Page 34 of Wolf Bound

“Now works for me,” I growl. Last night Pru had stopped me from going after Noah, but no one is here to stop me now.

“Alright.” Noah nods once and turns to face me straight on.

“You knew she was alive, and you kept it a secret from the pack, fromme,” I start, deciding to begin with words instead of fists. “You saw how much I struggled after losing her, and you never said anything. I left my home, and the pack, myfamily, and you never said anything. How could you sit back and watch me fall apart when you could have fixed it with one simple conversation? She could have come back years ago, and we could have protected her, but you never gave us that option. You made the decision for all of us!” I roar at him.

“Have you ever once stepped back and thought about how this affected everyone else? Noah asks. “Or were you just busy thinking about yourself? You are so caught up in how having Grey taken away affectedyouandyourlife.” Noah’s voice is stern, but he doesn’t yell. He never yells. “How about you take a second to think about how this affected everyone else? Grey’s memories were erased, and her wolf was bound, maybe forever. Addison gave up her entire life to take care of her dead friend’s child. Your parents had to watch you self-destruct for years before you left. Every time I had to call them after you got in trouble with the law, they thought I was calling to tell them I found you dead somewhere. Your siblings, who love you very much, by the way, had to walk on eggshells around you their whole childhood because anything could set you off. And then after you left and didn’t keep in touch, they thought many times you had been killed.”

“But she wasmymate!” I shout at him, shoving him in the chest.

“You’re not the only one who lost the person they loved that day!” Noah shoves me back, something I was not expecting. Nor was I expecting his announcement.

“You loved Genevieve?” I ask, dumbfounded.

Noah doesn’t say anything for almost a full minute. “No. I was in love with Addison.” he finally admits. “Iamin love with Addison.”

“But she’s human,” I say, stating the obvious.

“No shit.” He rolls his eyes at me. “Doesn’t change the fact I’ve been in love with her for years. She was secretly in Montana to visit Genevieve, and I found them drunk on wine in a bar a couple towns over. It was a total coincidence I was even there. And the second her eyes met mine across the bar, I was a goner. But I suppose you know what that’s like…”

Human and shifter relationships aren’t unheard of. It’s just they never last. They can be deeply in love with each other, but it will never be enough for the shifter. A shifter needs their mate, and since shifters can’t mate with humans, the relationship eventually falls apart. Also, Shifters are only fertile after they have gone through the mating ceremony with their mate, and they have been bonded. That means a human and shifter could never start a family together.

“Noah, you know that relationship never would have worked, right?”

“Deep down, I know, but I still wonder if we could have been together.” Noah is notoriously private, the fact he’s being so open with me now shocks me.

“What if your true mate had come along while you were with Addison? Trust me, there is no denying the pull of your true mate.” I shake my head. “You would have had to leave Addison and the life you built with her. Even if you still loved her, you would love your true mate more.”

“Trust me, I know all of this, but I still can’t help how I felt, how Ifeelnow,” Noah explains. “I wish we were able to mate outside of our species.”

“There would be fewer rogues if that was an option,” I offer. “The birthrate would rise too, I assume.”

“It would be interesting to see what a crossbred child would be like,” Noah muses.

We stand in silence for a while, both of us staring out at the lake. I think back to forty-eight hours ago and how this place felt like a graveyard to me. But now instead of looking down at the dock and thinking about how I stood there years ago when my father told me Grey died, I think about how I shared my first kiss with her just last night.

“How does it feel to have her back after all this time?”

I stop and think for a minute, trying to figure out the right words to use. “I never felt like I could breathe after that night. It was like I had to fight for every breath I took. And there was this aching in my chest, right here,” I say, pointing to my heart. “And whenever I thought about her, the aching would get worst. But the second I saw her standing there, the pain disappeared, and I took my first full breath of air for the first time in years.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you,” Noah apologizes. “I just knew I had to keep them safe. All of them safe,” he says, referring to the pack.

“I don’t like it, and it still makes me mad, but I understand why you did it,” I concede. I had always thought I was the only one who suffered after she died, but as much as I liked to think I was alone, I wasn’t. My family and pack had been mourning just as I was, and I never once considered that. “Sorry I was an ass all those years,” I joke.

“You weren’t an asshole.” Noah shakes his head. “You were a kid who didn’t know how to deal with what he was feeling.”

The sound of the door opening has both of us turning around. My chest tightens when I see her face. Her eyes are bloodshot and puffy, and her makeup has run down her face, leaving black streaks on her cheeks. Her chin is still wobbling when she looks up at me, those bright green eyes full of unshed tears.

“Pru...” I sigh, not knowing what I should say to comfort her.

She shakes her head and walks over to me, falling against my chest, and I immediately wrap my arms around her. I nod at Noah, who slips back into the house in search of Addison. All I can do is hold Pru against me and wait for her to be ready to talk. I feel her sniffling and hear the occasional sob escapes and hold her tighter.

After a minute, I hear her mumble something I can’t quite make out. “What did you say?” I ask, keeping my tone soft and gentle.

Pru looks up at me with her hands still placed on my chest. “She’sreallysick.”

“I know,” I tell her, wishing there was something I could say to make her feel better. “I’m sorry this is happening.” I reach up and gently wipe the tears away from her face.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do without her. I’ve never been alone before,” Pru whispers, her eyes widening in fear.

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