“She can’t keep going like this,” Link said, voice hoarse. “You’re eating so much now, Tobias. I know what that means. You’re getting close. Too close.” He lifted tired eyes to him and leaned back in the chair. “We’re too late, aren’t we?”
“Yeah. Too late. Listen, when I go down to hibernate, you can’t follow me, Link. You can’t wake me up. I’m not like my brothers. I turn Winter Bear and go crazy. I almost killed Jenner that first hibernation, and there is a reason I den out on Kodiak Island with the rest of the monsters. I’ve been woken up twice since then, and I had no control over my bear. If she suggests waking me up, you have to stop her. You have to keep her safe from me. Swear it.”
Link’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. He looked ill. “I swear I won’t let her wake you up. Now, let me get the blood sample so you can go check on her.”
Tobias sat at the table in the same chair where they always did blood draws. He rested his elbow on the smooth wood and clenched his fist, and within a few minutes, Link had two vials of his blood. As Link withdrew the needle, Tobias said, “You won’t need those. She won’t have time to do anything with them.”
Link’s gray eyes went wide. “That soon?”
“Yeah.” He gave Link a sad smile, then stood and left to find his mate.
Vera’s scent was easy to follow. Fur, salty tears, peppermint moisturizer, rose hips, and mango body wash led him through Link’s quiet woods to a clearing. His chest constricted as he saw her leaning against a tree, knees drawn up like a shield, head on her arms. Her body shook like a leaf in the wind, and no wonder. It was freezing out here.
“I think you should let me hibernate,” he said low. She would hear him, even over the whipping wind.
“I can’t,” she said thickly.
“You can. I’m telling you, you can. We’ll try again next year.”
“You don’t understand!”
“Are you scared of Clayton? He won’t bother you anymore, and besides, he’ll be going down for winter at the same time as me and my brothers. Jonathan’s gone, and Link will be here if you need anything. You’re safe, Vera.”
She lifted her devastated gaze to his. “Can’t you see?” she whispered brokenly. “I can’t live without you anymore. I’m not strong like Elyse and Lena. I never mentally prepared for this. I went into this pairing knowing you would always be with me.” She slammed her back against the tree and let off another sob. “When you go down for hibernation, you are going to take the best parts of me, the ones I’ve worked so hard to find again.”
Her words cut him like an ax blade. “Maybe you need to Change again.”
“I don’t! My fox doesn’t even want my body now. She’s as desperate as me to finish this cure in time.” Vera’s tawny hair whipped around her shoulders, and she looked so frail in the moonlight. So thin. He’d noticed the changes over the past weeks, but now, even the blue in her eyes had dulled with exhaustion. He’d done that. She was pushing herself to the brink for him.
He loved her for the effort, but he hated himself for her pain.
Here in the dark, as her shoulders sagged in defeat, he couldn’t help but regret the time they’d wasted avoiding his hibernation. Now it wouldn’t matter. He would sleep until April, and he’d missed all of that bonding time with her while she’d juggled lab work and constant Changes into her animal.
“Come to town with me?”
“What?” she asked.
“I want to take you on a date. A real one.”
“I don’t have time, Tobias.”
“You do. Vera, I have to leave soon.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not safe when I hibernate, and I can’t go to sleep around here. Not around people. You know how your fox used to be dangerous around humans? That’s how my bear gets in winter. I have to fly out to Kodiak Island soon, and I don’t want to waste our remaining time together watching you drive yourself into the ground to avoid the inevitable. I want to be with you.”
“Tobias, no,” she cried, tears streaming down her face. “You can’t leave me. You can’t.”
He was to her in three long strides. He fell to his knees in the dirt beside her and pulled her hard to his chest. “Listen to me, Vera. You are strong. Look what you’ve done! You compromised with your fox, and you’re present every time you Change. You have control, Vera. I can see it. And I’m so fucking proud of you. You will get through this winter, and hopefully it’ll be our first and last apart. I can’t watch you wither anymore, though. Do you understand? It’s not worth it to me. I’m going to sleep this winter, and that’s okay.”
“But your family—”
“Our family will hold another winter. You know why?”
She shook her head against his chest. “Why?”
“Because Lena and Elyse are strong just like you. Go on a date with me, woman. I want to talk about wedding planning and girly shit.”