Page 41 of A Kiss From a Wolfman
Forever.
EPILOGUE
CIARYN - ONE YEAR LATER
Arevenant has come to collect the bodies that litter at our den’s opening.
I remember the first time I saw such a creature: drinking the blood of a dying man as if it had been a starving animal. That description doesn't seem too inaccurate, given its skeletal frame hidden beneath its tattered black cloak and clanking metal armor.
He must be desperate to wander this far. The corpses are those of the hunters who came for my mate a year ago. Due to being exposed to the elements, their mortal forms are little more than sun-bleached bones and ripped cloth. Still, that matters little to a revenant. I have seen them dine on bones until there is no trace of a body having been there.
Blood they prefer, but a creature of their ilk will take any part of a body they can find. I suppress my shudder as I watch it through narrowed eyes. Lukar is at my side, ready to strike if it ventures too close. Ever since he found his mate, Wren, a few moons ago, he’s been even more protective of our home. Not that I can blame him.
The revenant’s bony hand reaches for one of the hunter’s rib bones. He breaks it with a simple snap and brings it towards its face. Nodding towards Lukar, I prowl through the cavern’s opening.
“Leave,” I command. “You are not welcome here.”
The revenant barely lifts its head. Its frayed cloak blows on a gentle breeze carrying the scent of decay.
“No one welcomes death, yet I arrive. You would do well to remember that, wolf.”
Its voice is a broken whisper—the last rasping words of a deadman.
“Are you threatening me?”
The creature merely waves a frail hand.
“I’m too hungry for ideal threats. Bored, too.”
I raise up on my haunches, and my ears flatten to my head.
“Sounds like you could use a companion.”
Again, the creature laughs weakly.
“My kind is solitary.”
I have no idea why I wish to press this issue. I should be running this foul creature off, but I find myself curious instead. It may be because I understand this revenant to some degree. If I had not found Stella, I would be in a similar position. Alone, unhappy, a ghost of the wolf I was meant to be.
“Are there no females of your kind?” I ask, genuinely curious.
The revenant levels a stare at me. Its eyes are hollow. The faint glow inside them barely flickering.
“No.”
“Then how has your kind come to be? Do you mate with human females as we do?”
The look in its dead eyes causes a chill to break out across the clearing. I back up a step, and my muscles tense anticipating an attack should the creature make one. After a heavy beat of silence, the revenant’s mouth twists.
“What kind of female would allow a death omen into her bed?”
I open my mouth, but the creature merely snatches up a pale arm bone and disappears into a whisper of dark fabric. I stare after him. His unanswered question lingers in the empty clearing. Indeed, what kind of female would want to lie with such a creature? Though I’m sure the same could be asked of the human women who have mated my kind.
If the revenant seeks companionship, I have no doubt he’ll find it someday. However, until then, I don’t want him or any more of his kind coming too close to our home.
“I’ll send more to join you for patrols,” I say to Lukar, who has come to stand by my side. “Until we are sure no more of his kind are coming.”
Lukar bows his head before taking off towardsThe Woods. I watch him disappear into the thicket before I prowl back through the den’s opening. The once-quiet cavern hums with life. Wolfmen and humans alike bustle about in a steady stream of everyday chores and duties.
