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"One day, Ruelle, you will push me too far"

"Oh? And then ill you do?" she asked with a triumphant look, for they both knew the truth

He was bound to her for eternity Doubly so-not just because she was his Lykae mate, but because of the tie he’d willfully borne after three visits to her bed

He was fettered to her for the rest of his life Or for the length of hers

"But before you go, my love, I truly do need once e, his exhausted body reacted against his will, readying for her to take He gri "You told ain!" It was how she’d gotten hi He shuddered to reut as he struggled to withstand her, knowing how futile it was

"Why fight reen, she dropped the sheet "Any male would kill to be with ainst her breast, against scented white flesh

He couldn’t get enough air "I canna-Ruelle, nay!" Already his beast was rising, protectively

She pulled back, grasping his chin, hard "Your eyes turn blue," she said with a satisfied s Just as ays do"

"You promised me!"

She pressed him down on her bed, then rose above him, the position she chose without fail "Look at you, my love Who could possibly blaed him down

Conall Keep, Northern Outpost of the Woods of Murk

THREE NIGHTS LATER

All day the sickness had groorse until Will’s body was a ht, he felt like his bones were breaking Outside, the storreat Conall Keep was indifferent to the over his daued with hallucinations this tio to Ruelle tonight

The idea of running for leagues through a blizzard in this conditionthe Woods alone, weak, in the ht

Fantastical creatures tees from other realms

Munro stirred in his nearby bed, as if sensing his twin’s distress, even in sleep Will envied Munro, who could re in his bed, warm and safe within the impervious keep of their ancestors

This place had been built by them for future Sentinels of the Woods, the warriors tasked withsure the creatures of Murk never strayed beyond its boundaries-and that Lykae never ventured within

When Will rose to dress, stabbing his legs into trews, Munro roused and sat up "Where are you going?" He lit a candle, illu the room they shared

" ’Tis no concern o’ yours"

A flash of hurt flickered in Munro’s golden eyes-eyes exactly like his own, onlygraver Despite being identical twins, he and Munro had opposing personalities Will was oft called impetuous like their mother, Munro sole, Will"

Ruelle had warned against that She’d helped him see Munro’s jealous nature Munro was envious of his twin, sihtly older brother, the heir

I’e, and Munro knows it, canna stand it

In fact, she’d helped Will see the faults in all his friends

"Are you going into the Woods?" Munro asked, pulling on his own breeches "To see that fee?"

A stark contrast to the dreary woods, Ruelle’s hohtly painted, with intricate eaves and spindles, as if from a fey’s dream And Munro had never even seen the inside! It was not only fantastical, butfor centuries, immune to decay

"What do you know of her?" Will asked, struggling to focus his vision as another wave of pain hit The tunic he’d just donned was alreadyher"

"That she’s a hideous old crone who lures youths to their doom? That she fattens them up, then feeds on their flesh? The rumors are false" The fact that Ruelle cooked feasts for him and then used his body for nourish to tell Da?" Or, gods forbid, their mother No she-wolf could be fiercer than Ailis MacRieve

’Twas one thing that Will had found his mate in a different species; ’twas another that he’d been lying to all of them

"No need," Munro said quietly "Ma out"

"Because you told theain came that flash of hurt, like a creature kicked in the flank "You ken I would no’ do that, brother"

Willbelieved him At these times, when Munro continued to prove loyal to his Ruelle had told him

His beast was cut froed to run beside his brother’s forever Surely Munro felt the same way?

"What has happened to you, Will? Why do you never talk to h anymore?" Munro looked wary and vulnerable-a ? "It’s complicated Just let me handle this as I need to, and I’ll be back soon" Will finished dressing "Mayhap we’ll talk then"

Without a backward glance, he hastened from the room to descend the ht He’d just felt the first crunch of snow beneath his boots when he heard, "And where ht you be off to, Uilleam Andriu MacRieve?"

Mauise how bad his shakes had gotten

She e snow Her cheeks were pink, her doe-brown eyes narrowed "You were too ill to come down foraway in the , should’ve ht If Marow crazed A hallucination danced at the edges of his vision, the dark closing in He shifted his weight fro to the other; both felt like they’d snap at any second

She tilted her head "You go to , son Your da will tell you the saods, oing wide "Ach, o!" He could ale hich she adorned her skin

He could all but feel heraround him "Can you no’ trust me, Mam?"