She laughed. “You were not even there when I was born.”

“Perhaps not, but the day you were born was the day I was guaranteed to be loved by the most incredible woman I have ever had the privilege to know.” And he meant those words with every fiber of his being.

“Thank you, my love. Perhaps, next year you will be able to say those words to me as you hold me in your arms.”

Vasile’s heart clenched in his chest as though her fist had wrapped around it and squeezed. How badly he wanted that. “If I could be with you now, if it was safe, I would be by your side before the dawn.”

Romanian Proverb #15

Mâta blândã zgârie rãu.

Dumb dogs are dangerous.

Two years after exile.

Alina watched as yet another two males tore into one another over something as simple as who would carry the message to Emilian that their village had passed this week’s inspection. The fights among the more dominant males were becoming more and more frequent. Not only that but the violence behind them was escalating as well. It was only a matter of time before someone killed one of their own pack mates.  The constant harassment of their Alpha, searching their homes and questioning them weekly on the whereabouts of Vasile and the warriors who had left with him, was agitating the pack members. Wolves did not like their loyalty questioned. A dominant Alpha, one more dominant than all the males in the pack, would be able to question his wolves and keep their wolf under control. Being able to keep the violence of the beasts inside the males under tight reign was part of why having a powerful Alpha was so important.

Alina’s father was growing more concerned every month that Emilian was not as dominant as he had first led them to believe. Somehow he had tricked the more dominant males into thinking challenging him would be foolish. When the truth was there was a very great possibility one of the males in the pack could defeat him. If that were true then they were in more trouble than they had originally thought. They were two years into his rule as Alpha and the health of the pack had not improved. Instead, it was slowly deteriorating.

On top of all of this chaos was the ongoing pain and emotional turmoil that Alina dealt with because of her separation from Vasile. Their bond had only grown stronger in the time they had been apart. She found it increasingly difficult to hide the raging emotions inside of her and worried even more about it now that Emilian was trying to determine if Vasile truly did have a mate. Obviously, she was number one on the Alpha’s suspect list. She found herself longing for nightfall when she could lie down in the quiet of her bed and listen to the sound of his voice as they talked through their bond. She could tell that the constant fighting of the warriors Emilian sent after him, the repeated killings, was taking a toll on him. Vasile was dominant, a natural Alpha, and that meant he would kill to protect. Butthat did not mean he enjoyed it, and she had a feeling the only thing keeping his wolf from enjoying it was there nightly mental talks―the connection they were able to make and the balance she brought to him.

“Can you do something for me, Alina?” Vasile’s voice resonated in her mind sending chills down her body as it did every time he spoke to her.

“I will not promise until I have heard your request,” she answered with a slight grin on her face. She knew better than to agree to anything her mate said before knowing what it was, lest she end up promising to live in the trees in a remote jungle somewhere in order for her to stay safe.

“Will you step outside?”

Her heartbeat sped up at his request. She was up and moving towards the door before she even realized what she was doing. Was he out there? Had he finally come back?”

“Oh, beloved, there is nothing I want more, but it is not time.”

She felt herself deflate as if all the air in her lungs had been forced out. She knew better than to get excited because that only led to disappointment, and she knew that those feelings only stemmed from her ache to be with her mate. “I am outside.”

“Do you see the full moon?”

She looked up into the night sky, and her eyes met with a large full moon that seemed so close she could reach out and touch it. The light beaming off of it lit up the darkness and wrapped the forest in a soft glow that sparkled off of the leaves of the trees and plants.  “It’s beautiful,” she replied.

“Knowing that you are out there looking up at the very same moon that I am seeing makes me feel close to you. I was hoping it would do the same for you. For this brief moment the world does not seem so big, and the chasm that has kept us apart does not seem so wide.”

The moon blurred before her as tears filled her eyes. They ran down her cheeks, first just a few, until they were flowing freely. “I fear the chasm is only going to grow before you find your way back across,” she admitted as she wept silently. “I did not mean to take something that you meant for good and turn it into something….”

“Shh, Mina,” he interrupted her. “I am your mate. Who will you go to when you hurt if not me? Who will treasure each and every tear for the special gift that it is? Because though I do not want you to cry, every drop is reassurance to me that you long for me as I do for you. I am the one you come to and crumble before because I will always be there to catch you. Do not ever apologize to me for how you feel, beloved, because I feel all of it as well. You are inside of me―in every cell that makes my body, in every bone that holds my frame, in every muscle that grants me strength, in every breath that fills my lungs, and in every beat of my heart that grants me life, you are there.”