by Zoe Chant
He was about as hesitant as a stallion scenting a mare in heat. She yelped as he tore her shirt right off her body, seams ripping under his inhuman strength. His hands scooped her up effortlessly, lifting her so that he could plunge his face into her breasts. Her surprise was washed away in a blaze of pleasure as his mouth found her nipple.
*Yes, oh yes, there. But harder, with teeth.* She hadn’t realized she’d been sending him her thoughts until she felt his deep chuckle echo through her chest. He obliged, passionately following her every half-formed desire until she wasn’t sure he was following. She couldn’t tell what was her idea or his; who led and who followed; his pleasure from hers. It all blurred into one mounting wave of ecstasy, both of them swept up together, one.
He only paused once, for one moment. Though her body trembled around his, though his breath came harsh and ragged, though she dug her heels into the backs of his thighs to urge him on—he held himself back, right at the brink. His eyes sought hers.
“Now?” he whispered.
“Yes.” She pulled him in, welcoming him, claiming him for her own. For this breath, and the next, and the next… “Now.”
Chapter 29
He awoke remade.
The mate bond burned in his heart like the sun. He was filled with light, radiant with it, strength coursing through his veins. Candice’s love shone in his soul, illuminating the darkness at last.
Oh. Wystan lay there with his eyes closed, holding very still, adjusting. Magic trembled within him, overflowing, ready to spill out at the slightest thought. Oh. So that’s what it feels like.
A soft breath ruffled his hair. *So this is your dream.*
He opened his eyes at last, looking up into Moth’s enigmatic grey ones. There was something odd about that, but the thought fled as he tried to grasp it. Nothing could be wrong. Not when he felt so perfectly, utterly right.
The lead mare nosed him again with her velvet muzzle, nostrils flaring as though perplexed by his scent. *This is your heart’s desire. Your deepest wish. To be a healer?*
“Yes.” He lifted one hand in front of his face, mildly surprised his fingers were still flesh and blood. From the raging potential vibrating through his bones, he’d half expected his skin to have turned transparent as crystal, glowing with the power within. “This is everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Moth tilted her ears at him. *And what would you do with this power?*
Candice lay curled against his side, face turned into his bare chest and one arm flung possessively around his waist. Carefully, moving slowly so as not to wake her, he eased out from underneath her. She mumbled in sleepy protest as he sat up, then sighed and fell still once more.
“I can help her now,” he said softly, gazing down in wonder at his mate. He brushed her hair back from her peaceful face, tucking the short strands behind her ear. “I’ll be at her side, always. When she rescues animals who are sick or hurt, I’ll be able to help them. She’ll never have to feel the agony of losing any of them, ever again. If she’s ever hurt, I can heal her. I’ll take away her pain.”
Moth’s equine face was unreadable. *You would give up your life for her. You would abandon your work, your friends, to follow her without a thought. Would she do the same for you? Follow you into any peril?*
He breathed in Candice’s presence, her fierce courage filling every corner of his soul. “Yes. Oh, yes.”
Moth’s tail flicked from side to side, very slightly. *And…she is the source of your power.*
“She is my mate,” he said, simply.
Moth looked at him for a long moment. Then she shook her mane as though coming to a decision. *You said you would use this power to take away her pain. You are strong now. Strong enough to heal all her pain.*
He followed the line of her pointing horn to the vivid scars on Candice’s face. “No, Moth. It’s true, her scars do remind her of her past trauma sometimes. But they show her strength, too. I wouldn’t want to take that away from her. I don’t think she’d want me to either.”
*She is suffering,* Moth insisted. *Look, even now she hurts.*
Candice’s face twisted in sudden pain. She cried out in her sleep, curling into a tight ball as though trying to hide.
“Candice!” He tried to shake her, but she didn’t respond. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t wake her. She was trapped in a nightmare.
