Page 12 of Bound

Is he trying to show me they aren’t poisoned? He backs away to watch from the cave entrance, where I notice the other two men have joined him. All five of them now watch me.

I swallow nervously as my stomach rumbles, and I look down at the berries. I may as well, right? Even if they are poisoned, I clearly won’t get out of the cave without their permission. So best to play nice for now.

I lower my head, and my tongue darts out to snatch up a single berry. I swallow it and watch them. They just stare right back, giving nothing away in their intense gazes.

After a minute with no adverse reaction, I eat a couple more. When nothing happens, I eat the rest of the pile in acouple of mouthfuls. When I finally look up, Maddox is smiling.

“Good girl,” he says with a nod.

If I could blush in wolf form, I probably would. Those words make me feel strange, and I shift my weight back and forth between my front paws. The corner of his mouth tugs up, as if he’s amused, and the giant smirks at him when their eyes connect.

“Let’s see what else we can find her to eat,” the black-haired one states as he exits the cave. This time, the two wolves follow him, and Maddox and the large blonde lumberjack sit in the cave entrance with their backs to me, looking out into the clearing.

They must not think I’m a threat if they’re willing to give me their backs like that. It makes me angry to be dismissed, like I’m not a wolf, but I know I don’t have a chance to take them, even in their human forms. They would have heightened senses like me, probably better, as they aren’t weakened like I am.

Eventually, the others return with a few types of berries and a few nuts. I eat all of it. They even give me a bowl of water, which I drink through three times before finally feeling hydrated enough to stop. I start to get sleepy, but fear has me trying to stay awake. I try to keep myself upright, but my head keeps dipping as I nod in and out of consciousness.

Eventually, I can’t fight it anymore, deciding that they had already been around me while I slept and nothing bad had happened. So, I lie down and let sleep overtake me.

Chapter 6

Hunter

Iwatch, slightly amused, as she tries to stay awake, but it’s clear she’s fighting a losing battle. Her head dips, and then she drops to her side, falling asleep instantly.

I let out a deep breath as I shift to my human form, my twin, Chase, following suit.

The others are sitting by the fire while we watch over her. We’ve agreed that five men might be a bit intimidating for her all at once, so we volunteered to stay as wolves around her until she gets used to our presence.

Chase tosses me a pair of sweatpants from where they’re stashed just outside, and we both pull them on before sitting back down at the cave entrance.

“She’s really something,” I whisper as my eyes rake over the sleeping wolf’s tiny, dirty body.

“I’d say. I’ve never seen a red wolf like that before. I’ve seen brown wolves with a tinge of red, but her coat is such a deep red… she’s beautiful. I can only imagine what she’ll look like when she’s feeling better and cleaned up,” Chase says, agreeing with my own assessment.

“She is, but it’s more than that. I can’t stop looking at her. Like I’m… connected to her.” I glance at him, worried about what he’ll think.

“You mean…” he trails off, his wide eyes meeting mine in surprise.

“Maybe. Do you feel it too? The pull to her?” I ask, nervously.

He licks his lips, looking unsure, but eventually he nods, and relief fills me. “Yeah, I do. Do you think she could be one of our fated mates then? Or both of us?”

As wolf shifters, it isn’t completely uncommon for twins to bond with a single, shared partner. And as Chase and I are so close, we’ve always hoped we’d share a mate, not wanting to be separated. But it doesn’t always happen that way.

“Honestly? I’m not sure, but I hope so. We won’t know until she shifts back.” As with all shifters, you know your fated mate when you lock eyes with them in your human form for the first time, and the bond snaps in place.

I glance over my shoulder at the others, unease filling me. “But I think Maddox and Gage might feel connected to her too. So maybe she’s one of their mates, and the pull is just because she’s fated to one of our pack.”

Chase frowns, rubbing at his chest, then looks back at her, his face softening as he asks, “Could you imagine if she were ours? After all this time searching, we find her here, on our pack lands? What do you think happened to her? Where did she come from?”

“I have no idea.” I think about the muzzle that we found on her. Someone did that to her. I can’t imagine it was because she’s a real threat to anyone. But humans are idiots.

“We need to get her to relax and shift back,” Chase says with determination. “We can’t help her if she stays hidden in her wolf form. It’s clear someone put that muzzle on her. Whoknows what else they did? We need to figure out who, so we can protect her.”

He runs his hand through his dyed pink hair as he nods, as if agreeing with himself. He always acts as if everything is so simple. As if we hadn’t been trying to get her to shift since she woke up.

“Is that why you were wiggling around on your back like an idiot? To make her feel more comfortable?” I ask with a smirk.