Grim purred, his forehead leaned to touch mine. His hand reached around my neck to pull me closer to his forehead. I hummed back, trying to mimic his noise, but it failed horribly. This only made him chuckle and bury his nose in my neck.
My fingers threaded through his wet hair, my cheek laying against his shoulder. “So why do you think I’m your mate, then? Wasn’t she meant to be yours?”
Grim kept his nose in my shoulder, sniffing my wet hair. “When we found out we were mates, I was excited. She put on a good show and acted like it, too. She told me she wanted to wait until that night and to meet her at our pack lake at midnight.
“I waited by the lake all day, too happy to see her. My wolf was tense however, he didn’t like to wait and was furious with me until the moon was high in the sky. It was then I felt a horrible pain in my chest, like my heart was being ripped from my body. I screamed, howled, shifted, and my wolf drug his chest along the ground to ease the pain. I couldn’t control him, and he went on a rampage.”
Grim tensed, his body clutching me for support.
“I killed every animal in sight. Deer, squirrels, rabbits, and I could do nothing to stop my wolf. He wanted blood.” Grim growled, his fingers digging into my skin.
He laid back on the couch, pulling me with him until I straddled his waist and my head laid on his chest. One of his legs hung over the couch, his body too large to hold both of us with my leg taking the other side of his body. He breathed in deeply while I rubbed his slightly hairy chest.
“I returned to my pack, my supposed family. They all looked at me in disgust. They knew what I’d done to the poor animals. I ripped them to shreds, none of it could be salvaged to eat. It was a crime to them, to destroy something that was a part of nature and then to waste it, so it wasn’t usable. The alpha deemed me a rogue and banished me to the human realm.”
“A rogue? What does that mean?” I fluttered my lashes on his chest. “Why did your wolf lose control? What happened to your soul mate?”
Grim snarled, his body tensing. I lifted my head, my lips connecting to his until his body softened again.
“I’m sorry.” He held me close. “I am happy to have you. I am just angry at the disrespect.”
“What disrespect?” I asked.
“My supposed mate, she found another wolf. An alpha from another pack. They wanted to combine their packs to strengthen them. She mated and bonded with him. Breaking our connection. Leaving half of my soul broken.”
I grasped Grim’s shoulders. I gasped audibly at the quietness of the room.
“They laughed. The female said she never wanted an omega. ‘Once an omega, always an omega.’ She didn’t care that I’d worked so hard for her. To give her a home, protection. Her father preferred her to be mated to a neighboring alpha anyway,” he said sadly.
“What did you do?” I lifted my head and looked into his eyes.
“I took what few belongings I had and left. My parents watched me leave. They were not strong enough to leave the pack with me. Their wolves are too weak to disobey an alpha’s command. They had to stay and work for the pack. They now see me as dead, because my wolf would slowly go rabid and eventually, my human self would fade away.”
I shook my head. “But you’re still human. You are right here!”
Grim smiled, his thumb brushing my cheek. “I am only still human because you saved me, little mate. The club was planning to put me out of my misery before you showed up. I was dying.”
I reared my head back in shock. He grunted a laugh and pulled me back to his chest. “You are my second chance, Journey. My soul called for you the second my eyes met yours. The shock we felt when we first touched, the continued fire we share when our bare skin rubs against each other, the undeniable pull. All those things tell me you are mine. I don’t know why the goddess gave you to me. I was about to turn rabid and die. So many before me have, but for some damn reason, you’re here. The Moon Goddess that I had cursed for so long has blessed me again.”
Grim went silent, and I wrapped my arms around him until my hands were pinned behind his back.
Despite my clit throbbing, feeling his heat on my body, I had to think.
Humans weren’t alone. There was an entire world we didn’t know about, and now I was supposed to be with this wolf. Because of a Moon Godde—
A Moon Goddess.
“Grim?” I muttered. “You said a Moon Goddess paired us together?”
He hummed an affirmative, slowly unwrapping my towel. His fingers grazed my back. Chills ran down my arms, feeling his touch.
There was no question about the fire like touches he left in his wake. My body was ready for him. Ready in ways I never thought I would be before.
My past was fading away—even the face of the man Grim very well could have destroyed.
“I prayed to the moon once,” I said. Grim paused his fingers. “I prayed I would find a new life, somewhere safe, where fairy tale creatures were real and for someone to save me. To love me.”
Grim pulled me to a sitting position. The towel fell from my breasts, but his eyes stayed glued to mine. “You, prayed? To the goddess?”
