Page 65 of Forced Bonds

“Isabelle will tell us more when we see her,” Altaur assured us. “They’re allies now and since they need our help getting it open, they’ll be on their best behavior.”

“I fucking hope so,” I growled.

Altaur looked directly at Chris, offering one of his kind smiles. “I’m sure Isabelle will explain more when she comes. After all, I can only tell you what I know, and it’s sadly not much.”

We left Altaur’s office, both of my men silent as we returned to our rooms. Neither of them seemed very pleased with me at the moment, but there was nothing I could’ve done. If we’d run, they would’ve found us and that wouldn’t have ended up being pretty. At least doing it like this, we would still be alive afterwards, even if my men were mad at me for it. Every decision I made was with them in mind. I hated that they doubted me; that they even believed I would happily hand them over to Isabelle.

Benji slumped onto the couch, Chris joining him. They both just sat there, staring at nothing. It was unnerving. “Please talk to me, my loves, I can’t stand seeing you two like this.”

“What if I remember?” Benji whispered, making me regret asking him to speak. My poor bonded would see his attackers, the ones who cut him open and left him to die. I should’ve guarded him from ever seeing them again.

“You don’t have to be there,” I reminded him softly.

That was obviously the wrong thing to say.

Benji glared at me, like he’d once done so freely at every opportunity. “If you think for one second I could ever leave Chris behind in a time like this, then you don’t know me at all.” He stood and with a raised middle finger aimed my way, left the living room, slamming the door to one of the guest rooms further down the hall.

I sighed, disappointed in myself. I should’ve phrased that better.

Chris looked at me, his mask of indifference on. It hurt, seeing how closed off he was, not even giving me a view of his true emotions. “Why didn’t you tell us yesterday?”

“I’d planned to,” I assured him. “I just hadn’t expected to walk in on you two naked and all.”

“Ah, so it was our fault we weren’t warned. Got it.” He left the living room, too, not mad like Benji, which made it even worse. He seemed deflated and hurt, like I’d truly betrayed him.

I sat on the couch thinking about how much one could fuck up in a single day.

“It was amazing,” Benji said, praising Diane’s cooking.

Both of my men had ignored me for the rest of the day, but when dinner time came around, they both left their rooms to seek out food. I’d followed, because how could I not. They’d eaten in silence, only the murmurings of the others in the kitchen could be heard.

“Thank you!” Diane beamed. “I tried making it a more filling dish, with the long night ahead and everything.”

Chris and I stared at Diane in confusion. “What long night?” I dared ask. Had Altaur changed the plans and told Isabelle to get here sooner?

Diane looked confused. “The full moon. I thought it lasted all night, was I mistaken in thinking that? No offense,” she hurried to say, looking at Chris. “But you’re the first werewolf in the coven so we don’t know much, yet.”

We must’ve looked as horrified as I felt. How could we have forgotten?! What if Diane hadn’t told us about it, would Chris have shifted inside our rooms? Would he see the coven as pack enough to not attack them? Holy… so much shit could’ve gone down.

“Of course,” I said, trying to mask my horror. “Thank you for thinking about that, Diane. We better get out into the woods and prepare.”

Chris and Benji both followed me, this time I felt that their silence had to be because of the shock. Once we were far enough away from the kitchen, I spoke. “Jesse has a tent we can borrow for the night. I’ll go and grab it. Can you gather blankets and pillows for us?”

They nodded and hurried to our rooms. I found Jesse and got the tent and a way too long explanation on how to put it up. Night was creeping in and I simply didn’t have the time. So, I told Jesse exactly that and dashed to our rooms, finding Chris and Benji running around and gathering all sorts of stuff, most of which we didn't really need.

“We need to get going,” I told them, grabbing as much as I could carry. They followed my lead and soon we were walking inside the forest, the mansion no longer visible as we got further into the woods.

“This should be far enough,” Chris declared, sounding detached to the whole thing.

“You sure?” Benji asked, eyeing our surroundings.

Chris gave him a soft smile. “I am. I know this isn’t exactly glamorous, but it’ll do.”

“I’ll build us the cabin for next time,” I assured him, getting the tent out and trying to somehow make it look like a tent. I was failing so far.

“A cabin?” Benji asked, sounding excited.

“Yes, a place we can stay each full moon. It will be ours and no one will dare enter it.”