Page 21 of Deep Love

I ran through a basically deserted Moon Valley at this hour of the early morning and headed for the interstate. There was sure to be some traffic there. Some exhausted truckers maybe, not quite paying attention to the road ahead of them. I climbed an embankment, prepared to rocket right onto that highway, but a thick red haze rose from the ground, completely surrounding me.

My limbs froze up, my paws rooted to the ground somehow. I could neither advance nor retreat. I snarled and barked, a wave of wildness I’d never felt before crashing over me. Sylvie howled somewhere in the distance behind me, no doubt as trapped as I was right now.

A motor sounded and when I looked to the highway no more than fifty yards from my stuck position, a huge tractor-trailer barreled on by. That thing would have flattened me nicely, and my soul could have been on its way to find Delphi.

My mate.

An ache a million times more powerful than the one I’d felt after learning Delphi had died in that car accident throbbed inside me. I tried to break free from my captivity, but I was so weak, as if something was draining every ounce of my werewolf strength from me.

“Stop struggling, Alpha,” a voice said from the red fog.

“Lunai?”

She materialized from the mist as it dissipated and waved a hand over me, causing me to shift back to human. “I won’t let you end yourself. You have a pack to lead, one that needs you.”

“But I need Delphi.” I stayed on all fours, bits of rock and gravel grinding against my bare knees and palms, but I was too fatigued to stand.

Too heartbroken. Again.

Lunai came closer and crouched in front of me. She tipped my head up with a finger to my chin. Her touch made all my pain leach out of me. “I can make you forget her.”

I jerked back so we no longer had direct contact. “I don’t want to forget her. I want her back.”

Lunai rose to standing and folded her arms across her chest, regarding me as if looking at an alien creature she couldn’t identify. “Is your love so deep for her that you’re willing to die for the chance to be with her again?”

“Deeper.”

The Moon Goddess smiled and suddenly I was back in my jeans and Moose’s Diner T-shirt.

“Mason? Where are you?” My sister’s voice was panicked.

“Over here,” I called and a moment later, Sylvie emerged fully dressed as well from the dark woods that bordered the highway. “Oh, thank the Goddess, you’re all right. I thought you were going to—”

“I was.”

Sylvie shuddered.

“There are far less painful ways for you to get to Seraphia,” Lunai said.

“I don’t care how painful or not painful it is,” I said. “I need to get Delphi back. We’re mates. We’ve always been mates. With her by my side, I can lead the Ferguson pack. I can turn them into something respectable with her. Without Delphi, none of it matters.”

Sylvie put her arm around my back and gave me a supportive squeeze.

“There have been many changes in the wolves recently. Pair bonds being broken. Rival pack members becoming mates. Wolves turning humans and becoming mates.” Lunai gestured to me. “Now I have a wolf who wants to die to find his angel mate in the afterlife.”

“Please, Lunai.” My voice was full of begging, but I didn’t care. I would beg for Delphi. I would do anything for her. “If you can get me to Seraphia, I’m ready to do it your way. I’m ready right now. If not . . .” I motioned to the highway behind her, which I was still considering as a real option.

Sylvie’s grip on me tightened. “Don’t make me watch my brother die, Lunai.”

“You will not have unlimited time,” Lunai said. “I can send you to Seraphia, but you have to act fast. Solari will most likely have taken Delphi straight to the Chosen City for a full cleansing of her soul. That process takes a little while, but once it is done, Delphi will not remember you. She will only know the bliss of Seraphia, of being an angel.”

“I understand.” My bond to Delphi would have to be enough to help me find her quickly.

Sylvie gave me a hug then stepped back. “You’d better come back because I don’t want to be the only wolf with a brain in the Ferguson pack.” She swiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks. “Oh, yeah. I also love you.”

I pulled her in for another hug. “I promise to be back.” I kissed the top of her head. “And I love you too.”

“You won’t be able to shift up there,” Lunai said. “You will be a human with a temporary pass to Seraphia, so to speak. Just as I have the power to send you there, Solari has the power to send you back here . . . or to another place.” She pointed a finger to the ground and a shudder rippled through both Sylvie and me. “You’d better be convincing in your argument for letting you have Delphi back.”