Page 100 of Shadow Bound

We still don’t know where she disappeared to for those two days after Gage died, but ever since she returned home any time the demon’s name is mentioned or if he is in the room, her blue eyes blaze with anger.

I asked her about it once, but her response was to kindly fuck off.

Remi hasn’t spoken of Gage since and she’s never once explained exactly what happened when he died. At the funeral we held for Gage and Noah, she stood over his grave, her face devoid of any emotion. It reminded me of Isabeau’s ability to conceal her emotions, only I don’t think Remi was concealing anything, I truly think she wasn’t feeling a damn thing as they lowered her dead boyfriend into the ground.

An odd change since out of all of us Remington is the most forthcoming with her emotions, feeling everything strongly and blatantly.

I worry about her.

At the funeral we reburied Addison next to Noah, having found her coffin in a refrigerated moving truck behind the motel Noah had been staying at. It was an unnerving sight; Pruitt had lost her mind when we found it. While he’d been an unrecognizable version of himself when he died, Pruitt declared she still wanted Addison and Noah buried together.

If that somehow brought Pruitt peace, I didn’t see the harm in it.

Alexandre and Nessa had been burned together in a pyre. Isabeau didn’t want to risk them ever being brought back by Kaius. The necromancer is still out there somewhere, and while Isabeau is still intent on killing him, she’s sitting back and waiting for him to slip up and reveal himself. She believes it’s only a matter of time. With Nessa gone, she says Sterling and Kaius will be scrambling.

“What are you guys doing out here?” I ask them.

Pruitt looks at Ryker briefly and when he gives her an encouraging nod, she turns and smiles nervously at us. “We wanted to ask you something…”

“Vague…” Beau drawls, tilting her head at them.

“We wanted to ask if you two would do us—the pack—the honor of being our beta pair.” Pruitt’s offer has Isabeau and I both freezing in place, our eyes widening in shock and our mouths gaping.

“W—what?” Beau stammers.

“We want you to feel like you have a purpose within the pack, and we couldn’t think of a better—a stronger—pair to be our seconds-in-command.” Ryker gives me a look that tells me he understands my wolf’s restlessness and how I didn’t feel like I had anything tying me to the pack.

“If you’re doing this because you think we’ll leave…” I start to assure them but when Pru raises her hand, I trail off.

I used to say that I would never be happy staying home, playing house with a mate, but I was wrong. So very wrong. Isabeau keeps me on my toes enough that my wolf never grows restless. With her around, the unease he’s always felt has lessened.

“We want you two to stay and if this job helps influence you to stick around,great, but that’s not why we are offering it to you,” she explains quickly. “We think you two would make our pack stronger and safer. No one can defend and protect us like you two can.” Pruitt grins at Beau. “I also think it’d be awesome to have a badass knife-wielding vampire as my beta female.”

Isabeau chuckles as she turns her head to look up at me, her eyes asking the question. “It’s up to you, Ransom,” she tells me. “I’ll follow you anywhere.”

I pause, thinking it over.Me? The beta male of the entire Weylyn pack? Am I capable of taking on such a task?

As if she’s reading my mind, Isabeau says, “For what it’s worth, I think it’s a perfect job for you. You can succeed at anything.”

“You think?”

“I know.”

Pressing a quick kiss to her forehead, I turn to my alpha pair and nod my head. “I’m in.” With Isabeau at my side, I can take on anything. My wolf raises his head proudly, eager to step into the role as the beta. A role that, while daunting, is feeling more right by the second.

Pruitt and Ryker both grin and step forward to give each of us a hug, congratulating us on our new roles.

Stepping back, Pruitt claps her hands together excitedly. “This is going to be great.” Beau nods her head. “It’s perfect timing seeing as you’re going to need help with some of your responsibilities when the baby gets here.”

Ryker, Pruitt, and I all snap our heads in the direction of my mate who stands there looking at her nails, her posture nothing but relaxed and casual. Only my mate can say something with such monumental meaning and then act as if she’d just told us her coffee order.

Feeling our eyes on her, she lifts her head and frowns at us. “What?”

“What?” Pruitt screeches. “Whatdid you just say?”

Ryker looks like he might pass out.

Beau’s brows furrow. “I said when the baby comes you are going to need our help.” She shoots me an unsure look. “What? Was I not supposed to say that? I’m sorry if I offended you by saying you’d need help… I heard raising a child is difficult and I…” Beau’s words trail off. She sounds so lost. It would be funny if it weren’t happening right now.

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