Page 13 of Bound

“It’s not like you had any better ideas. What were you thinking, crawling toward her like that?”

“I don’t know! I just wanted to get closer. I thought she’d let me if I moved slow enough.” He laughs at me, and it makes me smile. Maybe it was a dumb idea… But it had worked for a minute, until she realized what I was doing.

A soft whimper makes us turn back to her. Her paws and head jerk, as if she’s trying to get away from something… or someone. It looks like she’s having a bad dream.

“I’m going to lie beside her and see if it helps,” I say, stripping off my pants and throwing them at Chase’s face.

He grunts as I shift back to my wolf form and slowly walk over to her. She fell asleep with her butt against the wall and her legs out to the side, so I’m able to lie down against her back. I move slowly and gently until her back is flush against my side.

Her whimpering dies down quickly, and soon her breathing evens out as she sleeps peacefully beside me.

“Good job,”Maddox says through the bond. I glance up to see them all standing in the cave entrance, watching us. I guess they heard her whimpers too.

Chapter 7

Cherry

Iwake up feeling better than I have in… well, years, probably. I don’t feel great, but I do feel better. My side isn’t aching as much as it was before, and I feel decently well-rested.

My stomach rumbles with hunger. I know I need to eat some meat, but just the thought of it still gives me a stomachache. I’m afraid that if I try eating it, I’ll throw up.

Something beside me moves, and my eyes fly open as I stiffen. When nothing happens, I slowly roll to my stomach and turn my head to see one of the wolves from earlier lying beside me. He raises his head and turns to me.

We stare at one another, and I stay completely still, unsure of what to do.Is he going to hurt me? Why is he so close?

He stares at me for another minute before dropping his head and rolling to his side, so his back is now pressed against me.

I frown as he tilts his head back to look up at me from where he lies, his head now under mine.

Why is he putting himself in such a vulnerable position?

His brown eyes bore into mine as if he’s trying to tell me something, but I don’t know what it is. Then he completely shocks me by leaning his face away and exposing his neck.

What the ever-loving-hell is going on?

He doesn’t know me at all. Why would he do that? Even I know never to expose your neck to another animal, or human. When he doesn’t move, I glance around and see the other wolf watching me intently from the entrance. Is he worried I’ll hurt his friend?

I look back down again, and he turns his brown eyes back to me and nudges my chest with his nose. He then turns his head away again.

What is he telling me to do?I doubt he wants me to hurt him.

I lean down a little and hear the soft thump of his tail hitting the ground.Is he wagging his tail right now?

I’ve never been more confused in my life. My parents never exposed us to any other wolf shifters so the only experience I have to go by is with my family. We’d roll around in the grass and play in our wolf forms sometimes. Is that what this is? Is he trying to…playwith me?

I lean closer and, sure enough, the wagging increases. Again, it slightly irks me that these men don’t seem to be threatened by me at all.Did I want them to be?Not really. These weren’t the men I’d love to fear me.

Deciding to trust the part of me that says this wolf is safe, I follow my instinct and lower my head, gently inhaling near his neck. He smells…amazing. Like crushed pine needles with a burst of citrus.

I move my nose in further, letting it press into his fur to let the smell completely surround me. His scent feels alive, crisp,grounding but energizing. It’s so comforting it makes me sign in contentment as I close my eyes.

As if it has a mind of its own, my tongue suddenly darts out to see what he tastes like. The second my mind catches up to what I’m doing, I recoil my head back.What in ever-loving-hell am I doing?

I stay frozen in place as the wolf turns his head back to me and presses his nose into the side of my neck, smelling me the same way I had sniffed him. He gives my neck a quick lick, making me flinch, then I watch with wide eyes as he shifts into his human form.

Now a naked stranger is lying against me. I refrain from looking any further down his body, but from my current view, what I can see is pretty spectacular. He has beautiful brown eyes, and messy brown hair that hangs around his ears, and a short scruffy beard that makes him look rugged. Beautiful tattoos flow across his chest and down his left arm. He looks strong and handsome and—I shake my head, unsure where those thoughts come from.

What is he doing to me?