Page 10 of Bound By My Alpha Mate

Finally, I’d found kinship in one of the strangers here. As Aislin knelt beside me, I sat up and wiped the drool from my mouth with the back of my arm. It was like my entire body was rejecting the dream I had just experienced. Fear and disgust consumed me, but there was no way I’d let it show.

“What did you just see?” she asked, lowering her voice for me.

I bared my teeth, reluctant to answer.

Aislin clicked her tongue. “Come on. I know what happened to you. I recently experienced it myself.” She leaned a little closer, whispering, “You had a Moondream.”

Desperate to maintain distance between us, I withdrew. But I knew she was right. I glanced up at the people all around us, then focused back on Aislin. “I don’t want to talk about it here.”

“Okay. Let’s go back inside, then,” said Aislin.

I stalled, untrusting.

“I promise we’re not going to pull something shady on you. I mean, shit. You’re Muriel’s daughter. We love Muriel. We want the best for her—and for you.”

Narrowing my eyes, I gauged her sincerity. I didn’t really like the way she sounded. Aislin seemed to speak with a constant undertone of exasperation and impatience. But she held my stare, insisting, and I wondered if she was being honest about their intentions regarding my mother. If Mom had stayed here with these wolves for this long, she had to have liked them or at least had a reason to trust them, right?

I rose to my feet with Aislin waiting beside me. She led me back to the house while Everett stood nearby, his arms perpetually folded across his chest and looking unimpressed. I had to wonder how Everett put up with his mate’s audacious personality if he was so stoic all the time. She probably stressed him out beyond belief.

Back in the living room, I didn’t feel any reassurance; instead, it was claustrophobic. I trudged back to my spot on the couch, where my salad bowl and water glass were still on the coffee table, and sat down. My shoulders sank with a sigh. Aislin took a seat beside me, but not too close. “So…your Moondream?”

Only Everett had come back into the house with us. Thankfully, Sebastian had stayed outside. I was finding myself liking the Mythguard man less and less—not that I’d ever really liked him in the first place. Regardless, it was comforting that only Everett and Aislin would hear what I had to say.

“It must have happened due to the stress,” I guessed, clasping my hands together on my knees.

“It took place for me while I was sparring with a packmate,” said Aislin. “He choked me out, and I went unconscious.”

“Your friends should have just let me run,” I growled.

“It would have happened sooner or later, Kiara. You can’t outrun fate,” said Everett. “So, who is it?”

As much as I wished to prove him wrong, I suspected Everett had a point. If it hadn’t happened while I was safely surrounded by Mythguard and people who claimed to care for my wellbeing, then it might have happened while I was under attack from the Inkscales. That would have ended even worse. Sighing, I tightened my fists until my knuckles whitened. “The wolf who attacked me. Black fur, blue eyes. It was him.”

“Colt,” breathed Aislin, repeating his name for me. “Colt Hexen.”

“He attacked me in the dream, too.”

Aislin shook her head. “You just can’t catch a break. Of course it had to be him.” She looked at Everett. “What are we going to do?”

The Eastpeak Alpha stared pensively past us at the wall but hesitated to say anything.

“Why do you say his name like that? What did this Colt Hexen do?” I asked.

“Oh, what hasn’t he done?” Aislin replied angrily. “I’ll tell you everything he’s fucking done.”

“Ais, wait,” said Everett. “Perhaps this is a conversation best had with Billie.”

“Who’s Billie?” I interjected.

“Colt’s sister,” said Aislin. “Sort of. She was adopted.”

“So, she’s a Hexen, too?”

“No. Adopted, like I said.”

“But she’s on your side.”

“Our side,” corrected Aislin.

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