So are we, a voice whispered in his soul, almost too faint to hear. Despite the power blazing in his hands, there was a strange absence where his unicorn should be. He had an impression of it struggling to reach him, held back by grasping grey fog. This is wrong. This is not real.
But it was real. Every hair on Moth’s hide stood out sharp and vivid. He could feel Candice, her skin cold and clammy as she fought her memories. He’d never felt so alive and awake in his entire life. How could it not be real?
*All you have ever wanted is to be able to heal.* Moth’s harsh, certain voice drowned out his unicorn. *Now you can. Will you leave her wounded and in pain?*
Light gathered easily in his fingers. So simple, so straightforward, like flying in a dream. He couldn’t understand why he’d never been able to do this before. It was so easy.
All he had to do was touch her face.
Candice sighed, all the pain draining out of her body as her scars faded away. She opened her eyes. Love shone there, and gratitude, and worship. She smiled up at him, the right side of her face a perfect mirror of the left.
“Wystan.” She touched her unmarred skin, then laid her palm against his own cheek. “You healed me.”
*Remember,* Moth said in his mind as pride filled his chest. *Remember how this feels.*
Moth stepped back, fading away. Everything else faded as well—Candice, the forest, his power, his own sense of self. All that was left was Moth’s lingering whisper as darkness closed over his head.
*Remember,* Moth said again. *Now wake up.*
Chapter 30
Candice jolted out of sleep all at once, heart hammering as though she’d just fallen. Shreds of her dream clung to her mind like cobwebs—something about stumbling through darkness, desperately trying to follow the distant, distressed sounds of a trapped animal calling for help?
The confused, unsettling feelings quickly faded, thankfully. She relaxed again, dropping her head back down onto Wystan’s bare chest. Heat pulsed through her as she breathed in his rain-and-smoke scent. She ran her hand over his smooth, muscled side, the last of her dream slipping out of her mind.
“Hey.” The relaxed curve of his mouth was almost unbearably tempting. With heroic effort, she restrained from kissing him. “Hey. Wake up.”
He didn’t stir. She grinned, feeling a little smug at having reached the limits of even his supernatural stamina. Of course, given the satisfied tenderness between her thighs, he’d more than earned his nap.
But it would have to wait. Dusk was falling, the cooling breeze raising goosebumps on her bare back. They’d been away from camp for hours. No doubt everyone was wondering where they’d gone.
“Wystan.” She dug her nails into Wystan’s hip. “Wake up. We gotta get back before the rest of the squad send out a search party.”
He mumbled something that might have been her name. His eyes flickered behind his closed eyelids. He flinched suddenly, but didn’t wake up.
“Wystan?” Starting to get worried, she shook his shoulder, without effect. She could feel his agitation and distress, gathering at the back of her mind like a thunderstorm. She tried to reach him down that strange new connection. “Wystan, wake up. It’s just a dream.”
His features relaxed again, all at once. He drew in a deep, calm breath, a smile tugging at his mouth. There was something odd about it, a kind of smug satisfaction she’d never seen in his face before.
His eyes opened, meeting hers. His mouth curved further, into his real smile, the one that never failed to send butterflies flurrying through her stomach. His deep, quiet delight shone down the mate bond like moonbeams.
“Hello,” he said softly.
“Hi.” She couldn’t help an answering smile spreading across her face, like the worst kind of lovesick idiot. “You okay? You looked like you were having a bad dream.”
“It was a dream?” He sat up swiftly, spilling her off his chest. He stared around at the forest glade as though searching for someone. “She’s not here?”
“Who?”
“Moth. She was…” He trailed off, his breath catching. He stared down at his hands as though he’d never seen them before. “It wasn’t a dream.”
“Uh, you were definitely asleep.” Her heart was suddenly racing. It took her a second to realize it was his mounting excitement. It was unnerving to have someone else’s emotions echoing in her own body. “It was actually kinda hard to wake you up. Wystan, what’s going on?”
“It wasn’t a dream!” He rounded on her, hands outstretched. “Candice, I can feel my unicorn!”
