Page 37 of Soul Bound

“Absolutely not,” she bites.

Ransom holds his hands up in surrender. “Okay fair enough. Just let your ghost friends know I’m very sorry for trying to attack you. I don’t want a repeat of last night.”

Who would have thought my tough twin brother would be so afraid of a ghost?

She smirks. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Ransom bows his head in thanks. “I’d appreciate it. I felt like a child last night when I checked my closet for monsters before I went to bed.”

I tug on the hem of her sweatshirt, forcing her to keep walking with me. We need to go catch everyone up on what we learned at Esme’s. And we also have to hash our shit out with my big brother. I’m sure he’s in the house somewhere fuming about me attacking him. I just hope Pru has calmed him down enough he’s open to having a conversation. I would prefer to not have a repeat of what happened earlier, the bleeding has finally stopped, and my wrist isn’t as tender anymore.

“The big bad wolf isn’t so tough, now is he?” She snickers at him as we pass.

We find Ryker and Pruitt sitting at their kitchen island. Ryker has a bag of peas pressed to his face, a nice black eye is starting to form, and his dried blood is still under his nose. Remington has also joined the party, she sits on the counter eating a popsicle, a big smile appears on her face when we enter the kitchen.

“I’msomad I missed you kicking Ryker’s ass. Why can’t you two get into fights when I’m around to videotape it? No one is going to believe me when I say you took Ryker out. No one is strong enough to take him on—well, except Pru, but she doesn’t ever want to‘hurt’him. Lame.” She pouts.

“Next time,” I promise her, tugging on the end of her ponytail as I pass her. I don’t plan on there being a next time though. It’s one thing to spar with my family members, but it’s another to truly fight with them. I would do it again in a heartbeat if he goes after Winslow again, but it’s not something I would cherish doing.

“No. Let me stop you right there. There will be nonext time.” Pruitt declares, echoing my silent sentiments. “This shit ends here. Ryker is sorry for what he did to Winslow. That was partially my fault too. I was going to tell him all about her and what’s been going on when he got home, but he got home before I did. In hindsight, I should’ve just sent him a quick text.”

Ryker drops the bag of pees from his face and eyes his mate, “You think maybe?”

She scrunches her face at him. “Don’t look at me like that. If you’d behave like a normal fucking person, we wouldn’t have had any issues.”

“She was a stranger inmyhouse.” He growls. “After what happened a couple of months ago, I reserve the right to be leery of strangers.”

Ryker has been struggling with some massive trust issues ever since Avery, a female wolf shifter he considered a close friend, betrayed him. Avery had been playing him the whole time and had been the one who brought Nicolai to our front doorstep. Without Avery’s interference, Pruitt probably would never have been found by Nicolai. Avery had also been the one who turned Remington over to Nicolai as a bargaining chip, holding her hostage for two days. Pruitt ended up turning herself over to Nicolai so Remi would be returned safely to us. Don’t worry, Remi got her revenge by killing Avery. Ryker is still a little bitter it wasn’t him who got to do the honors.

Pruitt’s face softens and she lays a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You’re right. I’m sorry I didn’t warn you.”

Ryker turns his head and presses a kiss to her hand. He turns his attention back to Winslow and me. “I’ll ask again; who the hell is she? Ransom says she can talk to ghosts.”

I start to speak, but Winslow nudges me with her arm, silencing me. She tucks her hair, still damp from the shower, over her shoulder and takes a step forward. “My name is Winslow Montgomery—well I don’t know if that’s still what my last name is considering I just learned my parents are telling everyone I’m dead. And honestly, it’s probably for the best I don’t have any connection to them, they’re not what you’d considergood people.I mean, they had me committed to a mental institution against my will and paid the hospital mass quantities of money to keep me there even though everyone knows I’m not insane…a little crazy? Maybe—jury’s still out on that one.

“Anyway, here’s a quick recap of what my life has been like the past couple of days. First, a very bloody ghost shows up in my room at the hospital begging me to help her find her missing baby. She told me someone had taken it from her and that this guy named Ranger Weylyn would help me find the baby. She then proceeded to help me escape from the hospital, unlocked all the doors for me. She took out a guard, I stole his taser—damnI forgot I had that! I probably should have used it on you instead of dumping cold water on you, huh?” She contemplates this in her head for a second, like she’s envisioning what my brother would look like with fifty thousand volts going through him. “That’s okay, there’s always next time, right?”

“Wrong,” he snarls.

“We’ll see.” She shrugs. “I used the taser on my doctor when she tried to stop me from escaping, don’t worry, she deserved it, she was a shitty psychiatrist and was the one who was taking the bribe money from my parents. I stole money from her purse and her diamond bracelet, bought a bus ticket, and came out here to find Ranger. I showed up here and was promptly almost a midnight snack for Ransom, but Ranger saved me. But then she—” She points at where Pruitt stands. “Turned into a wolf and went after Ransom. Then, of course, Ranger felt left out and he joined the fight. Sothat’swhen I learned werewolves existed. I should’ve been more shocked, but I see dead people, it takes a lot more to scare me.”

She’s talking so fast; I can tell Ryker is having trouble following along. But she doesn’t slow down for him or stop to explain anything. She just continues her word vomit.

I’m biting my lip to stop myself from laughing at everyone’s facial expressions. Remington and Pruitt look like they’re following along just fine, Ransom looks like he’s being told the coolest bedtime story ever, and Ryker looks like someone needs to pull out the chalkboard and connect the dots for him again.

“I explained this all to them last night, but the ghost who helped me escape? Her name is Thalia, and Ranger was with her when she died.”

Winslow looks at me and I step forward to explain to him what exactly happened before Pruitt and he found me covered in blood. He didn’t know about how I had made a promise to find the baby or how horrible the experience was for me. Like everyone else in my family, he knew it had greatly affected me, but I don’t think he realized just how much it has been weighing on me the past few months.

“That’s horrible. I’m sorry you had to see that, man.” Ryker offers me a sympathetic smile when I’m done rehashing what happened.

I nod in response, because what am I supposed to say?It’s fine?It’s hardly fine.

“Wait! Tell him about how the ghost totally freaked out last night and went around breaking shit!” Ransom interjects. “Dude, it was wild. You should have been there.”

“Thalia thought I was going to leave and go back on the promise I made her. So, she threw a little bit of a tantrum. Your light fixture and a vase took the brunt of it.” Winslow tells him sheepishly.

Ryker looks at his mate, his eyes softening. She’s the only person he ever looks at like that, the only person he allows himself to be vulnerable with. “I thought you finally snapped and broke the chandelier yourself.”

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