Page 72 of Found Objects

“Shall I let them see as well?” Ondine asked innocently, waving her hand to include the others, batting her eyelashes for my benefit.

“You know I don’t like to scare anyone.”

She laughed, and it was, as always, a sound you wanted to bask in like the warmth of the sun. If only Justin knew what the true power of seduction was, he’d never try again for the rest of his life. “You must keep in mind that sometimes a good fright is exactly what’s needed, and I for one cannot abide this human disguise of yours when you’re taken for less than you are.”

I scowled at her.

“Cole here sees and wants you, and I suspect when your form changes, his passion will not diminish. The women at The Bower, they utterly adore you, and so I hold soft places for all of them in my heart as well. All those dear ones you care for at the shelter think of you as their protector, and so treat you well. But any who take you for less than you are, who think you weak, who think they can dominate you without serving up their own heart first, who don’t see you as a gift… I drown useless things, as well you know. Have I not always been this way?”

I nodded. “I’m sorry for trying to change you. That’s why I wanted to see you, and why I must have called out—I had an epiphany this evening.”

“And I heard your heart, as I always do. But Mere, the man waits, and I will release the wolves now, so please, guardian of the innocent, let us see the true form of the Cù-sìth.”

Closing my eyes, I exhaled my humanity as I had done the other night. I didn’t normally change so often. Before Friday night, I hadn’t been in my true form for years, and even then, I hadn’t stayed in it long enough to really feel my power roll through me. I had doled out punishment and returned quickly to human. But now I would change slower, taking my time to feel what I had been in the beginning, when I was first created from fog and rain, earth and wind, purifying fire and, more than anything, the breath of the goddess.

I was made first to dwell in the fecund green of the forest, to punish and kill, deliver vengeance for the sins man committed against others and the world. Only later had my own thoughts moved from death to birth. Perhaps it was better to protect those who could be hurt, keep them from harm so they would never become angry and wrathful. If I became their shelter, my heart said, I could change the outcome. It had taken lifetimes, but everything had changed when I became a shield instead of a sword. One of them had been the transformation itself. It used to be instant. I thought of my true form and became the incarnation of death. But once I became a protector instead, now, it took concentration.

I felt the power roll through me as it always did, altering my frame, making me bigger, stronger, my paws enormous, my fur heavy and coarse, and filling my long muzzle with razor-sharp teeth. I was something right out of a nightmare, and centuries ago, the screams of those I hunted had been my music.

And now Cole saw what I was as I stood before him, an enormous creature with glowing green eyes, my long fur running with bright green flames.

I was afraid to look, but I told myself his reaction didn’t matter. I would still protect him and Evan, would try and restore him to alpha, and allow no one to harm him. If he was scared of⁠—

“Oh, look at you,” Cole breathed. My eyes popped open, and I stared at him, hearing the awe in his voice and seeing the smile that lit his face. I was not prepared for him to walk forward, right up close, not a drop of fear in him, and sink his hands into my fur. No other human or shifter had ever put their hands on me in my true form. Only an elf and a siren had. “Not a wolf at all. Not human either, just—God, you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

There were gasps from the others as Ondine released them, letting them see me as I truly was and feel the bestial, feral energy rolling off of me. They were all shivering, even the alpha, so it was easy to see my effect on them.

“What are you?” Cole asked me.

“I am one of the Cù-sìth.” I answered in his head, and I wasn’t surprised when he heard me and nodded, not at all freaked out by the newest revelation of telepathy. “I was made for the singular purpose of punishment.”

“That can’t be. That’s not you at all,” he said out loud before leaning in and pressing his face into my fur. “You’re kind and good, and off topic, you smell fuckin’ incredible.”

He sounded almost drugged.

I chuckled low and saw him shiver at the sound.

“It’s been so hard, because I don’t know what I’m supposed to do or be as a wolf,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around my neck and leaning his weight against me. “I’m not sure what my place is. But as a man, I have to care for my brother, and oh, Mere, I can feel the bond with you right here in my chest. Once you—and forgive me if this isn’t right, it’s the word I know—shifted and became your true form… Holy fuck, there was no mistake. I felt it like a fist to my heart. You’re mine.”

I had been so on edge, so distracted, so unsettled for months, and I’d had no idea what was happening. I’d felt almost haunted, but now, suddenly, everything slid into place, like a key fitting into a lock, and it made sense. All of it, every part, had been the coming of my mate. And now calm washed over me, a feeling of certainty, of rightness settling in my chest. This man, unlike any who had come before, was mine, and for once there was peace, like a calm sea after a storm.

“Ever since I first saw you, I felt like I needed to be closer to you, with you, and like I told you before, when I left after we argued, I must’ve stopped ten times on the way down your long-ass driveway, knowing I was supposed to turn around and go back and beg forgiveness.”

“It was the same for me.”

“But I didn’t do it. I tried so hard to put you out of my mind, and then everything happened with Evan, and I was so scared that I’d failed to protect him, failed to save him, and he was dying⁠—”

“He’s fine now,” I murmured to him in his mind.

“Yes. Because of you. And I was in his room, and then I saw you and… I knew you were there for him. Of course you were. And when I look at you, I know we’re supposed to be together. But even after everything, after you saved Evan, I still second-guessed myself because all of it seemed so crazy. I don’t even know you, but I knew we shouldn’t be parted. Not ever.”

I loved the rambling, loved him speaking from his heart. It soothed my soul.

“Even packing everything up to bring it over here, I thought, why am I doing this? He doesn’t want me and my brother with him forever. That’s nuts.”

I chuckled, and he smiled in return.

“But now…because of this, because of your change, because you trusted me to see, I can feel it. This, us—I know with absolute certainty that you belong to me.”