Shifter Bound
Page 33
‘They’d help if you asked. You just don’t want to ask because you’re afraid. Afraid that you don’t belong. That you’re not one of them. That they can’t help you.’
‘I do belong!’ She knew she did. Had known for weeks. That wasn’t her fear.
‘Then don’t let the mistakes of my past burden your present.’
She stared into out the window, at the sun shining over the garden outside and realised something with a quiet clarity that wiped away all pretence as sure as a tsunami. ‘Oh Goddess.’ She’d been sitting around, allowing them to treat her like an invalid, allowing herself to sink into old patterns of behaviour. But she wasn’t that person anymore. Didn’t want to be that person anymore. Couldn’t be that person anymore. She’d beaten Cain, beaten the Darkness. She hadn’t ever let it in, even though it had always been there. It had touched Bridgette in the ether and had attached itself to a portion of her soul, and when that soul was reincarnated into Eloise, it had manifested as a deformity in her foot—but only because she had never let it in. If she’d let it in as Cain had let it in, she would never have shown the deformity of its presence. It would simply have blackened her soul.
Her soul wasn’t blackened. It was pure. And her foot was no longer deformed. She was no longer an outsider. No longer less because of the presence of the Darkness. The canker of it was gone and she would never let it touch her like that again.
She was the Nexus. She had made her decision, chosen her side, and she was tied to that decision as certainly as she was tied to Iain and his pack. Her destiny was chosen. Now it was up to her to reach out and own it. Own herself. Own her claim to Iain and stand equal beside him.
There were things she could do. Things she had to do. And she was going to do them.
Patrick leapt to his feet when she stood. ‘What do you need?’
She waved him away. ‘I’m going out into the garden.’ He moved towards her. She saw the denial coming. ‘Don’t stop me. I need to go out there. I need to change. I need to be with nature. Don’t stop me.’
He wavered for a moment, uncertainty on his face, but then he nodded. ‘Okay. I’ll need to call Iain though.’
‘You do that.’
Then she was out the door and into the weak winter sun before he could say another word.
As the cool breeze wafted over her, the scents of the grass and earth and winter blossoms drifting around her, enticing, she changed into the wolf. Bounding off the patio and onto the gravel of the path beyond, she raced through the garden to its heart, its centre. This was where she belonged, with pack scents around her, in the arms of nature. She howled into the sky, calling her mate to her. Expectation filled her as power buzzed through her. He was coming. She could feel him. The pull of him, the constant presence through the bond that was now tied inextricably to her heart, to her soul. The knowledge filled her with a sense of place, a sense of purpose, a sense of who she was. It was unlike anything she’d ever felt before.
She didn’t care that Cain and Morrigan—and the Darkness that held dominion over them—were still out there. They would be scrambling to find some way forward now that her powers were lost to them. They’d be afraid. Of her. Of what she could do now she had found herself. And they should be afraid. She had always been a threat to them, but she’d been too weak to see it, too gullible, too needy. Well, she was none of those things anymore.
Cain might have her blood, but he had nothing else. And he would never have any part of her again. The only person who had a right to any part of her had just entered the garden and was heading towards her.
And as he did, she realised what the worry, the sadness, in him was truly about. He was worried that she hadn’t truly chosen him; that she’d been forced by circumstances to bond with him.
She had to show him how wrong he was.
He appeared on the path and before he could say anything, she changed. She changed into Bluebelle first, then back to the wolf, and then, finally, into her human form. Standing naked before him, she met his gaze, chin held high.
‘Eloise,’ he breathed. ‘It felt like you needed me. What’s wrong?’
The burn of desire that flared in his eyes warmed her so that she didn’t notice the coolness of the air. ‘Nothing’s wrong. But you’re right. I do need you. I always need you.’ She took a step closer to him. ‘The question I’ve been too cowardly to ask you though, is do you need me? Am I enough?’
‘You have always been enough. More than enough. You are everything.’
‘As you are everything to me.’
He sucked in a breath. ‘You accept me?’
‘Always and forever.’
He was suddenly in front of her, cupping her face, fingers digging into her hair. ‘Always and forever.’ He kissed her. She wanted to sink into the kiss, to lose herself in the feelings only he could bring to her and not think about everything else, but she had to tell him something more. She pulled away a fraction, enough to look into his beautiful eyes, to see the soul shining there that loved her throughout time; the soul that had always been, and would always be, hers. But more importantly, the part of that soul that was and would ever be, Iain.
