Wolf Bonded

by Eden Beck

  I pictured that if my dad ever found us here, I’d put up one hell of a fight. But now, as he drags me toward the beat-up old car parked behind the cabin, I find myself unable to make my muscles move.

  A terrible, high-pitched sound has filled my ears. The ringing is deafening—but somehow not deafening enough to drown out the sound of my own mother’s screams as he yells at her to get in the “fucking car” before he rips the hair from my scalp. I can’t fight back, I can’t cry, I can’t even breathe; all I can do is be dragged and shoved into the back of a car that immediately starts to drive away.

  My vision blurs in and out, everything moving so quickly that I can’t even tell what direction we’re heading.

  It’s all I can do to focus on not passing out.

  This is it. I’ll never see the boys again. I’ll never see any of this again. I’ve lost, and my father has won.

  Just like I always knew he would.

  And after the way I left—Rory, Marlowe, Kaleb—they’ll think I did this on purpose. They’ll think I left them.

  There was a moment there as I ran outside the cabin when I was sure they were coming to save me. That they’d secretly followed me after all.

  But now … now …

  I don’t want them to see me like this.

  So, maybe that’s for the best.

  I’m about ready to fully descend into this abysmal pit of self-pity when a new sound pierces through the noise in my head.

  It’s my mother’s voice.

  “Watch out!”

  It pulls me back into the back seat of the car, and for a second, stills the tilt-a-whirl of my vision just long enough for me to make out the tree-lined road in front of us. One moment, it’s all empty road and dark forest, the next, the car suddenly swerves to the side to avoid something streaking across our path.

  My father swears and tugs the steering wheel in the opposite direction, but greatly misjudges his own strength—as always—and sends the car careening off the road.

  One moment we’re flying down the curving roads, the next we’re jolted to a sudden, violent stop.

  In any other case, I imagine the world crashing to a halt with us. My vision would be spinning, my ears ringing, my stomach turning as it was before the crash. But as it is … the crash is what it finally takes to snap me back to my senses.

  My chest heaves from where I’m seated, braced like a stone statue between the seats. It takes me a second to realize we’ve stopped moving, and then one more to glance up through the cracked windshield to see another flurry of movement on the other side of the glass.

  What was I thinking before? I can’t resign myself to this.

  I seize the chance to kick my door open and stumble out of the car.

  It isn’t until my unsteady feet have landed on the damp piles of leaves that I dare take in a breath. It racks my lungs, burning almost as much as they did that day down by the river.

  I double over, hands on my knees, as I struggle to catch my breath for a moment. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch something darting through the trees. Something distinctly … wolf-like.

  I straighten up so suddenly that for a second, the forest around me tilts again.

  Rory. Marlowe. Kaleb.

  I feel a swell of emotion inside me so strong that it nearly knocks me over.

  They must have followed me after all.

  There’s a rustling noise from behind me as my parents start to stir back in the car. Part of me wants to run back to make sure my mother’s okay, but the other part of me knows what’ll happen if I do.

  I can’t be trapped again. I can’t be sure the next time he hits me won’t also be the last. He could always blame the car crash. It’d be easy. Everyone would just think it’s another terrible accident.

  I glance back towards the car, then back at the forest, torn between the two.

  Another flash of movement between the trees makes my decision for me. I was ready to give in earlier. Ready to give up.

  But not anymore. Not if they’re here.

  I don’t even care if they’re already in wolf form. They won’t hurt me, and I need to get away from my father before he manages to stuff me back into that car where there’ll be no hope of escape. He lost us once, he’ll make sure not to do it again.

  I dare one last glance into the car windows, see my mother’s shoulders rise with breath, and take off into the forest.

  I run towards the flicker of shadows in the woods, trying to put as much space between me and my father as I can. Anything would be better than letting him catch me again.

  Or so I think.

  Twice I’ve tried to run tonight, and twice I find myself face to face with danger.

  As soon as I’m under the cover of trees, the thing that darted into the woods turns to face me and I can tell that it’s not one of the boys.

  It’s a wolf, sure, and one I’m familiar with.

  But it’s not them.

  The wolf girl from the river stands in front of me, and the look of hatred on her face rivals that of my father.

  I take a half step back and stop, keenly aware of the two dangers I’ve found myself sandwiched between. Behind me, the danger I know. Before me … a danger I’ve been warned of.

