Chapter 223: His Father’s Feather

Calis felt a bit sad.

He was not like her mates. He had seen how they had doted on her and taken care of her both times he had stayed in her territory. They constantly got her things, and he had given her nothing when she had given his pack everything.

Tera sat up. "Calis—"

"This was my father’s."

The words silenced her.

Calis held the strange but pretty adornment up for Tera to look at it.

"He wore both of them until she died, and I have carried them since then."

Tera stared at the feather, her hand coming to rest on her chest.

He was giving her something that belonged to his late father. Something he had worn on his body for years, and it was literally one of the only physical connections he had left to the male who had raised him.

But a small part of Tera wasn’t too sure she wanted something that had belonged to a leader who had led his pack with the outlandish views of seeing different beasts as problematic.

Calis smiled fondly, staring at it. "I never knew my mother for long, but it had belonged to her before taking it upon her death."

’Hmm... alright, maybe it isn’t so bad.’

Calis leaned forward and gently brushed Tera’s hair back from her left ear.

He looped the thin cord through her hair and tied it with the same careful knot he had been wearing. The feather settled against her hair, and unlike his, the adornment clearly stuck out amongst her own shade.

But Calis had placed it in a way that it wouldn’t rub against her skin in a disturbing manner, but it still felt strange in her hair.

But Tera was touched by the gesture.

Calis sat back and looked at her, and the expression on his face was so open. He looked very happy and proud.

Calis was very happy to share a part of himself with Tera. But aside from this main motive, he had also given her this gift for another reason.

His scent would be on it. Years of his scent on that adornment would fade eventually, within a few months or longer. However, when that happened, he intended to switch it with the other one.

That way, his scent would always be on her.

"Will you be my mate? I want to be your mate."

Calis had asked her that so straightforwardly that Tera had been taken aback. He looked serious, and all shyness was gone from his face.

Tera smiled gently and leaned towards him. "Yes."

The relief that washed across his face was so total and so unguarded that Tera nearly pulled him down and kissed him again.

She touched his face and leaned in, cradling his jaw in both hands.

"You are lovely," she said softly. "You know that?"

His ears flicked, and his tail betrayed him again, thumping once against the ground before he caught it.

Tera chuckled, her thumbs stroking his cheekbones. Then her smile softened.

"What about your pack, Calis?"

Calis only smiled. "I will tell them after this."

Tera paused. "Are you sure? Maybe it would be better to first see how they would feel—"

"They have a right to know. There is nothing wrong with this, and there is nothing wrong with you. I believe my pack will accept this."

Tera wasn’t so sure. Years of conditioning was not something one easily undid. And she was fairly certain Greymaw in particular would cause a riot over this.

But the resolve on Calis’ face told her that pushing further right now would only make him feel like she didn’t trust him.

"I just don’t want this to cause problems for you—"

Calis leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.

Tera melted into him, her fingers curling against his chest. When his tongue found hers, the rough texture dragged a shiver out of her that sank straight down through her stomach and settled between her legs.

A quiet, hungry sound built in her throat.

Her body was already responding to him, and the thought of pushing him onto his back and taking him into her mouth was so vivid it made her thighs press together.

She was yet to taste that red meat of his.

Before she could put her thoughts into action, Calis stiffened, and his ears shot up.

He broke the kiss as his head snapped toward the trees behind them. His crimson eyes narrowed, and then widened.

Tera suddenly felt uneasy, wondering if Calis had sensed a corrupted beast, only for Girruk to burst from the trees.

Tera felt her stomach drop.

"What the fuck?!"

The young wolf’s face was twisted with fury and vindication, his finger already raised and pointing at them before his feet had fully cleared the undergrowth.

"THERE! YOU SEE?!" he shouted. "LOOK AT YOUR ALPHA!"

Behind him, Greymaw emerged, and behind Greymaw, a number of wolves.

Some of them looked confused, and others were very uncomfortable as they looked at Calis and Tera mid-embrace.

But the moment they saw Calis and Tera on the ground, including the reddish-brown feather adornment hanging from her hair, their eyes widened like animals waking up from a nap all at once.

"SEE WHAT HE HAS DONE!" Greymaw shouted. The old wolf’s voice shook with barely contained triumph. "Your alpha has taken the shiftless female as his—"

Tera’s initial alarm spiked, and she was about to snap at the old idiot when she glanced at Calis.

Her retort died in her throat.

Calis’ head was lowered, and his eyes were hidden behind the dark fall of his hair. But from where she was seated, she could see a part of his face.

However, that wasn’t the only chilling thing.

Every single muscle was locked tight, his shoulders trembling with a tension so severe that the veins in his forearms were visible.

His claws had extended.

Tera stared at him. She had seen Calis angry before. She had seen him snarl at elders and shut down challenges with a look.

But now he looked absolutely furious.