“Tell me, Danika?” His voice cracked as he whispered.
“To undo her curse would also undo Erualis’s cure. She gave her life to gain the use of the chalice.”
“It should have been me. If I’d only—”
Rumpel shook his head and his voice came out as a rumble. “You could have changed nothing, Giles. I did not know when I sent you the truth of Fyre Mountain; I only discovered its power very recently.”
“Explain.”
“We watched the majority of your journey and you two were so brave.” Shayera smiled sweetly. “We honestly believed that you would both return back to us no different as you were. It’s why we asked Danika to go to you, to give you encouragement. But when you escaped the dwarves, we spotted the mountain and knew immediately that something was very off.”
“I went in search of my books,” Rumpel picked up where she’d left off, “trying to discover why the mountain looked as it did. I sent you, Giles because of your affinity for fire. But the mountain looked ice-cold and I knew it would be a problem.”
Their words were like thorny barbs wrapping around his soul, he and Lilith had noticed the strangeness of the mountain themselves. “What are you saying?”
“That had either one of you had an affinity for ice this wouldn’t have happened. But Lilith is a daughter of earth and you of fire. The chalice knew that and challenged accordingly.”
“I don’t understand.”
“What Rumpel is trying to say,” Danika sighed, “is that the chalice and not the mountain changed its environment. Using your weaknesses against you both. Once Lilith found it, it would have given her a choice.” She spread her arms. “In order to gain the power of the chalice, its terms must be accepted and whatever it was Lilith agreed.”
“So this can never be undone? I don’t accept that. We have the chalice of hope, I can make her drink from—”
Danika grabbed his hand. Her eyes were sad and her mouth tipped downward. “It’s been used, Giles. The magic is no more. It is simply a cup now.”
“What can I do?”
“Nothing, my friend, your Lilith is gone.”
“For what it’s worth,” Rumpel said, grabbing his shoulder, “I’d always hoped that girl would become your perfect mate. I recognized a fire in her even as a child and I spared her for you, Giles, because you were not only my right-hand man, you were my friend, and I wanted you to have your happiness someday.”
To hear the validation of what he’d figured out for himself brought him little comfort. His prince, who’d rarely done something for nothing, had all but told Giles that he was free to pledge himself to his wolf.
But what did it matter when his Lilith was gone?
Soul crushed and heart shattered, he leaned over his lovely wolf and mourned the life they’d never have.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Agonized, Giles picked Lilith up and rocked her in his arms. Tears he’d never known he could shed steamed from the corners of his eyes as he gazed at her beautiful face.
“I never got to tell you the truth of how I felt, Lilith. I’d been a fool, so close-minded and believing that things should always continue on as they were meant to be. But you knew from the beginning that sometimes rules should change. I was a coward.”
Unmindful of the eyes watching him, he poured out his soul to her, knowing it was far too late for her to hear him now, but needing to spill his heart all the same.
It was hard to accept that she was gone. For when he touched her cheek, it was as smooth and warm as it’d always been.
But both Danika and Rumpel had whispered spells of wakefulness, and at one point Danika had even assumed this might be nothing more than a sleeping curse. But no amount of wand waving had helped.
Lilith continued to sleep the sleep of the dead.
He rocked his Lilith back and forth, vowing that he would honor her memory forever. Eventually the footsteps faded away, and then finally even Danika’s buzzing wings had grown silent.
Leaving him alone in the great hall with Lilith.
“I should have told you.” He choked on his words and shook his head. “I’m sorry, little wolf. So sorry that it took me so long to accept the truth.”
He’d need to return her to her family and once he did, he knew he’d never go back there again. The thought burned like acid and made his soul shrivel. Lilith had brought him laughter and joy; she’d made an ancient man remember what it was to live again. To laugh again.
“I could never repay you for what you’ve done. For how you fought so hard to save me from that tomb of ice, you sacrificed yourself for others, you were the true hero this night.”
Then, leaning in, he planted one final kiss to her pearl pink lips. A very slim part of him wishing the fairytales were true, that true love’s kiss would be enough to wake her from the curse. But she never stirred.
Sighing, he brushed his fingers through her hair. “In all the worlds, there will only ever be you. I love you, my wolf.”
The words were breathed from the very fibers of his soul, and as he released them into the world he felt the quickening of them move like an electrical charge through the room.
There was no flash of lightning or roll of thunder, but suddenly there was a sharp burst of energy that imploded from within him and poured straight through her.
Lilith’s eyes snapped open and she gasped a hard breath, as her fingers curled into Giles’ arm.
“Lili?” Her name fell from his lips like a prayer, and when she looked at him he could not contain his laughter. “Lili!”
Wrapping her up in his arms he crushed her to him, breathing her in, terrified to ever let her go again.
“Knight?” she asked in a quivery voice.
“Oh, my darling. My beautiful, brave, little wolf,” he cried and kissed her brow, desperate she know the truth, that she know it all. “How is this possible?”
Tears streamed from her eyes and she laughed while she cried, clinging to him as tightly as he clung to her. “Do you mean it?”