  “Sorry,” I say to her, still a bit delusional from the blow to my head. “I didn’t mean to get in your way, I just need to—”

  I try to take a step to the side, my gaze flickering up to the dark forest behind her, looking for another path of escape. She matches my stride.

  I never would have thought it possible, but I swear the hatred in her eyes blazes even hotter.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” she says, taking another step towards me.

  I hesitate, not willing to back down—back towards my father—but unsure of the closing gap between us.

  “Please, just let me pass through. I won’t bother you.”

  “How dare you,” she says, her voice deepening to a near growl. She takes another step towards me, and this time, I feel a spark of fear alight inside me. “How dare you think you can just waltz out here and order me around?”

  She bares her teeth at me. “This is Free Territory, unless you’ve forgotten.”

  A match could set alight the crackling air between us.

  I thought I knew danger before, but this … this is different.

  She must be able to see the realization as it dawns on my face, because her grimace turns into a wicked smile.

  “That’s right. This is it.” She grins wider, her expression growing wild. She holds out her arms to either side, gesturing around her to the forest. Above us, moonlight finally breaks through the trees in streams of silvery white between the branches—triggering her shift from woman to wolf.

  It happens instantaneously.

  The moment the moonlight hits her skin, she transforms from the beautiful woodland girl into a powerful killing machine with claws and fangs ready to tear me to shreds.

  She growls and dips her head down, her wolf-eyes burning with that same fiery rage as her human ones did just moments earlier.

  I don’t step back or try to run from her. Even if I could get back to the car before she buries her long teeth into my throat, I’d just be running to another trap. Another death. Slower, sure, but in the end—just as bloody.

  In a way, I knew from the moment I arrived in North Port, Washington that this is how it would end.

  So, I stand still, even when the amber ridge of fur on her back stands up straight and she lunges at me. I instinctively cross my arms in front of my face in the split second before her jaw clamps down on my forearm.

  The pain of teeth ripping through my flesh is nothing compared to what follows a moment later when those same jaws hit bone—and don’t stop.

  My bones make a grotesque snapping sound between her teeth.

  I thought I’d known pain before, but I was wrong.

  The pain radiates through me like a blinding wave. I half-expect her to rip the limb from my body
, but her jaw suddenly releases.

  She lashes out at me again, this time aiming for my exposed abdomen—but she clamps down on something that causes her to whimper and fall back.

  In the moments that follow, before I black out entirely at the sight of my own blood and torn flesh, I see her body being pulled down to the ground by three other wolves.

  Three other familiar wolves.

  The boys.

  They finally came.

  32

  Sabrina

  One thing is certain since I arrived at North Port, Washington—nothing, and I mean nothing, turned out the way I thought it would.

  When I open my eyes, the florescent hospital lights above are blinding.

  The last thing I remember seeing is the green jade totem lying by my feet in the dark grass.

  I press my eyelids together several times to try and focus. My arm aches at my side, but it’s no longer a mess of blood and torn ligaments. It’s been neatly set and bandaged at my side, with the rest of me neatly tucked into one of those sterile hospital beds on wheels.

  Or, at least I assume it’s on wheels. I can’t see from where I’m laid out.

  “She’s up.”

  The sound of Kaleb’s familiar voice prompts me to turn my head to the side. Slowly, fading in from the white all around me, their faces swim into view.

  Kaleb first, his head so close to my face that I’d jerk away if I wasn’t so drugged up on pain killers. Next is Marlowe, leaning over me. Rory appears last, his face a failed attempt to hide his worry and fear, swimming into view at the foot of my bed.

  Both he and Marlowe move closer to me, their hands reaching out to touch me as if they’re still not certain I’m actually here. Kaleb would too, I’m sure of it, if it was possible for him to get any closer than he already is.

  The events of before slowly start seeping into my mind, and I try to sit up. The movement is too sudden. My head swims and my stomach churns as the boys try to gently nudge me back down. My body stiffens beneath their touch, my head swiveling around the room until I’m certain he isn’t here somewhere too. Just waiting.

  “Sabrina. It’s just us,” Rory says, carefully. His voice is surprisingly nurturing, his guess at the cause of my sudden alarm spot-on. “Your mom is shaken up, but she’s fine. She only just now left to grab some food from the cafeteria.”

