Mera opened her eyes and saw that she was in a room that was lit with warm light, but it wasn’t the infirmary. It was her room at the pack house.
She groaned as she sat up and felt the cold and stiffness of her body.
“Welcome back.”
She looked to the right and saw Killian get up from a chair and walk toward her.
She looked at him and saw the small smile he gave her.
“You already know,” she said in a hoarse voice.
Killian sighed as he sat down on her bed and nodded. “As soon as you went to the statue, we knew,” he said as he met her eyes.
Mera nodded.
“How are you feeling?” Killian asked as she grimaced and moved to sit more upright.
“Like a bus ran me over,” she said as she massaged her arm a little.
Killian chuckled.
Mera sighed as she looked at her hands. “I’ve gotten more explanation in one day than I ever had in one week,” she said as she looked up at him.
“Everything that happened feels like a dream, but the power I feel in my body tells me it’s far from that.”
Killian nodded. “Who did you meet?” he asked.
“Ylva, the last Wolvensoul that lived before me,” Mera said. “She was the wolf of the statue, and she acknowledged me.”
“Making you a full Wolvensoul,” Killian said before he sighed and ran his hands over his face.
“What’s wrong?” Mera asked as she laid one of her hands on his arm.
Killian clenched his jaw.
“Lian?” she asked, which made him look up at her.
“I’m glad you found out who you are and that everything finally makes sense—believe me, I am—but the Wolvensouls were always hunted.
“Werewolves wanted them in their beds in the hope they would produce an heir, and hunters wanted them dead because of their powers.”
Mera gulped as she looked at her hand on his arm and felt the sparks.
“When they find out that a Wolvensoul is walking on Earth once more, they will come for you, and that puts you in more danger than you are in right now,” Killian added.
“I know,” Mera said as she softly rubbed her thumb over his arm, causing the sparks to intensify. “But the ones before me didn’t have something I do,” she said as she looked up at him.
“What do you mean?” Killian asked.
She gave him a small smile. “I have you.”
The sparks intensified almost immediately, and it made them both gasp.
Killian looked at her in shock. “Wolvensouls don’t have mates,” he said.
Mera nodded. “But I have.”
Killian moved to face her, which caused her hand to leave his arm. “How is that even possible?”
“Odin told me I’m the most powerful that has existed, and that same strength allows me to have a mate—one who will help me carry the power,” Mera explained.
“How powerful are you exactly?” Killian asked as he looked at her in wonder.
Mera chuckled a little as she looked at her hands. She remembered the green smoke.
She balled her fists and closed her eyes as she tried to focus on something that would be her power.
Something inside her sparked, and she felt the pressure in her chest reappear. Mera focused on it, and she felt it move through her veins to her shoulders.
She willed the pressure to move further down to her hands, and, to her surprise, it worked.
Her wrists started to ache, and as it became too much, she opened her hands and eyes at the same time.
Mera released the breath she was holding as green smoke with green embers danced around her hands.
Killian looked at it open-mouthed.
“That’s how powerful I am,” she said, still looking at her hands.
A small smile appeared on Mera’s face.
“You are really something, Mera,” he said with amazement.
Mera looked at him and smiled. She released the hold on the power, and almost instantly, the smoke disappeared.
“I just don’t know what I can do with it, though,” she said as she looked at her hands again.
“We’ll figure it out,” he said as he took one of her hands in his. “But first we need to attend the execution of Tore—tonight.”
“Tonight? Wasn’t Adrien supposed to wait until the full moon to execute him because of Máni?” Mera asked as she looked at him in surprise.
Killian clenched his jaw as he met her eyes. “Tonight is the full moon. You’ve been out of your own body for a month,” he said.
Mera looked at him with pure shock on her face.
“Are you kidding me right now? How can I have been out of my body for a month?” Mera asked before something else occurred to her. “I was out of my body?”
Killian nodded. “Wolvensouls can step out of their own body—”
“And host a wolf’s body.” Mera finished the sentence. “But I wasn’t in a wolf. I was talking to Odin and Ylva.”
“A god can also pull a Wolvensoul out of her own body, Mera,” Killian said.
“When they do, time passes much slower when they talk to the Wolvensoul than it does on Midgard. That’s how a month has passed.”
Mera fell back on her bed as she ran her hands over her face and sighed. “Well, that’s just great…” she said before she immediately sat upright again. “What did you tell everyone?”
“Well, I couldn’t lie. The question of why you needed to stay in your room and no one else could enter was one I couldn’t answer. Your dad is the pack doctor, after all,” Killian said.
Mera sighed as she briefly closed her eyes. “How did they react?” she asked as she looked back at him.
“Shocked, but after a few days, they turned around and accepted the fact that you’re a Wolvensoul,” Killian said.
“Except your mom. I don’t know what has gotten into her since she came here,” he added with a sigh as he looked at his hands.
“What did she say?” Mera asked softly.
Killian clenched his jaw again as he met her eyes.
“I can handle it, Lian,” she said as she saw the look on his face. She’d already prepared herself for the worst.
Killian sighed. “She just started yelling how you weren’t her daughter anymore and that she will no longer see you like that.”
Mera clenched her jaw and dropped her head as she felt the knife in her chest from her mother’s words.
After everything Dina had said to her, she knew her mother wouldn’t react well to the news of what she was, but this was more painful than anything else.
“I’m sorry,” Killian said softly as he laid his hands on hers.
She turned her hand over and linked her fingers with his. “I’ll be fine,” she said as she looked up and felt a stray tear roll down her cheek.
“I know you will be, Mera, but you don’t have to hide your pain from me,” Killian said as he wiped her tear away with his other hand.
He leaned in a little, and her eyes immediately shot to his lips before she met his eyes again.
Killian started to move in closer, then sighed and pulled away again.
“My mom put a dress on the chair for tonight in case you woke up,” he said as he released her hand and got up from the bed.
Mera clenched her jaw as she shook her head and immediately got out of bed. “Why do you still pull away?” she asked as she stopped in front of him.
Killian sighed. “Even though you are a Wolvensoul, you still need to have a choice, and I don’t want to push anything onto you. If I kiss you, I’d be doing exactly that,” he said.
“Have I ever stopped you when you get closer to me?” Mera asked as she looked him straight in the eye.
Killian gave her a small smile. “No, you haven’t.”
Everything inside her was pushing her more and more toward him, and she was done waiting.
She was done with pushing away the feelings she had for him.
After everything they’d been through and everything that happened, Killian had always been there for her, and she knew he always would be.
She needed him as he needed her, and it was time to stop tormenting each other.
“Then don’t be such a good guy and just fucking kiss me already,” she said with a boldness that was still new to her.
Killian’s eyes immediately turned amber. He grabbed her neck with both his hands and pulled her into him as he placed his lips on hers.
Sparks erupted all over their bodies with a power she had never felt before, and she had to hold on to him as she was sure she would fall if she didn’t.
Everything in their bodies connected and made them feel whole, complete.
Killian’s lips moved against hers, and she knew she would never get used to the feeling and that she would never get enough of it.
After a while, he pulled away a little and rested his forehead against hers as he stroked her skin with his thumbs.
“I have to ask,” Killian started in a soft voice before he pulled away to look at her. “Do you accept the bond?”
Mera chuckled as she saw the insecurity in his eyes.
She moved her hands away from his waist and wrapped them around his neck.
“I do,” she said with a smile.
