at some point. In anger, mostly. Maybe a little in frustration.
I had gone through a phase early on after my magic had presented itself, where I’d been scared of myself. That had been the only real, genuine fear I’d ever known—other than the incidents with someone trying to take Duncan. But there was something almost terrifying about feeling helpless, and that’s the effect the voice talking to me had. It told me that this person was strong enough to communicate with me while I was unconscious, to get into not just my head, but Henri’s too. It was almost unfathomable. If they could do that, what else were they capable of? I’d heard stories. How the oldest magical beings, the ones who had been there at the beginning when the meteor fell, how much more potent their gifts were. How they were the gods we still knew about from the oldest tales.
Just because their followers stopped writing their stories doesn’t mean their books were finished, my mom had told me once. It only means we got to see some of their chapters.
Something big moved through the forest as the small, wrinkled faces scrunched up even more as the gnomes stared at me in silence. Then each one reached a hand through the knot in the wood and placed a cool palm on the part of my leg closest to them. “There is no excuse for abandoning a child. Your pain and hurt is not unfounded.”
I wanted to argue that it wasn’t pain I felt but anger. Annoyance. Frustration. The ugly stuff, but before I could, the gnomes kept going, ignoring the sounds of heavy weight crashing over leaves and debris.
“All will be well, child,” one of the gnomes predicted. “There is nothing to fear. The old one may anger, but the dreamer has returned.”
What did that even mean?
Before I could get another word out, they were gone… and where their faces had been, bark had replaced the spot.
The sound I’d heard approaching from a distance came to a stop behind me, deep breaths filling the silence. I whipped around and stared up at the colossal wolf standing so close I could count his eyelashes. The dark creature dipped his head and snuffled against my throat, all warm comfort and sharp teeth I didn’t fear.
I threw my arms around his neck.
I hugged Wolf Henri so tight. So freaking tight. Because maybe he didn’t want to marry me, but he’d said I was one of his people.
And right then, I needed a hug more than I needed anything else.
I leaned into him and pressed my forehead to the side of his snout, right beneath his eye. Grateful for this. Grateful for him. This had to be what hugging a bear felt like, or the equivalent of a land shark.
He didn’t have to be out here. He hadn’t needed to comfort me earlier or now. He hadn’t even needed to roll out of bed.
But he had because he was that kind of person.
And dang it, this wasn’t the time to think of just how much I liked him, but I did. I liked him so much. Everything about him. The physical part was the smallest factor of it all.
Henri, bless his soul, didn’t deny me anything. I clung, and he let me. I sucked up his strength, and he said it was fine.
What might have been five minutes or ten went by before his body changed. Fur and muscles turned into smooth skin covered with a touch of body hair. Arms wrapped themselves around my back. Face to chest, hips to legs, that strong hand palmed the back of my head, holding my cheek to him in what I might call tenderness.
I hadn’t planned on saying it, on telling him, but apparently some part of my conscience decided it was a good idea to blurt it out, not even trying to be easygoing or funny about it. “I don’t know what it is about you, Fluff, but you make me feel safe.” I cuddled him closer. “I know you won’t rip any spines out for me, but it’s still nice.” I moved my cheek just enough to feel the crisp hair on his pecs slide across my face. “Thank you for this.”