  My gaze sweeps the corners of the room one last time, confirming that my father isn’t anywhere to be seen, before I allow myself to fall back into the starched hospital sheets.

  Each of them has a similar mixed look of worry and relief when I look up at them again. Kaleb smiles as Marlowe squeezes my good hand. Rory has his own hand pressed against my thigh now as if he’s guarding me.

  “That was you, wasn’t it?” I ask, looking at each of them in turn. “You saved me from the wolf-girl in the woods.” I tremble as I say the next part. “And, you saved me from my father.”

  Rory nods his head, and a terrible thought crosses my mind.

  “You didn’t …”

  “Kill him?” Rory guesses, then shakes his head. “As much as we would have liked to, I didn’t want to have that bastard’s blood on my hands. At least, not without your permission.”

  “Doubt he’ll come back around though,” Marlowe says. “We made sure to send him a little message before he left.”

  With that, he takes the tiny green wolf totem out of his pocket and lays it carefully on my lap. One of the corners is chipped now, but it’s been carefully polished back to a shine.

  This. This is what the wolf-girl ended up clamping down on.

  This little totem bought me precious moments before these three arrived. It possibly saved my life.

  “But how did you get me here?” I ask. “I’m sure three wolves bringing an injured girl into the hospital isn’t something these people see every day.”

  Kaleb chuckles. Even in pain, I’m glad he can still find me at least a little humorous.

  “We forced ourselves to shift back,” he says.

  “You can do that?”

  I think back to the girl. I don’t think she could have resisted the urge to shift if she’d wanted to.

  “Depends. The full moon wasn’t at a high peak of power last night,” Kaleb explains. “Even if it was …”

  He trails off, and it’s Marlowe who leans in next. He squeezes my hand again, lifting it up to press a soft kiss on the center of my palm.

  “Even if it was, apparently that pesky little bond between us is more powerful than we thought. We never would’ve been able to let something like that get in the way of saving you.”

  A lump rises in the back of my throat.

  “How d’you know? Even after …” It’s my turn to trail off. They know what I mean. “After that fight, you followed me.”

  “Like we’d let you wander off into the woods alone on the night of a full moon,” Rory says, not looking at me as he says it. There’s a surprising sharpness to his voice that fades when he glances back down to meet my gaze.

  “Sabrina,” he says, his voice coming out more as a sigh now as he leans his chest over me and talks closely at my face. “We’ll never leave you alone again. Not for a second. All three of us will always be with you from now on, we promise.”

  My breath catches.

  I must still be delirious.

  “What about that whole thing you said, before, about how I’ll never truly be one of you?” I ask. I’m afraid to believe them, afraid to get my hopes up and let them in again.

  I’m afraid to trust them, even though I want to so badly that it hurts.

  “You’re a part of us that we can’t live without,” he says. “I was a fool for imagining anything else, even for a second.”

  “Rory’s right,” Kaleb says as he comes down to kiss the top of my still-aching forehead. “You’re one of us now. We’ll just have figure out a way to make it work.”

  I can feel tears start to well in my eyes. This time, after everything, I don’t even try to hold them back.

  Marlowe wipes the wet stream that starts to run over my cheek before laying down on the edge of the bed alongside me. He leans his forehead up against my shoulder.

  “For you, Sabrina. We’d find a way to make the world stop turning.”

  Kaleb lays down against my other side while Rory sits at the foot of my bed watching over us like a steadfast protector.

  I’m not entirely sure what to think of it, all I know is that in that brief moment in the back of my father’s car, I saw the possibility of a future without them in it … and it was a future that I don’t want to live.

  I don’t know what the future here holds, but I know one thing for sure.

  I want them, all three of them. More than I have ever wanted anything before.

  All I can do is hope that’s enough.

  A Note From The Author

  Thank you for reading Wolf Bonded, the first book in the Wolfish series. The next book should be out mid-to-late September 2020, and can be ordered on Amazon here.

  If you enjoyed Wolf Bonded, please consider leaving a review on Amazon!

  Xoxo,

  Eden

  Also by Eden Beck

  Wolfish

  Wolf Bonded

  Wolf Broken

  Wolf Bargain

  Hawthorne Holy Trinity

  Dirty Liars

  Dirty Fraud

  Dirty Revenge

  The Monster Within

  Where Monsters Hide

  Where Monsters Lie

 

 

 
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