Chapter 514

I laughed. “Really committed to the secret?”

He whined. “It sounds stupid when you say it like that.”

I laughed harder. “I think it sounds stupid when anyone says it, babe.”

His head snapped up. “Babe?” I pulled my hand back and looked away, but I could feel my ears burning. “Amy?” I heard the question in his voice, turned back, and crossed my arms for comfort.

“Yeah?” I braced myself. His soft words, intended to comfort me, only fueled my panic.

“Will you stop hiding your scent?” His soft question jolted me from my spiral.

“What?” I shook my head to clear it. “What did you just ask?”

He furrowed his brows. “Can you stop hiding your scent?”

“Why?” I grabbed my wine bottle and took a sip. “Will it actually change anything?”

“Yes… no… I don’t freaking know.” He pushed up from his seat and paced. “I don’t know. That’s the goddess’ truth. What if we are mates? What if the goddess selected you for me this time because you died in your past life, and I was killed?”

I tilted my head. “You weren’t killed in my past life.”

He looked away. “I was.”

I shook my head. “No, you weren’t. I would have remembered that.”

“You wouldn’t have… because you were already dead when I was killed.” His words hung in the air.

My mouth was half open, my face a mask of confusion. “What? How do you know that?”

He blew out a breath. “I’ve told no one this before.” He hesitated before looking back at me. “But I have dreams.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Or I thought they were dreams until today.”

“What are you talking about?”

“All my life, I’ve had dreams about my mate—the dark Lycan I would mate with. She was always in her Lycan form, black hair, golden eyes.” He paced. “But then the Lycans died off, and I thought it was just a dream. But Erubus was set on her. That’s why he was never swayed by another she-wolf. Until you.”

“What does this have to do with what you just said?”

“Just let me explain it my way.” I raised my hands, motioning for him to continue. “My dreams about my mate stopped when my father died, and I’d forgotten about my mate, but Erubus never did. So when we met Nix, and he was head over heels so quickly… I thought, good, he’s moved on. But…”

“Rowan?” I sighed.

He waved his hands. “Anyway, my point is, I thought it was all dreams. But when you called me for the first time, the dreams started again, but they were different.”

“What do you mean?”

“I wasn’t dreaming of a Lycan woman. I was dreaming of a report about you being killed by your mate for defiling the mate bond and getting pregnant with another male’s pup. The wording felt wrong, so I came to Oakenfang to investigate. But the omegas poisoned my food with silver and wolfsbane.”

“What?” I growled, but he smirked.

“I died with Vince standing over me with a male I didn’t recognize—not at first.” He shook his head. “But now I don’t think they were dreams at all.”

“What do you mean?” I stood.

“After you ran out of the meeting, I spoke with your dad and saw a picture on the top shelf in his office.” I thought back to the pictures and knew there were several. “It was the one of his parents. It was small and out of the way, almost hidden.”

“Okayyy.”

“The man I saw with Vince was Garith.” He faced me. “I’d never seen Garith before. My father, when alive, was very particular about which alphas I could meet. He wasn’t one of them. So how could I have known his face before if I’d never seen him?” He paced again. “Then I realized my dreams weren’t just dreams.” He walked to me. “And you are the only wolf I know with black fur and golden eyes.” He grabbed my hand.

“Rowan,” I started, but he interrupted.

“You are part Lycan.” He stated it as a fact, so I nodded. “But you don’t think you can shift into a Lycan form.” I nodded again. “Females can’t until fully mated. But that doesn’t change the fact. You are the last Lycan female, and I’m the last male.”

“No… I’m not.”