Chapter 3
Miranda said calmly, as if stating a fact, "My white wolf doesn't make mistakes.
"The inner wolf that's sealed inside you is the other half of my soul. The Moon Goddess didn't send me to this room by chance. She sent me here on purpose."
I stared at her, completely lost for words.
Fated mate? That was the only one a wolf was meant to be with.
It was written into our blood. Once a wolf found them, no one could take their place.
But me? A wolfless bastard from the bottom of the pack? How could I possibly be her fated mate?
"You don't believe me?" Miranda raised an eyebrow. "Then let me ask you something."
She walked over and sat down on the bed, facing me.
"When you were a kid, did you save an injured she-wolf out in the hunting grounds?"
My eyes went wide.
Memories came flooding back, raw and unstoppable.
It was ten years ago, deep in the Thornclaw hunting grounds.
A little she-wolf had been lying in the snow, covered in blood.
There had been several savage gray wolves behind her. I'd scared them off with my hunting knife.
I'd run over and picked her up. Her arm had been bent at a bad angle, and she'd been breathing so softly that I hadn't been sure if she'd been alive.
"Don't be scared," I'd told her. "I'll take you home. I know these woods inside and out."
She hadn't said anything. She'd looked at me with those ice blue eyes.
I'd never forget those eyes. Not in my whole life.
"That was you," I said, my voice coming out rough and dry.
Miranda smiled, and this time it wasn't cold at all.
It was like sunshine breaking through a frozen river.
"Yes, it was me," she said softly.
She reached out and touched the scar on the back of my neck.
"This scar? That gray wolf gave you that. You threw yourself in front of me, and it clawed your neck, but you didn't let go."
Her fingers traced the scar gently. "You carried me the whole way.
"Later, I found out your feet were all cut up and bleeding from the ice. You didn't stop once. Not for two whole miles.
"I've been looking for you for ten years."
She pulled her hand back, and something shiny glimmered in those ice blue eyes. "That day, you brought me back to Snowfield territory and then vanished.
"You didn't leave your name. All I could remember was black hair, dark eyes, a scar on the back of your neck, and one thing you said."
"Don't be scared." Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. "Those were the strongest words I'd ever heard in my life."
I got lost in her eyes.
My throat felt tight, like something was stuck in it.
"Think it through," I said. "I'm a bastard. No one in the pack remembers my name half the time.
"I don't have any land, any power, anything at all. If you bond with me, you're throwing away everything you've got."
"My father is the Alpha of the Snowfield Pack. I'm not missing a single thing," Miranda said.
She laughed, bold and free. "You had the guts to stand up to so many wolves with nothing but a knife back then, and now you're scared to take me, the one who's handing herself to you?"
She wrapped her hand around mine, and her grip was shockingly strong.
She declared, "Loric, I'll accept what happened tonight. From now on, you're my mate.
"Anyone who messes with you is messing with the entire Snowfield Pack."
I met her gaze.
I could see my own face reflected there.
And underneath that, I could also see that little she-wolf from ten years ago, covered in blood.
"Okay," I heard myself say. "Let's accept it then."
*****
The next morning, I woke up to a racket outside my door.
Someone was pounding on it like they wanted to knock it down.
"Loric, get your ass out here!" It was Kane's voice.
I opened my eyes and saw that Miranda was already awake.
She was still curled against me, her silver hair spreading across half the pillow.
Her inner wolf, the white one, was half visible at her side, its translucent body glowing with a faint silver light.
The wolf looked me over with the same cold, proud expression Miranda always had.
Then it stood up, dissolved into a streak of light, and sank back into her body.
"Took him long enough," Miranda drawled as she got up and started getting dressed.
I put my clothes on, too, and walked to the door.
When I pulled it open, I found myself face-to-face with Kane's twisted expression.
He had a bunch of Thornclaw Pack warriors behind him, plus a few Snowfield Pack members mixed in.
"You worthless jerk!" Kane spat.
The second he saw me, he threw a punch.