Page 106 of Bonding the Band

Arlo’s teeth sinking into my skin at the same moment he fucked in hard, his knot swelling, had my perfume erupting. I melted into bliss, the first tingles of awareness from the half-formed bond brushing against my mind.

“Give me a good bite, princess,” Arlo said, holding out his forearm. “I’m gonna get a tattoo around it later to show it off.”

I bit down sharply on the skin that was right in front of my mouth. Arlo burst through the bond instantly, bright and sweet and chaotic. All that he was wrapped around me like a shield, holding me safe and warm.

Affection pulsed like a heartbeat from him, the well of it bottomless. He hadn’t said it, but it was like a neon sign with the bond in place.

Holy shit.

Arlo nuzzled my cheek. “I love you.”

Overwhelmed, but with happy tears sliding down my cheeks, I whispered back, “I love you, too.”

Chapter 41

Hendrix

Everything was terrible.

Without Meadow to offset the misery, detox had been a very particular hell. I’d slept more than I thought it was possible to sleep in a day, and when I was awake, I was torn between wanting to beat the snot out of Gary and begging anyone and everyone to let me see Meadow. A thousand times a day, I wondered if I’d die with my next breath. It never happened, even though there were moments I hoped it might, so I couldn’t fuck up so hard again.

I had disappointed everyone who had ever mattered to me. I’d hurt my omega. I’d…missed all the fucking signs that someone I trusted was abusing me. Acknowledging what I had put Meadow through opened up a bottomless chasm of shame. There was no way I could ever make it up to her, but dammit, if she let me when I got out of here, I would spend the rest of my life trying.

I had so much shit weighing me down, and even beginning to unpack all of it felt like trying to climb Everest with no training and no supplies, and after months of starvation. Was it even possible? What I had just gone through was the easy part. NowI had to face my mistakes, figure out how to stop myself from making them again, and become someone my pack deserved.

My first day of actual rehab after a week of clinical detox was nearly over, and it was as emotionally exhausting as the detox had been physically. Confronting your demons was not for the weak, and I was feeling pretty fucking fragile right now. Between my individual therapy, group therapy, and trauma therapy, I was wrung out and ready to sleep until they forced me awake for breakfast the next day.

“Oh, Hendrix, you have a visitor.” One of the nurses stopped me on my way back to my room. “I was just coming to get you.”

“Who is it?”

“Meadow Reed.”

My heart was trying to kick its way through my ribs. Maybe she didn’t hate me. I had put her and the entire pack on my visit list, but I hadn’t truly expected her to come see me in here. “Where is she?”

“In the visitors’ room by the front office. I’ll walk with you.”

Exhaustion disappeared, replaced by excitement.

Meadow’s mahogany hair gleamed in the sunlight streaming through the windows. She sat facing away from me, and in a sweep of movement, the moment the nurse closed the door behind me, she threw herself at me, lips pressed against mine.

Artificial sweetness assailed my nose, setting off a thousand alarm bells in my head.

No bump.

No white rose and lilac.

Not Meadow.

I shoved the woman away instantly, a growl tearing from my throat. She tumbled backward, tripping over the couch.

A swarm of staff flowed into the room, grabbing on to my arms.

“Hendrix,” one of the nurses snapped. “What is the matter with you? That’s your omega.”

“That’s not her!”

Ellie’s panicked eyes looked back at me. She carefully slipped around the staff and hovered outside the door. “I had to make sure you were all right. You’re the only thing I’ve ever wanted. Why couldn’t you have chosen me instead? She was just in the way!”

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