Guilt punched her in the gut. She’d been so caught up in how right everything felt that she hadn’t even worried about the possibility that he might lose his animal. Clearly he must have been worrying about it.
But he said he wasn’t afraid. She couldn’t help feeling a little betrayed. She’d trusted him. He’d seemed so sincere when he’d reassured that her love would be enough…
She reached for her pack, pulling out her spare shirt. “Well, I guess that must be a relief.”
“No, you don’t understand.” He grabbed her shoulders, swinging her around to face him. “Candice, I can do it now, I can feel it!”
His emotions blazed down the mate bond like wildfire. She flinched, clinging to her own confusion and irritation as a flimsy shield against his all-consuming presence. “Bud, slow your roll. You’re blasting me out of my own head. This is too much, too fast. I need you to back off and explain what’s going on.”
He let go of her, taking a step back, but his half-mad, wild grin didn’t flicker. “I’ll do better than that. I’ll show you. Everything’s going to be fine now, Candice. I can fix everything.”
His form blurred into light. There was something different about that radiance, a sunlight-gold tint rippling through the cooler moonlight tones.
Her breath left her as the unicorn appeared. He stood proudly, head and tail carried high, every line of his body proclaiming confident strength. His horn was no longer pure silver. A bright gold spiral twined up the gleaming length.
His horn lit, summer sunlight and moonbeams intermingling in an ever-shifting dance. She held still as the sharp point dipped toward her face—not out of fear, but pure wonder. His horn brushed her cheek like a kiss.
Light wrapped her. She was bathed in love, cradled in protective strength. She closed her eyes, but tears leaked out anyway as some frozen part of her heart melted in that gentle warmth. A part of her that had always been tense and on guard, ready for attack, finally sighed and relaxed.
The light faded, but the feeling didn’t. She kept her eyes closed, holding her breath, not wanting to do anything that might break the moment.
She was loved. She was cherished.
For the first time in her life, she knew that she was perfectly safe.
“No.” Wystan’s whisper shattered the silence. His dismay flooded through her, a black tide obliterating her calm joy.
Her eyes flew open. Wystan was back in human form, desperate denial written across his face. He put his palm flat against her right cheek. For a moment, he kept it there, jaw clenching as though he was struggling to lift a tremendous weight—and then he snatched his hand away again.
“Why isn’t it working?” He stared at his own fingers as though all the flesh had fallen off his bones. His voice rose, bleak with utter despair. “I’m supposed to be able to heal now. Why can’t I heal you?”
His words echoed through her like a thunderclap. For a second, she could only stare at him, breathless with betrayal.
Then rage overwhelmed her. She welcomed it, opened her arms out to it, embraced it. Anything was better than that cold void of grief.
“That’s what this was about?” she snarled. “All those fancy words, all that sweet talk—it was never about me, was it? You just thought a mate would unlock your powers.”
He dropped his hands, eyes widening. “No. No. Candice, that’s not true.“
“It is!” She shoved him, hard, sending him staggering back a step. “Don’t try to lie to me! I can feel what you feel, thanks to your stupid mate bond. I know exactly what you’re feeling!”
He drew in a sharp breath. His expression locked down, bitter grief disappearing behind a smooth, impenetrable mask. Her sense of his emotions cut off abruptly. The mate bond went numb, as though he’d retreated behind an icy wall.
He picked up his discarded clothes, starting to get dressed. When he spoke again, his voice was back under control, all reserved courtesy. “I’m sorry for losing control and upsetting you. I was just…a bit disappointed.”
The ludicrous understatement tore a bark of laughter out of her. She turned away, savagely pulling on her pants. “Whatever, bud. It doesn’t matter. The others will be waiting for us.”
“Candice.” He tried to touch her shoulder, but she jerked out of his reach. “I can’t deny that I was hoping that mating you would unblock my abilities. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to put any more pressure on you. I didn’t want you to get your hopes up—“
“What, that you would be able to magically heal my scars?” She shoved her head through her shirt to glare at him. “I never hoped for that, though apparently you did. What, you think I’m not pretty enough for you?”