‘I love you, Iain. Me. Eloise. Not Bridgette. Not whoever came before. They will always have their share of my soul, but my heart is mine and I give it to you.’
His face broke into a smile brighter than the most glorious sunrise. ‘As I give you mine. I love you, Eloise. And that love grows stronger every day. For you and the remarkable person you are and who you are to become. I will always be by your side. To find out your heritage. To discover your powers. To seek out the truth of what being the Nexus means.’
‘And I will do everything I can to allow your wolf the freedom it needs to roam free.’
‘I never need to roam free from you. Surely you know that?’
The smile bloomed on her face as she realised she did know that. The dreams had shown it to her. To both of them. Malcolm’s words to Bridgette suddenly rang loudly in her head. Iain’s need to roam free had changed. He was a Lone Wolf simply because he roamed to find his soulmate. She was found. He needed to roam no longer.
‘Iain,’ she whispered, reaching up to kiss him at the same time as he bent down to kiss her, her name on his lips. And as their names tangled together, their lips pressing and caressing, her sense of belonging and rightness increased, flooded through her, stronger than she’d ever imagined. It hummed like a glorious pure note, surging through her synapses, bursting through her skin and pores until she felt she was joy.
Iain flung back his head and howled at the night sky and without thinking, Eloise did the same.
Iain smiled down at her, his face glowing in the fairy lights and the light of the quarter moon. ‘My mate,’ he whispered. ‘Always and forever.’
His words reverberated through her, touching a well of emotion hidden deep inside. ‘Always and forever,’ she whispered back. ‘My mate. My love. My life.’ She had no idea why she’d added those words, but they came from that same deep place inside and they felt right.
‘My mate,’ Iain repeated. ‘My love. My life.’
Then their lips met again and Iain lifted her up, carrying her to the patch of grass, still warm from the sun even though it had slipped from the horizon. Hands moving swiftly together, they removed his clothes, their lips never parting, and soon they were lying naked on the soft grass. She ran her fingers over the strong, silken planes of his chest, down his arms and over his shoulders to press into his back, pulling him down to her. She wanted to feel him inside her once more. It had been too long since they’d made love. She needed him now to complete the mating and make this a moment of bliss true.
‘Love me,’ she said against his lips.
‘Always.’ His lips left hers, but she didn’t mind, because they ran down her neck, where he nipped and sucked and licked as his hands circled her nipples with teasing strokes, making her moan and arch up.
‘Eloise,’ he breathed against the pulse
in her neck. ‘Mine.’ Then his teeth sank into her neck. Lights sparked behind her eyes as he claimed her with his teeth and tongue and mouth.
She clutched at his back, fingers raking over his skin. He groaned and she did it again.
‘You’re driving me insane, Little Bird,’ he moaned. ‘I’m not going to last.’
‘I don’t want you to. Take me. I need you inside me now.’
She wrapped her legs around him and as his teeth sank into her pulse point again, he slid inside in one firm push. The sparks behind her eyes went off and she pulsed around him.
He uttered something she couldn’t make out and went still.
‘Don’t stop,’ she panted.
His lips met hers and he began to move. She clutched him tighter with her legs, her hands a fever over his back and into his hair. Rearing up, she bit him where the pulse pounded in his neck. He growled, the sound thrumming through her as the thick length of him slid in and out in that rhythm that was their secret dance. Everything tensed inside her to an unbearable point as Iain gave one last thrust.
Eloise screamed her pleasure into the night as the waves of sensation broke over her, Iain’s cry a deep harmony to hers; the most wonderful sound she’d ever heard.
A few minutes later, he rolled over and stood up. But before she could complain about the sudden cold his absence brought to her, he pulled her up and into his arms, carrying her towards the house where he laid her down on her bed, snuggling her against his side. Soft moonlight fell on them through the open curtain, silvering their skin.
‘So, our mating is complete.’
‘The most important part, yes. Patrick would have heard our mating cry—a pack member has to be present to hear it as well as feel it. But he wouldn’t have seen anything. I promise.’
‘I know,’ she said, playing her hand over his chest. He would never expose her in any way she wasn’t comfortable with. ‘Is there anything else that needs to be done?’
‘We’ll have a binding ceremony with the pack to seal the deal for them, but for us, it’s done.’
‘I can feel it inside me. So strong. So beautiful.’
‘Yes.’
She smiled. ‘Why did you move us?’ she asked as she pressed her cheek against his chest, hearing the still fast pattering of his heart.
