Page 105 of Unnatural Fate

I reached for him when I fell into stride beside him. He took my offered hand and continued in silence. It was enough.

“I’m fine,” he said at length.

“Mmmhmm.”

“Your tone tells me you don’t believe me.” He broke his thousand-mile stare to look at me.

“Your tone tells me you haven’t been fine since your brother betrayed you. You don’t have to pretend or force it with me. I want the genuine you.”

He laid his head on my shoulder as we walked for a long moment. “I’m used to pushing it all down to survive.”

“You never have to do that for me. Come to me as you are.” I squeezed his hand.

“But it’s so heavy, and it’s not your responsibility to carry it. It’s mine alone.”

“It’s not yours alone. You may be the alpha, but I am your mate, and it’s my responsibility and my honor to help carry your burdens.” I brought his hand to my lips and kissed it.

He glanced over with a hint of a smile on his lips. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Maybe not, but you’re stuck with me.”

Dominic laughed for the first time in what felt like months. “That ego of yours.”

“Someone had to take it over while you’re moping around.”

He rolled his eyes. “I am never this insufferable.”

“I wonder if you truly believe that.” I bumped my shoulder into his.

We continued in silence, walking for over an hour while the landscape barely changed. The corridor cut through the entire continent. A treaty of old. It was hidden by magic, and one of the safe passages for his kind and others friendly to them. So old most of the details forgotten but the land remains held by the magical treaty.

“What has you out here?” Dominic rarely left his land, and while this wasn’t far away, it was still distinctively not his.

“I suspect this is how Rafael got the blood in and out. But I can’t figure out where to. He would have had hours, not days. He couldn’t take it that far, even as a wolf, and a part of me feels like he had to disconnect from his wolf so completely to be able to betray his kind that I don’t see his wolf helping. But maybe I am wrong there. I can only speak to how my wolf is. He would never.” Dominic shook his head.

“Vampires don’t have the loyalty wolves do. They can when they choose it, with mates or nesting partners, but even those connections can sour because a vampire will always choose himself over anyone else.”

“Are you trying to tell me something?” He side-eyed me.

“I’m not a vampire, dearest,” I said in a false sweet tone.

“Closer than to human.” He didn’t say it unkindly, but it still stung.

“But I do have another perspective, having been cast out by them, and unlike them, I frequently interact with other beings.”

“Are you telling me I changed you?” Dominic asked.

“Partly you, but not solely.” I couldn’t give him all the credit. His ego didn’t need it either. “Other shifters and fae, the tree folk, and nymphs. My business has brought all types to my door.”

He laughed. “I’m sure it has. Do you know the witches’ land borders this?”

“What?”

“Not the priestess, but others in her clan. Do you think?”

“Wouldn’t she know?” I asked, stilling my stride.

“Wouldn’t I know one of my own was selling me out?” He turned toward me.