Page 30 of Bound

I lick my lips and glance around before asking, “Shouldn't the pull of a potential mate bond help her shift?” All eyes shoot to me in confusion and surprise.

“What do you mean?” Maddox asks carefully. I glance at the others, but they’re all frowning at me now. Oh well…In for a pennyas they say.

I let out a huff as I meet Maddox’s intense gaze. “Enough beating around the bush, Mad. I think she’s my mate, but I don’t think I’m the only one who feels that way.”

“I feel it too,” Hunter says immediately, filling me with relief that at least he and I are in this together. I give him a grateful smile, which he returns with a nod.

“As do I,” Gage says as he drops his head and pinches the bridge of his nose. Maddox turns to Bain, and they stare each other down, almost as if challenging the other to admit it.

Without breaking eye contact, Bain finally growls out, “She can’t be fated to all of us.”

“And yet we all feel the pull,” Maddox says with a sigh.

“Speak for yourself,” Bain snaps back.

Maddox presses his lips together with a frown, then shakes his head in disappointment. Which means he believes Bain feels the same way, even if he isn’t admitting it.

Glancing around at the rest of us, Maddox tells us, “It doesn’t matter right now. There’s nothing we can do with this information. We won’t know for sure until she shifts. We might all just feel extra protective because of how we found her.”

More seriously, he adds, “And whether she’s fated to one of us, or none of us, she's in our pack now, and she's ours to protect.”

He turns to me as he adds, “To answer your question, I’m not sure that the mate bond would help her shift unless she’s fully bonded.”

“What do we do then? She doesn’t want us near her right now,” I say, feeling frustrated with the entire situation. I know she’s my mate, and it’s killing me not to go into the cave and pull her into my lap and tell her everything is going to be okay, that no matter what happens, I’ll be here for her.

She just needs to give in to those feelings. I know she has them too. The way she seeks comfort from all of us makes it clear to me that she’s feeling the pull too.

“We give her space, if that’s what she wants,” Maddox answers my question, staring at the ground in front of him.

“I feel like we’re going backward!” I whisper in agitation.

“So what? You want to force her to be near us?” Gage asks angrily.

“No!” I let out a deep breath and run my hands through my hair, trying to calm myself down. “No, of course not. I just… I don’t like this. I want to fix it. Kill the bad guy, bring her gifts, anything that will make her happy.”

“And who knows how long this will take. We’ve already been here for two weeks,” Hunter says, sounding as frustrated as I am.

“Well, I’m not going anywhere,” I say stubbornly as I cross my arms over my chest.

“Maybe we should consider taking her back home now? Being around more human things could help her shift,” Gage suggests.

Would that help? It might. Being surrounded by human things could definitely drive her human side to push through. But the main reason we haven’t done that yet is because that would also subject her to the Westgrove Pack and other people. Without knowing where she’s coming from, or what she’s running from, she might not feel safe.

Not only that, but they will think she’s a feral rogue. Alpha Kane might not even allow her to stay.

“You know why we can’t yet,” Maddox says with a sigh.

“We could ask her?” I suggest. “She kind of answered your question earlier. We could explain the reasons why we think it would be good for her to go there and see if she wants to go.”

Everyone sits in silence for a minute as they consider it.

“Okay, how about tomorrow afternoon, after we visit the pond, if we all agree, we’ll ask her then? That will give us all a chance to think about this and the repercussions,” Maddox suggests, and I nod eagerly. Any plan is better than doing nothing at this point, and it eases my tension.

Bain moves to sleep in front of the cave entrance, to protect her, while the rest of us get comfortable around the fire. My final thoughts as I drift off are of all the exciting things I’ll get to show her at our house. I wonder if she likes video games? Or what her favorite movie is? Does she like tacos?

The next day, our little wolf exhibits the same behavior as the night before. She doesn’t sit close to anyone and won’t let us feed her, turning her head when we try. She does eat some cooked rabbit left in the cave for her, so at least she’s eating. She just doesn’t want to eat with us.

I rub my chest as the thought of her not wanting to be near me makes my heart literally ache. I hate feeling like this.