A Curse of Shadows

Her fingers press to her cheek, coming back with a spot of blood on the tips. “Oh. Um, sure.”

I do my best to hide my surprise that she didn’t just take the cloth from me, but I’m sure I have her shock over the information I’ve revealed to thank for this moment.

With the utmost gentleness, I dab at her cut before applying the slightest pressure. She only winces once and I swear my heart is going to burst out of my chest when she leans into my touch.

“So warm,” she mutters with her eyes closed. The words are so quiet that I don’t think she intended for me to hear them, but she likely also doesn’t know about wolf shifters’ advanced hearing.

It’s been too long since we’ve shared this closeness, felt the whispers of our shared connection, too long since I’ve openly gazed upon my mate.

The sight of her standing before me, seemingly unguarded for the first time since her return—her long lashes casting shadows on her cheeks, her lips slightly parted in a breathless moment—stirs memories long suppressed. Each detail of her face etches itself deeper into my mind, surpassing every recollection I’ve had in the passing years.

Braving her wrath, I let my gaze wander while she seems to be otherwise occupied with her own thoughts. Her sweater cloaks her curves, yet my hands remember the silkiness of her skin, the way she used to arch into my touch, whispering my name in the quiet of the dark.

Fuck. I need to stop. She’s not ready for this and I know I could quickly lose control with her, if only she’d let me back in, and I’m perilously close to overstepping.

When I pull my touch away, the cut is no longer tinged with red, but just a bright, pink line that should heal fine, even by human standards.

Her eyes flutter open, and she takes a step back, likely realizing just how close we’ve become. Her voice, barely above a whisper, breaks the intimate spell. “I should probably get back.”

Despite the pang of her words, I seize the moment. “Would you first mind if I showed you somewhere else that you might enjoy visiting?”

We’re close enough to the cave that we used to call our own that I begin to wonder if her subconscious was taking her there all along.

Her shudder saddens me. Though not half as much as her next words do. “I don’t think I’ll be leaving my room again.”

“I’m so sorry, Isla,” I tell her sincerely, staying close. “I should have sent word out to the whole pack about your arrival, but I was trying to keep—I just wasn’t thinking. They all know now and I promise that you’re perfectly safe going wherever it is that you might want to explore.”

She swallows thickly. “How do they know ‘now’?”

I tap my head and smile. “A wolf perk. As the Alpha King, I can speak with my people all at once or individually to them. Though they have to be on the island for my words to reach them. It’s the same between mates, but just between other pack members.”

“So, you’re, like, a telepath?”

My head shakes and I chuckle. “No, I’m a wolf shifter with certain abilities thanks to my heritage, passed down from the gods who created us.”

Now, she chokes and her cheeks flush once more. “You’re a god?”

I should probably stop speaking, but the fact that Isla isn’t running away from me encourages me to continue. “Yes and no. I’m a wolf shifter first and foremost, but my spirit was created by the gods and enhanced before my birth, marking me as a future king. So, technically yes, I’m a god, but I don’t normally associate that title with myself.”

She snorts and rolls her eyes. “Right. I’m sure the younger version of yourself used that to your advantage quite often with the ladies.”

This time, I don’t hesitate to intrude on her space. If Isla believes nothing else, she needs to know my next words without a doubt in her soul, words that I can no longer keep to myself, even if I know they may be too much and too soon for her to hear.

“There has never been anyone other than you, Isla.” My face is only inches from hers as she presses against a tree and I reach to cup my hand around her neck, stroking my thumb over her skin, reveling in the way her flesh pebbles beneath my touch. “You and I were written in the stars, born on the same day, destined for one another from the very beginning. The day you went missing, I lost half of my heart. I thought I would go insane—literally—without you and without knowing what had happened. No one could stop me from searching every crevice of our worlds for you, not for over one hundred years.”

My touch presses nearer to her skin as I watch her eyes slowly glaze over, but still, I continue. “You could have remained gone for the rest of my existence and I never would have replaced you as my mate, not for any reason, not for anyone. So, no, I’ve never used being a god to my advantage. I never had a reason to, not when my heart was already spoken for the moment we were born.”

Isla blinks several times and I expect her to do something, even if that’s pulling away from me, but she remains in place and just says, “Okay.”

I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but I do know that no matter what happens next, Isla is going to make me work to earn her love again. Though she better be prepared because there’s no holding back anymore.

Not now that she knows who we really are.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

ISLA

I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do right now. I was firmly in the “Asher is a total ass” category, but then he cornered me and said what he said, and oh my God, werewolves or excuse me, wolf shifters are real? And I might be one?