“Of course, yes. I mean it. Mean what?” he said and then laughed, because it was all beautiful, crazy nonsense, and he’d say yes to her from now until eternity—it didn’t matter about what. He had his wolf back and he’d never let her go again.
“That you love me?” Her blue eyes gleamed. “Did you mean it?”
Forcing her to look deep into his own eyes he grew silent, because he knew it wouldn’t be in words, but through his heart that she’d know the truth. “Can you not feel it, my wolf?”
She bit her bottom lip. “Yes, knight. I do.”
“Welcome home, my heart.” He rubbed his nose with hers, grateful beyond words that he had a second chance. That they had a second chance to get things right.
“Giles?”
He heard the question in his name and knew what she was asking. He nodded. “If you will have me as your mate and your man, I would honor, cherish, and protect you for all eternity.”
Gasping, she covered her mouth with the back of her wrist. “But the children, you would never—”
“Lilith, you are my world. Children or not, without you I wouldn’t be whole again. Say yes.”
Her smile grew broad and tears shimmered in her eyes, but she didn’t say a word.
Lacing his fingers through hers, he gently pried her hand away and gave her a small grin. “Well, Lilith Wolf? Will you take this thick-headed clod to be your mate?”
The longer she stared at him silently, the more he worried that she wouldn’t agree.
Hopping to her knees, she threw her arms around his neck and murmured a heated, “Yes.”
And then they were kissing, long and slow. Tasting and nipping at one another and though Giles wanted nothing more than to take Lilith to his quarters and make love to her throughout the night, he knew there were things they needed to do first.
She was the one to reluctantly pull away first. “I cannot mate with you until my father gives us his blessing.”
; “Then we will go together and I will ask for your hand.”
“Yes. Together.”
~ ~ ~
They were seated around the family dining table, so reminiscent of where their journey had first begun many weeks ago. Lilith stared at her brothers and mother with pride, knowing that as long as her father gave his blessing, she would never have to leave her pack after all.
What a fool she’d been to make that deal with Rumpel all those years ago, believing that staying within her own kind would bring her happiness. At thirteen she’d not been able to imagine that love could come in many different shades and species and that however it came, it was beautiful and just the way it was intended to be.
Violet reached over and grabbed her hand. “Don’t worry, daughter. Your father will say yes.”
She sighed. “I’m not really worried.” She flicked her wrist. “Well, okay, just a little, but they’ve been in that back room an awfully long time. What if he says no after all?”
Her mother snorted. “Dear, I think the mere fact that you brought someone other than a wolf to our home makes your father happy. Not to mention,” she touched the pad of her thumb to Lilith’s cheek, “how happy Giles clearly makes you.”
“Yeah,” Lleweyn grinned, “and the guy is pretty badass—did you see the way he lit his hand on fire when mom’s flame died? Oh, the things I could make my brother-in-law do to that bastard St. John.” He rubbed his hands together gleefully.
Lilith rolled her eyes. “Not that I hold any love for that jerk—”
“Yeah, did you hear he got himself hitched while you were gone?” Erich, the youngest Wolf brother, piped up. At only fourteen he was barely coming into his manhood, but soon he’d be just as handsome as the rest of her brothers.
“Yes.” She nodded. “And I saw that poor thing sporting a black eye, how sad.”
Lleweyn shrugged. “She knew what he was when she mated him. We made sure to tell everyone what that bastard tried to make you do.”
Sighing, she picked at her half-eaten pork chop, casting a quick glance at her father’s still-closed study door, her palms growing more and more sweaty the longer they stayed back there.
“I feel kind of bad for poor Jewel,” she murmured. “To tie herself to someone so cruel.” Lilith shook her head.
“Yes, but that’s the way of it with most of us,” Uriah, the middle brother who had the unfortunate distinction of bearing a skunk stripe of color down the center of his sandy blond hair, said. “If it hadn’t been for Mother and Father showing us a different way, we’d all have been just like them. I’m sure if you asked Jewel she’d think she’d gotten herself a prize, considering St. John is an alpha.”
His lip curled when he said it. Though all three of her brothers were alphas in their own right, they were completely different from most wolves in the clan. It was funny how with a little age and wisdom Lilith could see she’d not been cursed having been born to such mixed parents, but blessed beyond measure.
What a shame if her brothers had wound up being just as repulsive as the rest of the shifters in their woods.
“Speaking of being proud of my brothers,” Lilith mumbled.
Erich snorted. “You’re so strange, Lil, you never said anything about being proud of us.”
Uriah chuckled. “It’s because she was thinking out loud again.”
“Whatever.” She tossed a bit of bread at his head and stuck out her tongue.
Violet drank from her goblet of wine, eyes glowing as she watched the four of them interact.
“Anyway, as I was saying,” she rolled her eyes, “Llew, you need to give me the souls you took from the deadly three.”
“What!” Violet growled, eyes mere slits as she glared at her eldest cub. “What souls did you take?”
Her dark-haired, normally brash brother swallowed hard as he gazed at their mother. Violet was still the Heartsong and had powers that could terrify even the toughest of alpha males.
“I’d completely forgotten about—”
“You will give that back to your sister immediately, young man.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He bobbed his head.
