Page 27 of Soul Bound

His mouth twitches. “It was a nice little escape.”

“What were you escaping from?”

“My family mostly. Until recently, I lived at home with my parents and siblings. I enjoy the quiet and it was hard to have that at our house. Remi was always bitching about something and Ransom is the loudest person I’ve ever met. Plus, with my dad being alpha of the pack, people were constantly at our house. So, I escaped here.”

“My house growing up was the opposite. It was so quiet; it was like being raised in a tomb. One time I dropped a glass cup and I swear my mother acted like I had set off a bomb—kept complaining about the noise and mess I had made. My parents believed very much in the whole‘children are to be seen, not heard’mentality. I’m jealous of you and your loud house.”

The staff that worked in the house never spoke above a whisper and everyone walked like they were on eggshells, so their footsteps didn’t echo in the quiet, empty mansion. God forbid I ever cried. That always resulted in me being backhanded by my grandmother or mom. I don’t allow myself to cry often now—the emotional response has been basically conditioned out of me.

“I don’t understand how a parent could expect a child to remain quiet at all times.” Ranger shakes his head in disbelief. “Children aren’t wired to stay still or keep their mouths shut. I can’t imagine what it was like to be raised somewhere like that. My dad is more reserved, but my mom is just as loud as the rest of us. I swear you can hear her laugh from across the house, and we have areallybig house.”

I can’t push down the flash of sadness and jealousy that barrels into me. This is why I don’t like to think about what it would be like to not have been adopted by Emily and Cyrus Montgomery. Ranger’s home and parents sound like everything I ever wanted.

“That sounds amazing to me,” I tell him. “It’s funny that the home you were trying to escape from was the one I always wished I could have.”

Ranger shrugs. “The grass is always greener, right?”

“I guess,” I mumble, grabbing a menu from where they are tucked. “You mentioned living with Ransom and Remington, but not Ryker? Did he not live with you?”

“That’s a long story, but theCliffsNotesversion is Ryker thought his mate was killed when he was thirteen. Mates are a really big deal for male shifters—the females provide a sense of stability and calm that a male lacks on his own. Ryker went fourteen years thinking he would never have a mate. When he was eighteen, he took off and never lived at home again. We went long stretches of never seeing him. The longest he went without coming home was five years—I thought my mother was going to go out and hunt him down herself. But we left him alone because we knew he was still grieving the death of Grey.”

“Grey? I thought Ryker was mated to Pruitt?” I’msoconfused.

“PruittisGrey, they changed her name to keep her safe. When we all thought Grey was killed fourteen years ago, it turns out her aunt and our old beta Noah had faked her death. Pru’s mom, Genevieve, had been promised to this batshit crazy wolf shifter named Nicolai and when he wasn’t able to have her, he set his sights on her daughter. Nicolai ended up killing Gen and her mate Archer, but Pru was able to get away with the help of her aunt. They kept her away and wiped her memories to keep her safe, but it almost destroyed Ryker. He was close to turning rogue when he discovered she was alive. She saved his life because had he turned rogue; we would’ve had to kill him.”

I can literally feel my brain cells straining to understand the load of information he had just dumped on me. “I have so many questions.”

“Shoot.”

“Okay first, why did the Nicolai dude want Pruitt’s mom?”

I recall what Pruitt had said last night about a madman taking her as a hostage, I can only assume Nicolai is the man she was speaking of.

Ranger leans back in his seat. “Genevieve was a born alpha wolf. She was born with the power it takes to lead a pack. That’s a rare occurrence. Most Alphas, my dad included, gain power by going up the different ranks of a pack. Nicolai was trying to collect strong wolves like Gen to use in this horrific breeding program. He took women and would implant genetically modified embryos in them. His goal was to take the strongest traits from each species and combine them into one being. I can’t even tell you how many women he held captive and experimented on.”

If I thought I had no appetite before, I sure as hell don’t have one now. My stomach rolls at the thought of what it must have been like to be those women. “Is that what happened to Thalia?”

Ranger nods his head slowly, his vibrant blue eyes full of sorrow. “Yes. Pruitt was taken by Nicolai and held at a breeding facility in Vancouver a couple of months ago. When we were there rescuing her and the rest of the hostages, I found Thalia. They must have just left her before I came into the room. They had cut out her baby and left her to bleed out alone in a cold operating room.”

I take a shaky breath before speaking, steadying myself. “She told me about you. Well, the best as she can in her broken ghost speak, but she was so thankful you were with her when she died.” I find myself reaching across the table and gripping his hand in mine without thinking. I don’t think he knows he does it, but he grips my hand back without hesitation. Just like back at Esme’s shop when he took my hand in his, a shiver runs up my arm then back down—almost like an electrical current stemming from where our fingers intertwine.

When it dawns on us what we were doing, we both freeze, our eyes darting to our joined hands. We both just stare, neither one of us moving. Something in me doesn’t want to be the first one to pull away, so I stay still, forcing him to make the first move.

We are so caught up in our stare down that neither of us sees the waitress approaching until she’s standing over us, a wide smile on her round face. “Sorry about that, kids, had to brew a new pot of coffee because Mr. Philips said the other coffee tasted old. That geezer doesn’t know what he’s talking about, his taste buds have been shot for years.” Shocked by her arrival, Ranger and I pull away at the same time, our heads turning at breakneck speed to look at the woman who had interrupted us. I notice Ranger flexes his fingers subtly and it makes me wonder if he felt the electric feeling too. “Anywho, what can I get started for you?”

“The usual,” Ranger tells her shortly, before looking to me, motioning for me to order.

“Uhm…” I didn’t even look at the menu. “Do you have anything vegetarian?”

“Not much, we’re known for our greasy burgers and other greasy diner food. But I can do a grilled cheese?”

I shrug. “That’s fine.” I don’t plan on eating it anyway.

“Two chocolate shakes too,” Ranger adds before the waitress can walk away.

I bite my bottom lip as I turn my attention back to the man across from me. “Who says I like chocolate?”

“Everyone likes chocolate.”

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