Page 71 of Soul Bound

Winslow

Iwalk up the gravel driveway, pulling my jacket tighter around me as the cool night wind picks up. I don’t know exactly what Ranger is going to do with Adam, from the rage I felt coming off of him in waves, I’m sure it’s not good. I know I promised Adam I wouldn’t let him suffer, but a part of me hopes Ranger rips him limb from limb.

The way he talked about the woman and children like they were just animals in a cage, like they were disposable, made me sick to my stomach. I tried to keep it together, not wanting him to see the disgust or tinge of fear I was feeling.

But once I found outI’mone of those babies that were just discarded, sold off for profit, I couldn’t hold my emotions back anymore.

I won’t lie and say there isn’t an amazing sense of relief knowing the truth of my past. I wasn’t shocked in the slightest to hear my birth father is a necromancer. Even though we originally thought they were all extinct, it was the only thing that truly made sense. I think deep down, I already knew what I was, Adam just verified it.

I feel like my final puzzle piece has clicked into place.

I am however devastated Amara died giving birth to me, I know deep down it isn’t my fault she’s dead, but I feel guilty. I don’t even know how to tell Esme what I learned. Is she going to be mad at me—blame me? Is this going to be the thing that finally makes her push me away like everyone else in my life did? Because no matter what, the people who are my family push me away. It’s only a matter of time before Esme does too, right? Ranger too for that matter. He’s going to realize I’m not his mate, and he’s going to push me away once all of this is over. And that feeling eats at me, makes my chest physically hurt at the idea of losing him.

I kick at the gravel with the toe of my boot and look up at the night sky. The heavy clouds block any stars in the sky. At home, the stars are always visible at night—waithome?

Montana isn’t my home;Ranger isn’t mine to keep.I remind myself.

I’ve just barely made it to the rental car when I hear the front door of the house open and shut. Ranger walks toward me and I immediately start looking for signs of blood, but I don’t see any. With a quick scan of Ranger’s face, I don’t find the angry look that had been plastered there earlier, he lookscalm.

Once he’s close, I ask, “Are you okay?”

“I wanted to rip him apart, but I stopped myself.” He sighs. “I don’t want to become a bloodthirsty killer like a rogue wolf or even Sterling. I didwantto kill Adam, but I wanted justice for what he did to Thalia. I won’t lie and say it doesn’t feel good knowing he can never hurt someone again.”

“You could never be like Sterling.” I place my hand over his heart. “You’ve got too big of a heart to be like him, I mean look at all you’ve done for Thalia. And you’ll never turn rogue, some girl is going to come in and sweep you away.” I smile despite the pain I feel when I say those words.

Ranger’s face pulls slightly but he quickly recovers. “And when she does, I’m never going to let her go.” His voice is serious when he makes his vow, his gaze locks on mine, his blue eyes full of an emotion I don’t recognize. “She’s going to bemine.”

My heart is in my throat now.

The air between us feels heavy suddenly and I’m suffocating under his intense stare. Before, there was just this small stirring of emotion I felt for him, but now it’s a category five hurricane and it’s starting to consume me. I’m going under the waves, and I have two options, I can either surrender to the feelings I have for this man and let them pull me under, or I can keep fighting. Either way, I’m going to drown, either in him or heartbreak.

Truth is, I want to let myself love him. I want to be lovedbyhim. I want what Pruitt and Ryker have. I want the unconditional love they have. But the people who supposedly love me have always betrayed me and hurt me. I don’t know how to open myself up to that fully, how to open myself up to the hurt that could come. I don’t know how many hits my heart can take before it disintegrates fully into dust.

For now, I need to protect myself. “Ranger…” I start. I don’t know what I’m going to say, but it turns out I don’t have to figure it out because the sound of Ranger’s phone ringing in his pocket interrupts me.

I breathe out the breath I had been holding.

Ranger checks the screen. “It’s Esme,” he tells me before answering the call, putting it on speaker. “Esme, you’re on speakerphone.”

“I’ve been trying to call Winnie, but she hasn’t been answering.” Esme’s voice comes from the device.

I chew on my nail and nervously look between the phone and Ranger. He doesn’t look at me. “I left my phone in the car when we went into Adam’s house.”

“Did he give you any information?” Esme asks.

Ranger nods his head even though she can’t see him. “You could say that.”

“We learned more than we thought we would…” I stop biting my nail long enough to tell her about how they were taking Thalia’s baby to an auction in New York. I don’t tell her yet about what we learned about my past.

“That’s horrible.” Esme sounds appalled. “How someone could do that to innocent babies, I’ll never know. I’m glad you were able to find out where the baby is going to be. I was calling to tell you I tried to do the tracking spell again, but it didn’t work again. I have enough blood for one more try, and I think I’ve finally figured it out. I’m feeling really good about it.”

Fingers fucking crossed it works this time.

“We are headed to the airport now to catch a flight to New York, hopefully by the time we land you’ll have an actual address for us. We can’t exactly search all of New York City for her,” I tell her.

“Okay, I’ll get to work on setting up for the spell. Call me as soon as you land, and I’ll let you guys know if it worked.” Esme sounds like she’s about to end the call and my stomach drops. “Be safe you guys—”

I take the phone from Ranger’s hand, “Esme wait…” I look to Ranger for reassurance that I should tell her what I learned. He nods his head in silent support. “I have to tell you something else we learned from Adam.”

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