Free IceSurrender by Marisa Chenery

gun to her head, pull the trigger and survive it. The idea of
having to live the rest of eternity without the man she loved at her side… She
didn’t even want to go there.
    “If you end up staying mortal,” she said out loud, even
though he couldn’t hear her, “you’re going to have to let one of the wolf
brothers bite you. I refuse to lose you. Do you hear me?” She then spoke to the
room at large. “And if you’re out there and can hear me, Ryder’s ancestor,
maybe you can do something about it too. You were powerful enough to create the
first werewolves. You should be able to manage this one little thing.”
    Of course there was no response to her plea, not that Wren
expected to get one. The only time she’d seen the first shaman was in Ryder’s
dreams. She had no idea if he could appear here in the real world.
    Wren must have drifted off to sleep shortly after dawn
because she jerked awake thinking there was an earthquake since the bed shook
so much. Knowing it had to be caused by Ryder, she looked at him, expecting to
find his eyes open and him no longer unconscious. That wasn’t the case. He lay
on the bed, not aware of anything around him, as his body took on a glow. The
bed shook harder, jostling both of them.
    “Ryder, wake up,” she said loudly as she pushed at his
shoulder. She got no response. His eyes didn’t even flutter.
    The entire household arrived inside Ryder’s bedroom. “It
happened again, didn’t it?” Edensaw asked.
    She nodded, unable to pull her gaze off Ryder as his body
glowed brighter. “Yes.”
    “This is nothing like yesterday.”
    “I know.” Wren looked at Edensaw. “Tanner used some kind of
spell to get inside Ryder’s dream as well. He told us to tell you and the other
sentinels that he wants his pack members returned to him and that he’s done
hiding from you. He would have attacked us, but your first shaman arrived and sent
him away. Ryder’s ancestor then said he had to awaken the rest of Ryder’s
powers all at once, even though he hadn’t wanted to do it that way. The dark
wolves are too strong now for the delay.”
    Suddenly, the glow around Ryder’s body disappeared. He arched
his back and stiffened. He let out a groan as if he were in a lot of pain. It
lasted all of ten seconds before he slumped on the bed, which finally stopped
shaking.
    More scared for him than she’d ever been, Wren shook him.
“Ryder? Ryder, wake up.” His head flopped from side to side. “Ryder, wake up,”
Wren said louder, hysteria tingeing her voice.
    Wachei put his arms around her from behind and stilled her
movements. “Shh, Wren. It’s okay. Listen. You can hear his heartbeat. It’s
strong. He’s all right. I have a feeling his full powers aren’t finished coming
awake. That was just part of it.”
    Wren took a deep breath and did as Wachei said. Sure enough,
now that she wasn’t letting her fear for Ryder run away with her, she heard the
steady beat of his heart. She relaxed some and nodded.
    Wachei kissed the top of her head. “Good girl. Everything is
going to be all right. You’ll see.”
    She hoped so. It scared the shit out of her to see Ryder
like this, no matter that his ancestor told her not to worry. It wasn’t as if
she had anything to fall back on. Ryder was the only person to go through this.
At least when Capac had turned her, they’d known what to expect and had told
her up front what would happen to her.
    That crisis seemingly over for now, the others left her alone
with Ryder to wait out what would happen next. Wren stayed by his side, only
leaving to take brief trips to the bathroom and hurriedly get something to eat
and drink. Cassidy had insisted on the latter.
    It was approaching evening when Ryder showed signs of coming
awake. His eyes blinked open and he looked around the room until his gaze
landed on Wren. He sat up and cupped the back of her neck as he kissed her.
    Once it ended, Wren wrapped her arms around Ryder and held
him tight.