Page 30 of Forced Bonds

Salizar

I could feel my feisty human’s anger and sadness as we drove back to Keen. The tension between us was charged, but there simply wasn't anything I could do at the moment. Thankfully, we weren’t attacked as we left the hotel, likely because they thought I wouldn’t be able to leave in the middle of the day, or perhaps it was because they were licking their wounds from last time.

Chris sat in the backseat, a sort of unspoken decision between us that Benji shouldn’t be alone in the back. He was a flight risk and neither of us wanted to lose track of him. I could feel our alpha’s nerves about facing his pack now that he was mated. I honestly felt sort of nervous as well. Normally I didn’t care what people thought of me, especially not dogs, but these people were Chris’ pack, which sort of made them mine and Benji’s as well. Would we even be welcomed there? Did we even want to? I really should’ve asked Chris if he was happy as alpha or not before we got on the road. Then again we were in our bonding stage and normally that phase would be spent in bed.

“What are you growling about?” Chris asked from behind me, a slight edge to his tone. He was obviously protective over his pack, but he had nothing to fear from me regarding them.

“I wondered if they would accept us or not,” I admitted, keeping it at that.

“They wouldn’t dare reject you,” he scoffed, but I could feel his insecurity about that statement.

“Yeah, I’m not keeping my hopes up on that front, after all, I’ve already been rejected by a werewolf once,” our sassy human snarked beside me.

“This is different,” Chris growled.

“Oh,” Benji asked innocently, “How so?”

“These werewolves aren’t going to mate with you,” Chris spoke through gritted teeth. I could tell he was angry at himself for rejecting Benji and he clearly didn’t enjoy being reminded of his shortcomings.

“Are you so sure about that?” our human countered, raising one brow in question as he stared our alpha down.

That statement had my attention as well. “Who?!” I demanded, growling low when I thought of someone other than us touching Benji.

Benji only smirked knowingly at us, that feisty little minx.

“I’m sorry! Okay?” Chris all but shouted from the backseat, startling me enough to make me swerve on the road.

Benji was having none of it, swinging his head around and yelling back, “And you think now is the right time to finally tell me that?!”

“When should I then?!” Chris snapped.

“When you woke up! Or better yet, you could’ve I don’t know, maybe not have told me I was your mate in the first place! I was blissfully unaware of the fact until you told me! Only to then tell me I wasn’t good enough for you!”

Damn, they had some messy history considering they’d only known each other for a couple of days. Luckily for me, that meant Benji’s anger wasn’t aimed at me anymore, even if I felt bad for our alpha taking all that anger by himself. Maybe it would’ve been best if we’d stayed at the hotel, making Benji moan with pleasure instead of this, but Chris’ pack was important to him so we needed to be there.

Chris and Benji hadn’t said anything else for about five minutes and the awkward silence was killing me as I parked in front of the police station. Chris all but slammed the door, clearly angry now that it was clear Benji wasn’t about to just roll over and forgive him. It wasn’t as easy reading Benji’s emotions as it was for me to figure out what our alpha felt. Maybe it was because Benji was still actively fighting our bond, or because he was human. No matter the reason, I did know he was beyond pissed as he slammed his door too. Sighing, I left the car and followed both my men inside the station, feeling all eyes on us as we passed the policemen to Chris’ office.

I closed the door behind me, leaving us alone in Chris’ office for the time being. The whole room smelled wonderfully fresh, like a forest with the greenest pine trees. I inhaled deeply, feeling myself relax as I sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk, with Benji on the other one beside me.

“They won’t let us be for long,” Chris sighed. “I’ll call them all in for a meeting so I can introduce you both and then we’ll get a status update on what went down yesterday after we left.”

He’d barely finished speaking before a knock sounded. Chris sighed and called whoever it was inside. A man bowed his head in submission, but his eyes gleamed with curiosity as he took in Benji and me. “Alpha, is all well?” he asked, once again eying us.

“Yes, Panu, all is well. Call everyone in for a meeting in room 5. Anyone who’s yet to come in?” Chris asked.

Panu shook his head. “No, Alpha, all are in already and no one is patrolling yet.”

“Perfect. The meeting starts in two minutes then, get everyone.” Chris stood, dismissing Panu who all but ran out of the room. Our alpha beckoned us to follow and we wordlessly did, all of us eager to get this over with. The sooner the source was dealt with, the sooner we could enjoy our life as bonded, and I really looked forward to that part after all these centuries alone. I’d had my fun, sure, but I hadn’t allowed myself to fall for anyone, until now. It seemed I’d longed to take care of someone. Now I had two wonderful men who desperately needed to be looked after and loved. Even if they hadn’t known it themselves, I did.

The room was like any standard meeting room, very plain and boring, but it served its purpose, I guessed. Chris sat on the end of the table, moving two chairs over so we could sit next to him. I figured that was his way of showing our importance before he’d even introduced us properly, or maybe it was a way to keep us close. No matter, I sat and grabbed his thigh to comfort him. His nerves were affecting me, so we needed to calm down a bit before the rest of his station came in here. These people were all pack, but thankfully not the whole pack. These were just the first ones who’d learn about me and Benji. The news would spread like wildfire in mere minutes after that.

Benji had ditched his pissed off expression and turned it into a cold mask of indifference. He likely had many masks, some I’d yet to see. I felt how nervous he was and it broke my heart that he feared another rejection. Chris would be able to feel it too, but he had on his own mask. It was the alpha one, where he glowered and looked so damn hot that a new fantasy came to mind unbidden of me fucking him on the table while his pack watched.

My alpha snapped his head in my direction, eyes wide. “What the fuck are you thinking about right now?!” His words were hissed with irritation, but I simply smirked. At least he wasn’t nervous anymore.

The first werewolves began to fill the room, all bowing their heads before they sat. I counted around twenty, with five standing against the far wall when we ran out of chairs.

Chris cleared his throat and then spoke in a calm and very authoritative voice. “I apologize for my disappearance yesterday, but I had some urgent matters to attend to.”