Page 43 of Shadow Bound

I bite back a smile. “I’m twenty-two, the fae side of me allows me to age normally. I’ll eventually grow old just like you.”

“If we make it that long,” he jokes.

“We don’t exactly live safe lives, do we?”

“No, but maybe one day that will change for both of us. Once Sterling is taken care of and you’ve completed your little revenge mission, you’ll finally be able to do whatever the hell you want.” He starts the engine of the truck and begins the bumpy drive back to the main road.

“And you? When will you settle down?” I find myself asking.

He shrugs one of his big shoulders. “I don’t know, maybe when I find my mate? She’ll probably want me to stay home. Doubt she’ll want to go hunt rogues with me.”

I bite my lip, silently imagining Ransom playing the part of a dutiful husband and possible father. I can’t picture him with a nine-to-five job and a minivan. The thought alone makes me want to laugh. “You’d hate that.”

Ransom looks my way briefly, only pulling his eyes away from the road for a second. “What makes you think that?”

“For starters, your wolf would never allow you to stay still that long—the monotony would drive him crazy. You both crave adventure and excitement, and you’re not going to get that if you’re home playing house with your wife.”

“Wife.” He tests the word on his tongue. “We don’t really have wives. The mating ceremony binds our souls to each other, so the piece of paper of a legal marriage doesn’t really matter.”

“Ryker and Pruitt are married,” I point out.

“Pruitt was raised as a human for the first twenty-one years of her life, and she always wanted a wedding,” he explains. “Ryker is so head over heels in love with that girl, he would do anything to put a smile on her face.”

That pang of guilt returns to my chest, and I resist the urge to rub it away. “I’m sorry she had to go away and the part I played in it. Have they been able to see each other at all?”

“She’s brought to a meeting spot once a month, and Ryker is able to spend time with her for a couple of hours. It’s not much, but he can’t go months on end without seeing her or he’d absolutely lose his mind. Not to mention it’s almost painful to be apart from our mates. We crave their presence like we need them to breathe. Or at least that’s what I hear.” He rolls down the windows, even though it’s cold out, but I don’t mind. “I think that’s the part of having a mate that scares me. I don’t want to need something so bad that I can’t function without it. And I definitely don’t want someone to rely on me the same way. It’s so much…pressure.”

I put my hand out the window, letting the cold air run through my fingers. “Once you find your mate, you won’t feel that way anymore. You won’t see it as pressure, but a privilege to have them at your side. That’s one thing I was always so intrigued by with wolves. The idea that you guys have someone out there that is meant just for you… specifically built to be your other half…”

“Vampires don’t have mates?”

“The first vampires had bloodmates, but as far as I know, only a few of them remain.”Nessabeing one of them. “They created bonds through blood. If they found their bloodmate and ingested any of their blood—even the smallest drop—a bond was formed. The vampire could never feed off anyone else for the rest of their life. Anyone else’s blood would be like consuming poison to them.”

“What if the vampire’s mate died? Could they never feed again? Wouldn’t they starve?”

“The bond is broken by death—the vampire is no longer connected to their blood and they’re able to feed off anyone else again. The blood is never quite as satisfying as their bloodmate’s once was, but they’d live on without them.”

“This only happened with the original vampires, right?”

I shrug. “As far as I know.”

We ride in silence the rest of the way down the mountain and even once back into the small town, we don’t talk. It’s not weird or awkward, it’s surprisingly comfortable to be in a silent confined space with him. Since drinking the blood, I feel stronger, but there is a dull ache in my stomach. I think it’s just my body acclimating to having blood again, the same thing happened a couple months ago after I got my hands on some blood after not eating for a week. It was right after I met Ransom the first time. It subsided fairly quick before, but this time it’s lingering and there is a tinge of nausea with it.

Before going up to the mountain, we agreed if that didn’t pan out, we’d drive to the next mountain town and check for signs of Nessa or the wolf there, so when we pass the motel we’d been staying at, I don’t panic. I’m still shocked at myself that I agreed to go on this little hunting trip with Ransom. I work alone. Even when Alexandre was alive, I preferred and worked better by myself. That way there is no reason to rely on someone to have your back, there is no reason to have to trust someone with your life. I just had to trust and rely on myself.

Do I trust Ransom?

I’m afraid I’m starting to. He hasn’t done a single thing to make me think he’s going to turn on me. I’ve given him ample reason to not trust me, but there isn’t any suspicion in his blue eyes when he looks at me. A year ago, I would have called him a fool for putting his trust in me, but after ten months of trying to change, I want someone to trust me. To see past the monster they’ve made me, and for whatever reason, I want that someone to be Ransom.

The scent of the wind that blows through the open windows abruptly changes. It’d smelled like pine trees and fresh snow, but now it holds the intoxicating smell of fresh blood. My throat painfully burns as I’m assaulted by the fragrance. It fills the cab of the truck until I’m all but choking on it. I fly forward in my seat so fast, my hand slapping against the dashboard, that Ransom’s swerves the truck into the other lane for a brief second.

“What the fuck!” he hollers.

The blood isn’t from an animal, it’s shifter blood and it’s fresh.

And close.

“Pull over!”

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