“You don’t have to make adecision right now,” Isolde said. “Use this time to really sortthrough your feelings. Either way, at day seven you’re either hereforever or there forever. Once you choose, that place will be yourhome.”
“Close the portal now,”Wrath demanded.
“I can’t,” Isolde said.“It’s part of the spell. And your mate needs to make the decisionto stay here on her own. If you or I forced her to stay before shewas ready, she might resent everything about thisworld.”
Trinity knew that she was right. Whileher gut reaction was to say she’d stay here with Wrath, she neededtime to think. For years, she’d lived under the belief that Wrathwas part of her subconscious. She might have wished—hoped,really—that he was real, but she’d never expected to be sitting ina cottage in the forest with him by her side because of a magicalnecklace.
“Wrath, can you give me aminute with Isolde?” Trinity asked.
He narrowed his eyes, and then henodded sharply. He jerked his head to Auberon and the twoleft.
“Can I take off thenecklace?” Trinity asked.
Isolde frowned. “Why wouldn’t you beable to?”
“I don’t know, because it’smagic and it brought me here? I wondered if I took it off if itmight think I didn’t want to stay here and send meback.”
“It’s a necklace, itdoesn’t think.”
“You know what I mean.”Trinity rolled her eyes.
“Yes, you can take it off.It has no bearing on whether you stay in this world or return toyour home.”
“Where is theportal?”
“It’s hidden. You can’t getto it without me, because I cast the spell. You won’t accidentallystumble into it.”
“Good.” Trinity blew out abreath and rubbed the space between her eyes. “This is sofantastical. I still kind of feel like I’m dreaming. I mean, thisis where I always wanted to be—with Wrath, with the Blood Wolves.It’s a simple life, free of the complications of the modern world,but I like that about it. Granted, I always pictured us living in areal house and not underground in the cavern, but I don’t actuallymind that aspect of it. It feels safe there.” Then again, she’dalways felt safe with Wrath.
“You’re not dreaming,”Isolde said. “You’re just in a different version of yourworld.”
The two rose to their feet andhugged.
“Do you think once thepurebred alphas learn that Wrath found his true mate that they’llknow he’s not a danger anymore?”
“I think he’ll always beviewed as the villain,” Isolde said. “The purebreds and thehybrids’ animosity is long and deep. You can’t undo centuries ofbad blood overnight. Assuming Wrath doesn’t go abducting peopleanymore and trying to take over other alpha’s territories, thenthey may just leave you all alone.”
Trinity nodded. “I’ll see you in sevendays.”
When Isolde opened the front door,Wrath stopped pacing. His eyes were amber, and his fangs wereelongated and peeking past his lips. Trinity smiled and steppeddown into his arms. He sighed deeply, and she felt him relax. Shehadn’t realized how tense she’d also felt being away from him untilhis arms were around her. Isolde gave Auberon a large lidded potfilled with the leftover stew to take to the wolves.
As they said goodbye to Isolde andbegan their journey to the Blood Wolves’ cavern, she knew that thenext seven days were going to be difficult. It wasn’t that she’dchoose to return to her own world and leave Wrath behind, but sheneeded to make peace with the decision, and that would take sometime.
She just hoped Wrath wouldn’t be toodemanding and would give her time to come to terms with her newreality.
Chapter Eight
Wrath wanted to haul Trinity over hisshoulder and race home, then spend the next seven days convincingher that she belonged with him. He had several ideas for how tohelp her make the right decision, and they all involved a lot ofnakedness and pleasure.
“Is he going to be welcomein the cavern?” Trinity asked.
Wrath glanced at her.“Who?”
“Mytan. I kind of don’twant to leave him in his lair since it’s so far away.”
“Assuming he’s no danger tothe pack, yes, he can come in.”
“That’s good.” She graspeda handful of his fur and gave it a playful tug. The big beast—whoWrath had only ever seen furious, with flashing fangs as hehowled—let out an “aroo” sound, his tongue lolling to the side. Helooked like a puppy, despite his beastly appearance.
“I think Mytan alone willensure that the pack accepts you even though you’re not from ourworld. Although you say you created him, it appears as if you’vetamed him and that will go a long way to them seeing you as uniqueand special.”
“Do you want to ask meanything?”
He looked over his shoulder atAuberon.
The young male lifted his brows. “Ipromise I won’t repeat anything you say to each other, but my earsare too sensitive not to hear what you’re saying unless you want meto leave.”
“No, I want you to keepyour ears and eyes on our surroundings,” Wrath said. “And ofcourse, I expect you to give us the illusion of privacy, and a vowof secrecy.”
“I swear,” Auberonsaid.
When Wrath was certain the youngmale’s attentions were focused on the woods and not on his mate, hebrought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. Nothing hadever felt as good as touching her for real. As much as he’d enjoyedthe dreams, this was far better.
“I want you to stay,” hesaid.
She gave him a side glance. “Thatwasn’t a question.”
“It’s all that’s on mymind,” he said.
She sighed. “This whole situation iscrazy. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you’rereal, this world is real, and what I wrote about actually happened.I can’t even really describe how I feel… everything’s a jumble inmy head.”
“What about yourheart?”
She gave his hand a squeeze. “I knowwho you are. I know what we are together.” She stopped walking andhe followed suit, turning to face her. Auberon scooted past them,walking a few yards away and stopping. “I want to be with you, Ijust need some time to get acclimated. Can you give it tome?”
“My wolf is
