Page 37 of Auctioned Wolf Bride

“How?” Astrid asked.

“I don’t want to go into it in case I’m wrong,” Mark said. “But there’s a shot.”

“Good,” I said.

The word came out flat, almost hollow, only I couldn’t figure out why. If I didn’t know any better, I would say that I was upset about getting out of the claiming bond. But I should have been relieved. Had the bond already sunk in that far? Maybe it was some sort of defense mechanism where the stronger it got, the more reluctant I would be to break it. I’d never heard of anything like that, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t real.

I grumbled to myself, trying to push it out of my head. These types of thoughts were what made claiming bondsdangerous. What was it about Thea that made it near impossible to keep her at arm’s length? Up until now, I’d never had an issue distancing myself from a woman after the spark had gone. Something about Thea made it so I didn’t have that luxury anymore.

The group spoke for a bit longer, but my mind constantly drifted over to Thea and the claiming bond. I kept sneaking glances at her, wanting to talk even though I knew it was a bad idea. I already knew what I needed to say when we did talk. Finally, though, things began to die down, and I couldn’t help myself any longer.

Walking over to Thea, I asked, “Doing okay?”

She nodded, though bags hung under her eyes. “As well as I can be. I’m looking forward to getting home, though. I think we’re about to head out.”

I hesitated, trying to figure out how to say what I wanted to say without coming across as rude. “I think it might be best if—”

“—if we stayed away from one another for a bit?” she finished. “And avoided being alone?” She laughed when she saw my stunned expression. “Don’t be so shocked. I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

“You’ve been worried about the bond, too, then?” I asked.

She nodded. “It definitely feels stronger. Or at the very least, something’s changed over the last few days. I don’t know how else to describe it… only that it feels like there’s more of a pull. Something like that.” She shook her head, color rising to her cheeks. “It sounds stupid, I know. Sorry.”

“It doesn’t.” My hand went to her shoulder. Then I realized what I was doing, and my arm fell back to my side. “I’m feeling the same thing.”

If I felt that pull, though, then why the hell did I feel so disappointed about it? And I could see in Thea’s expression and the faraway look in her eyes that she was thinking the same thing.

A new thought crept into my mind. Would it be so bad if we kept the bond in place? I could picture a life with Thea, certainly, and the idea wasn’t unappealing. If we let the bond snap in place, we wouldn’t have to do this little song-and-dance anymore. I wouldn’t have to keep questioning everything.

No. That wasn’t an option. I’d heard too many stories of claiming bonds going wrong. A claiming bond didn’t make you like your mate. If the claiming bond snapped into place and we found out we were incompatible, we’d still be stuck with each other for life, miserable and resentful. Even if we’d worked well together the last couple of days, that didn’t mean we’d keep working well together in a year or two.

The disappointment I felt was probably just the claiming bond itself.

“So we’re in agreement?” she asked. “Seeing each other is a bad idea?”

I wanted to say I didn’t agree. That I didn’t see anything wrong with seeing her again. Based on her expression, I wondered if she was hoping I’d say that, too.

“Yeah,” I muttered, forcing the words out. They hung in the air between us like a toxin.

“Right,” she said. “In that case, I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled, not able to look at her. My wolf snarled, flexing his claws in protest, not wanting to step away from his claimed mate. But I had to. Because the alternative was much, much worse.

So why didn’t it feel that way?

Chapter 13 - Thea

“For the hundredth time, Astrid, I’ll be fine,” I said, annoyance tinging the edge of my words.

“Are you sure?” she asked. She looked over her shoulder at Rand, who was leaning by the door. “Because we can always cancel or go some other time.”

I sighed. She meant well. Really, she did. Except the protectiveness could be a lot sometimes. It had gotten worse since I’d gotten back. It was as though she expected me to vanish the second she turned her back. I’d been home for a few days now, and I kept expecting it to go back to normal. Except it never did.

“I’m positive,” I said, forcing a smile. “Seriously, you two deserve some time to yourselves.”

Astrid opened her mouth as if to argue again, but Rand wrapped his arm around her. “It’s all right, babe,” he told her. “Thea’s more than capable of staying in this house on her own. And she probably wants some time alone, anyway.”

Astrid exhaled, looking between me and her mate before finally nodding, more than a little reluctantly. “All right,” she said.

---