I keep telling myself that I won't die.I can't die in the mountains, where scavengers would scatter my bones, leaving them bleached in the rocks and scrub. I can't do that to my parents. My family would search for me, but I was well beyond our territory. My Mom would never know what happened to me.I know I'm choking on my blood on the side of a hill with an antler tine buried in my chest. I was strong, and I was stubborn. I was a damn Beta in my pack and one badass she-wolf.No, I was going to make it. I'm not quitting.My determination did not change the fact that the antler had punctured my lung. I was bleeding out my mouth and painfully coughing up blood, and night would be here soon. I had to drag myself to shelter, or I'd never make it through the cold night. My paws stretched forward, my claws digging into the pine straw and dirt of the forest floor. Every inch of progress towards the deadfall fifty feet away was a struggle. Every movement hurt. I labored to catch a breath. Wh

I licked his hand again and snuggled my head against his wrist. My heart was breaking with every word. "The wilderness is better therapy for me than seeing some VA hack doctor. All he ever does is try more drugs. The drugs don't stop the nightmares, and I can't function in school when I am on them. This air, this scenery? It clears my head better than any drug." He scratched my ears and started to get up. "I have to return to the world, Raven, though I'd rather stay here with you. I hate being in classes, but I can't be a Ranger medic anymore. I need something I can make a living at, and disability isn't living for me." He looked down at me as he kicked the fire apart. "Time to break camp, Raven. You sit there and rest for a while. I got this."Twenty minutes later, he had his backpack ready. He poured the rest of his canteen on the fire and made damn sure it was out.I was whining at him the whole time. I didn't want him to leave, and I wasn't ready to walk out of here with him.Fate

When the kiss finally ended, all I wanted was to kiss him again. Marcus opened his eye and looked down at me. "What was that... tingling... I've never felt that.""It's the start of the mating bond, Marcus. You are human, but you recognize me as yours at some level. Maybe there is a werewolf in your ancestry somewhere? I don't care. I can't describe how it felt to me. I never wanted to come up for air." He kissed me again, then pulled away."Turn around. It's my turn to clean you." My insides were doing backflips, and my arousal was in high gear now. I was flush with arousal, and I could smell that my sex was ready for him. I turned as he got my hair wet, then started to wash my hair. "Do you want to know how I see you?" I nodded, not daring to look back at him. He worked his fingers through my hair and massaged my scalp. The grooming was turning me into a little puddle of desire. "I see your dark hair, and I see my Raven. I see the strange wolf who understood me, the one who listened