He recoiled as though she’d shoved him again. “No! That’s not it at all! I just—I thought, if I could heal them, it would make things easier for us. Make it easier for you to trust me. You said yourself that they reminded you of your past.”
“Yeah. They do.” Finishing getting dressed, she swung around to confront him head on. “And clearly I should have looked in the mirror more. Maybe then I wouldn’t have been so dumb as to fall for another smooth-talking liar. You know what, Wystan? You’re worse than him. At least he just tried to rip me off. Not rip me apart.”
He seemed to have stopped breathing. “Candice—“
She cut him off, savagely. “We’re done here.” She slung her pack over one shoulder, setting off without looking back. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 31
I’ve ruined everything.
Candice wasn’t speaking to him. She was trying to hide her mind from him too, but he could still feel her anger and hurt with every beat of his heart. He kept his side of the mate bond shielded, iron control stopping his own emotions from leaking back in return. He’d already caused her enough grief without adding his own to it.
Go to her, his unicorn insisted. His beast tugged at his awareness, repeatedly drawing him back to the bond he was trying to ignore. She is hurting. Only we can heal her.
It was ironic, really. Now that it was absolutely, utterly clear that he couldn’t heal, would never be able to heal…his unicorn was convinced that it could.
No matter how much he tried to shove his animal back into his subconscious, he couldn’t keep it caged. Ironically, the cursed creature was stronger now, more certain of itself. Its calm confidence shone in the black depths of his soul like the full moon sailing through midnight skies.
Go to her. Drop your shields. Go to our mate.
He kept his distance. He threw himself into the mundane tasks of breaking camp, trying to keep as much out of Candice’s sight as possible. Though it tore his heart in half, he left her alone. It was the best he could do for her. It was the only thing he could do for her.
He’d hurt his mate. And he couldn’t heal her pain.
The rest of the squad could tell that something was amiss, of course. It was a strained, awkward morning, everyone edging around the two of them as though they might explode at any second. Edith, in her typical endearingly direct manner, had st
arted to ask him what was wrong, only to be gently drawn away by Rory.
“Give them space,” Wystan had overheard the griffin shifter murmuring to his mate. “They need to work this out on their own. Like we did.” Rory had glanced over Edith’s head at him, catching his eyes for a moment. “It’ll be okay. They’re true mates. They’ll get through this.”
Rory didn’t know what Wystan had done. He’d hurt Candice, betrayed her utterly. How could he ask her to forgive him? When he’d never forgive himself?
He’d hurt his mate.
“So.” Joe broke the uncomfortable silence, clearing his throat. “Who’s up for fighting a giant demonic snake monster today?”
“Please,” Blaise muttered into her coffee mug. “Anything but this.”
*Pack shouldn’t fight,* Fenrir growled. His tail was tucked unhappily between his back legs. *Not like this. Not yet.*
“Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ve got much of a choice.” Rory cocked an eyebrow at Callum. “Our big feathered friend still up there?”
Callum made a circling motion with one finger, pointing at the sky. “Staying high. Waiting.”
“Let’s hope it will hold back a while longer. The last thing we need is a forest fire on top of everything else.” Rory turned to Wystan. “I think we’re as ready as we’ll ever be. Want to go see if the unicorn alpha has come to her senses?”
Wystan nodded. Shouldering his pack, he set off for the border—and was surprised to find Candice falling into step behind him.
“You don’t have to—“ he started.
“I do,” she said curtly. “I need to make sure that Flash is safe. I don’t trust that snooty so-called lead mare. I bet she doesn’t even turn up.”
But Moth was waiting for them as promised, in the small clearing just beyond the border. What was more, she wasn’t alone.
“Flash!” Candice rushed forward, flinging herself down next to the small, twitching form. She flung a glare up at Moth. “What did you do to her?”