Violet drummed her finger on the table. “I mean now. Go get it!”
Jerking to his feet, Lleweyn shot from the room, heading to his bedroom.
“Great wolf, you boys will be the death of me.” Violet rubbed her brows and took a swig of wine.
The other two boys chuckled and snorted as Lleweyn emerged from his bedroom holding on to a glowing blue orb.
“This is it.”
He handed it to Lilith.
Violet sniffed in his direction, gave a swift shake of her head, and thinned her lips at Lilith. “Tell those girls that we’re very sorry and his father will give him a beating for it.”
Lleweyn grimaced and sat down. He was old enough to be head of his pack, but so long as he lived under their roof he’d abide by their rules.
Lilith wondered why in the world he’d ever stolen it to begin with. Lleweyn was typically not one to make waves, but Violet was done with dinner and was already handing out the chores.
Everyone set to their task, and it wasn’t until ten minutes later when their mother had walked off to join their father and Giles in the study that Lleweyn come over to her.
“I bet that wench didn’t tell you why I took it, did she?”
She turned at the sound of his voice in her ear. Her brother was gazing at her intently. He cast a furtive glance at the door and then nodded.
“No, but I didn’t ask, either.”
His lips thinned in a manner that was very reminiscent of their mother. “I took it because I told her I loved her and she laughed at me, Lili. She laughed. At. Me.” A growl rumbled from his throat.
“Rayale? But you never told me.”
His brows lowered. “Why would I? We were fifteen, I thought myself madly in love, and we did things together—”
“Ew.” She stuck her fingers in her ears. “Please don’t tell me anything else, I don’t need to know the things you do in your spare time. But lemme just say Rayale is scary—were you crazy stealing from them?”
He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. “Seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”
“Why’d you attack them then when they came back for it?”
“‘Cause they were walking through a reaping. They’d have been slaughtered by the rabid wolves all around. I wasn’t trying to hurt them, just scare them off. And now it had been so long, I had completely forgotten all about it.”
She laughed. “You think Dad’s gonna beat you for real?”
“Nah.” He waved his hand. “Mom’s the scary one in this family.”
They laughed beneath their breath at that one.
Finally the study door opened.
“Lilith Wolf, come here.” Her father’s deep voice made him seem entirely frightening at that point.
Giving her brother a worried little frown, she walked into her dad’s room, feeling as though every step led her to the gallows.
Already she was formulating reasons to prove to her father that she and Giles belonged together, but the moment she saw her dark knight and realized that he was smiling, she knew it would be all right.
“Lilith,” Ewan spoke.
Her mother, who was standing behind her father, crossed her arms.
“We’ve had a long discussion with Giles, and he understands the nature of yer deal with Rumpel.”
Both she and Giles nodded.
“You do understand,” her father picked up, “that when you mate with him, ye are stuck with him.”
He made it sound horrible, but she understood where he was coming from. It’d been a shock to her father to discover that Lilith had chosen a demone. One, because he wasn’t a shifter, which Lilith had been adamant about in her early years, and two, because a demone match would mean she could never have pups. A thing of great importance within the wolf community.
“I kno
w, Daddy. But I’m not going to be stuck with Giles. I love him.” She grabbed her knight’s hand and squeezed.
He squeezed hers back.
Blowing out a deep breath, her father nodded. “Then if you’re happy—”
“I am,” both she and Giles said at once.
Violet smiled. “Oh, honey, if you can’t tell these two are madly in love, then you’re blind.”
Patting his wife’s hand, her father chuckled. “Oh, I can spot it when I see it, Violet.” Standing, he draped his arm around his wife and nodded. “We give you our blessing.”
Overjoyed, Lilith ran to her parents and wrapped her arms around the both of them. “Thank you.”
Sniffing, Ewan withdrew a drawer and pulled out two necklaces. One that bore a square pendant and another that bore a heart. “Then here are yer stones of Veritas.”
Taking them in her hands, she turned to Giles who spread his arms for her.
Giving her parents one final kiss on their cheeks, she returned back to her soon-to-be mate’s side and snuggled into his arms.
“You ready for forever, mate?” she whispered at him.
“I don’t know, Lilith. I think I want longer than forever.”
“How about infinity, then?” She leaned up on tiptoe.
“Yes.” He leaned down until his mouth was just inches from hers. “For starters, anyway.”
Laughing, they sealed their promise with a kiss.
Epilogue
Lilith had had to walk outside of the safety of the glen to call Ying’s name. It’d taken her and Giles nearly a day to find a secure place to call the ladies to her. They’d come almost instantly and she’d handed it back to them with great relief. The moment Ying grasped it the three of them had shimmered with a rolling blue radiance that had seeped from their pores.
She could only hope that in the future they would look at her not as an enemy, but a friend. Crazy it was she sort of liked the deadly three. Especially Rayale—she could have sworn there’d been something present in Lleweyn’s eyes even now when he spoke of the piper.
But Lilith had gone outside of her glen for a reason other than handing back the orb. Now it was just she and her knight in the woods surrounded by the glow of burning torches stuck inside hollowed-out tree trunks. They stepped into the circle of light naked.
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