Page 80 of Shadow Bound

Racing to the window, I look below for any signs of her, but of course it’s nothing but darkness and trees. She was told to not use her shadow walking gift, but she was also told not to leave pack territory, and she’s done that twice now.

With an angry growl, I hop from the window and drop the two stories to the ground below, landing in a crouch. My wolf is already close to the surface, dying to be let out so he can track Beau’s ass down. His panic is echoing mine, if anything his might be more intense. Funny that he went from hating her to wanting to shield her from everything and everyone. He doesn’t like it when she’s not close, becoming agitated when she’s not in his line of sight. When I realized yesterday that Winslow and Beau were missing, my wolf about lost his mind—just like he is now.

I should have picked up on the fact that Beau was going to mean more to me when my wolf, who isn’t fond of many people, finally came around to her. That should have been a glowing neon sign to me that Beau was going to fucking turn my world on its axis.

Walking toward the tree line of the forest, I hear Ranger also jump from the Window, his loud footsteps follow closely after.

“Ransom.” He tries to get my attention, but I’m busy following the honey scent that gets fainter the farther into the woods we go. Her shadow power masks her scent, making her untraceable. I learned this ten months ago when I tried to follow it after she shot Pruitt.

“Why the hell would she leave?” I question aloud, not particularly to him. “Did something happen?” Her odd behavior with Winslow comes to mind.

If my brother is planning on answering, I don’t know, because I don’t give him the chance. I storm through the trees with no direction really in mind. This was the direction the scent was headed in, so I just keep going even though the honey is no longer in the air. My only hope is that I pick up on it again at some point to prove I’m on the right track.

“Where would she be going anyway?” I continue asking the questions that are causing chaos in my head. “Nessa and Noah are headed here; we know that for a fact, there isnoreason for her to leave.”

Unable to stop myself, I angrily slam my fist into the rough bark of a tree I pass, savoring the bite of pain and release that comes with it.

“I told her not to leave without me again.” I glare down at my now bleeding knuckles, the droplets of blood blooming only reminding me of her. “Why would she leave me?” I repeat. “It’s not safe out there.”

“I think she might be trying to keepyousafe.”

Ranger’s guilty tone makes me come to an abrupt stop, my body locks tightly as I turn slowly to look at him. “What do you know, Ranger?” He’s my twin, I know how to read his expressions and right now, he’s hiding something from me. “What could Beau be protectingmefrom?”

His eyes flick in the direction of the house, a guilty look crossing his face. He looks like he’s about to betray someone, but right now I don’t care. I need to know what the hell has been going on with my girl. “She’s going to kill me in my sleep.” He curses under his breath as he shakes his head.

“Who is?”

“Winnie.” He sighs. “I promised her I wouldn’t say anything, but I didn’t think Isabeau would make a break for it. I thought she’d come around and face the problem, not run from it.”

“Ranger,” I growl. “You have three seconds to spit it out or I’m going to go get it out of Winslow.” My tone is menacing—threatening even. I know it’s shitty to bully his mate, but the out of control helplessness I’m feeling right now is overpowering my common sense.

“Watch it,” he snaps, his eyes flashing silver. “Don’t threaten Winslow. You just learned with Gage what it’s like when someone speaks ill of your mate and the kind of anger it causes.”

Holdthe fuckup.

“What did you just say?” I ask slowly. “Did you just say that Beau is my mate? She isn’t my mate.” I hate even saying those words aloud, they cause me physical pain. Despite the fact I want her to be, the mating aura hasn’t appeared and as long as it’s not there, the shifter mating bond cannot be completed.

“Do you remember what they learned from Esme? That the firstborn vampires and their children have bloodmates?” Ranger’s tone and expression tell me he’s about to drop a bomb at my feet. “What and who is Isabeau’s mother?”

“Nessa is a firstborn.” I don’t really know where he’s going with this.

“Which makes Isabeau the child of a firstborn, meaning she too has a bloodmate out there,” Ranger explains slowly.

Irrational jealousy zips through my body, making my blood boil. “She has a bloodmate?” I repeat like an idiotic parrot. If she has a mate somewhere out there, I vow right here that I’ll never give her up to him. Isabeau Claremont is mine and if anyone tries to take her from me, it’s going to be a bloodbath.

“Jesus, you can be a dense motherfucker sometimes,” Ranger exasperatedly growls. “Her bloodmate isyou, Ransom. She accidentally started the bond when she first ingested some of your blood—even though it was just a drop—an unbreakable bond started to form. Each time she tasted any of your blood, it solidified the bond. So yes, Isabeau is your mate—your bloodmate. I suspect it’s only a matter of time before the shifter bond starts to form too. I know you love her. I also think Isabeau is almost there too, if anything, she’s probably just blocking it from happening.” The shifter bond happens when both people are truly in love. If one of them is resisting or putting up a wall between them, the mating aura won’t appear.

I’m going to pass out. I swear to God, my world is spinning right now at this revelation.

She’s my bloodmate?

Unadulterated happiness fills me, a sense of peace also washing over my bones. Even though it doesn’t matter, I was never going to let her go, the stability and confirmation that she truly ismine, is the best sensation I’ve ever felt. Mixed with the happiness is also confusion. “If she’s my bloodmate, why is she running? You said she was protecting me from something? More importantly, why the hell didn’t she tell me this?”

“I think she’s protecting you from herself. The bond between you two isn’t complete until she consumes a fairly large amount of your blood. She doesn’t trust herself to bite you and not kill you. That’s one reason why she didn’t tell you.” He pauses, looking at the ground. “She also didn’t want you to feel like you were being forced into completing the bond.”

“Why would she think I was forced?” I frown. I’ve done a shitty job at conveying my emotions with her, but when I drag her ass back here, I’m going to make it crystal clear to her that I love her. She deserves all the love in the world and I’m sure as hell going to give her everything I’ve got.

“She thinks you’ll be guilted into it because if the bond isn’t completed, she’ll die.”

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