Way of the Wolf: Equilibrium

Chapter 21 ~ Torn

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Chapter 21: Torn
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My back was pressed firmly against Ebbe's chest, his body shielding me from the cold. It wasn't until I'd come back down from the high of our mating that I realised thunder and lightening had been filling the sky the entire time. I shuddered at the thought and Ebbe didn't miss it.

"It'll pass soon," he murmured, his fingers tracing a pattern known only to him on my abdomen. Sparks followed the path, heating my skin against the cold.

Nodding, I closed my eyes to block out the storm. It didn't help that my thoughts were a chaotic, tumbling mess too. I couldn't believe what we'd just done. What I'd initiated. But a part of me, the feral part, was far too sated to care. My nights with Theo had never been so intense, though I knew better than to say that to Ebbe. He didn't need a boost to his ego.

"You regret what we've done."

I frowned, twisting to face him as I shook my head. "No, I don't. I just don't know what we're meant to do now."

Or even what I wanted to do.

"I understand." Tucking me back against him, he let out a soft sigh.

"Just know this, I won't ever ask for your submission, I won't ever ask for a title in the pack that will be yours. The only thing I want is you."

And for once, I completely believed him. He had no ulterior motive. Why would he? Like I'd said myself, he didn't even know if he wanted to remain in a pack, so why would he make a claim for power?

Silence reigned between us. I couldn't think of anything to say about his statement that had my heart fluttering in my chest.

Instead of pushing me on the matter of what we were now, he asked something else that was equally unsettling. "Tell me why you're afraid of storms?"

Flashes of nightmares I'd had for as long as I could remember further darkened my thoughts. Only Ebbe's skin on mine anchored me to the here and now. My hand gripped his arm and I took a steadying breathe.

"When I was a baby, during a winter storm, I was stolen by a Wulver who was lost to its baser self. A twisted creature who's forms sometimes got stuck between skin and fur," I began, fighting past the imaginary hand that squeezed my throat.

Even though I knew my parents suspected the reason for my fear, I'd never told them. I'd never told anyone.

Ebbe's hand stilled and I felt the tension grow in him again. His hackles were rising and it made me smile despite myself. Smoothing my hand over his arm, I looked over my shoulder to offer a comforting smile. I was okay. At least, I'd grown out of the belief that the same thing would happen again. The fear I felt was simply a ghost of my childhood now.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea," he murmured, his arm tightening around me.

I shrugged. "How could you? But you never teased me for jumping at lightening, I'm grateful for that."

Placing a kiss to my shoulder, he hummed softly, a deep rumble from his wolf that helped calm me down again, and set me on edge all at once.

"I got the feeling making fun of your fear of thunder would cross a line and incur your true wrath." He was grinning. While I couldn't see his face, I knew that without looking. Was he teasing me now?

I decided to let him off this once, chewing my lip before continuing, "Obviously I don't remember being taken, I didn't even know about it until I was around three or four years old. I heard my mum and dad talking about it with Quillan and Oria one night. I got in so much trouble for sneaking out of bed. . . I imagine I'd have been in more trouble if I hadn't gotten so upset about what I'd heard. I had bad dreams after that about being taken away in a flash of lightening with thunder to cover my screams. But I'm not afraid of the monster from my dreams anymore."