“I’ll be a part of the ambush,” I stated.
Bones shook his head. “That all depends on Journey. She may need you.”
Bones’s eyes lingered on my mate’s body. I growled in warning when he looked for too long.
“No worries. Just want to figure out what’s happening, too. She’s the start of something great? Right?” His eyes lit up with hope. Maybe there was at least one of us that would pray for a miracle.
I grunted in reply, ripping open the plastic wrapping the blanket.
Bones shut the door, and I made our nest. It wasn’t as comfortable as the one at home, but at least we were close to medical attention. My scent released onto my mate, the blankets, and the bed. She sighed deeply in her sleep once I wrapped my body around her.
“I’m going to figure this out,” I promised her.
She buried her nose in my neck, like she knew that would bring her comfort. I rumbled a deep vibration, putting Journey into a deeper sleep.
I should be happy that my mate had marked me, but it wasn’t normal for a human to bite. She deliberately bit into my skin, deep enough to grip into the muscle.
When I asked in the shower why she did it, she said something took over her body. That she’d felt an unknown force pushed her into my skin.
Since she was human and has no animal, was the goddess pushing her to complete our bond? Was it the bond itself?
More questions arose, and my wolf grunted at them. He didn’t care right now; he wanted sleep now that Journey was resting peacefully.
But one thing was for certain, we had to find out what was going on with her.
Chapter Thirty Three
Grim
Ipulledathickparka coat around my mate. The snow was falling through the crisp air, and the roads would soon be dusted like confectioners’ sugar on a perfectly baked cookie.
My mother used to make them around this time when I was a pup. She commented on how humans believed in some sort of large, rounded mythical creature called Santa Claus. He would leave treats and toys for the children under a tree that had been chopped from a nearby forest and placed in the middle of their home.
No one in my pack understood the tradition of it all, but we made our own holiday while the humans had theirs. Being in the realm where no humans were allowed, we weren’t given the ability to ask one why or how this tradition started. We decorated our special tree in the middle of the pack and covered it with brightly colored balls and snowflakes made of paper.
One old wolf had seen these mystical trees when he visited the earth realm before he settled down in our pack. He described them in detail, and it fascinated all the pups that humans would take such an interest in the pines.
Since living in this realm, I’d come to understand this phenomenon to be Christmas. A fictitious pagan holiday mashed with several other traditions in order for humans to buy presents from big corporations. Gifts that held no meaning were purchased in exchange for friendship and the continuation of it.
Though to some, I suppose it held some meaning.
“Did your family”—I grimaced—“celebrate Christmas?”
She was bundled from head to toe. Her eyes were the only visible thing.
She mumbled and pulled down the zipper of her jacket. “Grim, I’m sweating in here,” she said exasperatedly.
“It’s snowing. I need to keep you warm.” I zipped up her coat again.
She shook her head and pulled the zipper down again. “Not that cold. Anyway, no, I never celebrated Christmas. Where I lived, it was a devil’s holiday. We didn’t even exchange gifts,” she said sadly. “Not that I would have had any money to give anyone anything. And there was no one who would give me one either.”
I rubbed my chin. My mate looked sad and deep in thought while she tramped through the snow. She never had a Christmas, and she had never received a gift on this human holiday.
Maybe I could give her a gift.
I smiled at the thought.
“Maybe, we could get a tree,” I mentioned. Bringing in a forest tree would bring more nature into our home. I didn’t know about putting all the shit on it, but it would be one step closer to giving her something she might have missed from her human culture.