‘The first part of a true mating must occur outside in nature, but I didn’t want you to get cold.’
‘I could never be cold with you next to me. Or inside me.’
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. ‘I love you, my Little Bird.’
She moved to look up at him. ‘I love you, my wolf.’ She kissed him with all the wild joy inside her. ‘I love you. I can’t seem to stop saying it.’
Iain’s lips curved against her brow. ‘I feel the same way.’ He touched his chest. ‘You are my heart. I could never live without you there.’
‘Iain.’ She kissed him and knew that in him she had found someone who saw her for who she was and loved her for it, just as she saw everything he was and loved him. He knew that she could face up to anything the Darkness or Morrigan or Cain or the universe threw her way, just as she knew it. But she didn’t have to do it alone. Nor did he. Alone they were strong. Together, they were more.
She would never let go of wanting the more. She loved and was loved. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever experienced. Always and forever. She reached out and embraced her destiny.
***
Above the house, the sky trembled and a light shot through night. The wolves as one lifted their faces to the moon and howled.
In the distance, the Darkness trembled and curled in on itself, squeezing tight to the hearts it had turned into blackest obsidian. Morrigan and Cain clutched at each other, whimpering in pain, trembling.
‘Mistress?’
Morrigan stroked Cain’s hair. ‘It will pass,’ she gasped, holding tight to him as they collapsed to the ground.
Yes, the Darkness whispered. The fear, the loss, would pass. And then, when it had built its strength again, it would lash out. And this time, it would hit its mark and the world would truly tremble.
Thanks for reading The Pack Bound series—Pack Bound, Moon Bound, Shifter Bound and Wolf Bound. I hope you enjoyed them.
I If you’d like to know more about me, my books, or to connect with me online, you can visit my webpage leislleighton.com and sign up to my newsletter, follow me on Twitter @LeislLeighton, or like my Facebook page.
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Bestselling Titles by Escape Publishing…
Pack Bound
Pack Bound Series: Book One
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One pack, one coven, a destiny intertwined…
Five hundred years ago, facing extinction, a group of powerful witches united to create a pact with the Were to save witch-kind. The pact expelled an ancient evil, known only as the Darkness, that was blocking the Were from their wolves. With the Darkness destroyed, the Packs and their covens grew strong as they thrived beside each other in their brand-new world.
But the Darkness was not destroyed.
Skye Collins has been brought up to fear her magic and shy away from witch and Were alike. But when Jason McVale, the Alpha of Pack McVale, comes in search of her, she is intrigued and tempted. Her mistrust of magic and wariness of the intensity of passion she shares with Jason threatens her control – and if she loses control, she just might turn into the weapon the Darkness intended her to become all along.
Moon Bound
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Only her love can heal his broken soul…
Five hundred years ago, facing extinction, a group of powerful witches united to create a pact with the Were to save witch-kind. The pact expelled an ancient evil, known only as the Darkness, that was blocking the Were from their wolves. With the Darkness destroyed, the Packs and their covens grew strong as they thrived beside each other in their brand-new world.
But the Darkness was not destroyed.
Wiccan Healer-Witch, Bronwyn Kincaid, wants a quiet life. Her new powers have other ideas. Her increased healing magic and empathy mean she can’t ignore the plight of River Collins, a wolf brought up thinking the animal inside him is an evil he must forever suppress. If Bronwyn can’t control her powers and help River accept his wolf, the evil Darkness that hunts the Were will use them to destroy those they love.
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Pack Bound Series: Book Four
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One pack, one coven, a destiny intertwined…
Five hundred years ago, facing extinction, a group of powerful witches united to create a pact with the Were to save witch-kind. The pact expelled an ancient evil, known only as the Darkness, that was blocking the Were from their wolves. With the Darkness destroyed, the Packs and their covens grew strong as they thrived beside each other in their brand-new world.
But the Darkness was not destroyed.
Reluctant medium Shelley Conners has good reason to hate and fear the powers that connect her to the spirit world: they bring insanity. Now that the Pack’s annoying Trickster, Adam McVale, has been turned into a Shade, a creature caught between the living and dead, her powers are the only thing that might save him. Opening herself up to the world of the dead brings more danger than insanity. The Darkness needs her abilities to make its final move—taking over the covens and Packs and using them to destroy the world.
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ISBN: 9781489257727
Title: Shifter Bound
Copyright © 2018 by Leisl Leighton
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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