Page 6 of Fearless Bond

Hunter slapped my shoulder.

“I’m going.”

“Sure. Thanks, man.”

“Yeah. Yeah. You’ve ruined poker night yet again.” He was already zipping up his jacket.

“Technically, Calvin here ruined the poker night.”

Hunter just shot me a glare.

After I’d said goodbye to my cousin, I sat in my living room and stared at Calvin.

His scent slowly filled the room. It must have weakened when he was all frozen, but now it was gathering strength. I leaned closer and sniffed.

Fuck me.

He smelled like a damned candy store… where they made candy out of omega slick. That was fucking distracting.

His pale lashes were long and feathery, his dirty-blond hair tousled… I should stop staring at him. He wasn’t my type. The guys I usually hooked up with were older and much sturdier. What was I even doing thinking of hooking up? The poor omega could have died.

“What am I going to do with you, huh?”

The sleeping boy exhaled softly, and his eyelids quivered.

I tore myself away from him and went to put his clothes in the washer.

3

CALVIN

I must have died. It was the only explanation.

A glimmering white forest spread out in front of me, sprinkled with rainbow diamonds. A fairytale land. It looked freezing, but I was cozy and warm, cuddled on a soft bed under a fluffy blanket. My eyes watered from the crystalline beauty. I blinked, then refocused. The magical landscape was behind glass.

That makes sense.

The air smelled of fresh wood and something I couldn’t identify, a complex scent that made me breathe deeply to get more of it. It warmed me on the inside. I glanced around. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls and pale wooden paneling. A glowing fireplace with a neat pile of birch logs next to it. A cream-colored shag carpet.

A bottle of laundry detergent? It lay on the floor right in front of me. And I wasn’t lying on a bed but on some sort of chaise.

Maybe I wasn’t dead after all.

I inhaled more of the strange scent. God, it smelled good. What was it? It made me feel all warm and cozy. A pleasant sensation bloomed in my stomach. Closing my eyes, I breathed deeply, savoring the serene moment.

I didn’t know where I was. Shouldn’t I be more concerned?

Footsteps sounded from somewhere in the house, and I sat up.

Oh.

I had my hoodie on, but I was naked from the waist down underneath the blanket. My heartbeat picked up as I raked my brain for memories from last night.

The frozen ground had been slippery under my sneakers. I’d tried to look for stars to determine direction, but the night had been overcast. It had started snowing. Trees, trees, trees everywhere. Strange, crooked trees, all bent in the same direction as if some invisible force leaned on them.

I’d seen a bear. It had stood on its hind legs, a ten-foot-tall beast. I’d fallen on my butt into the snow, convinced I’d die. But the bear hadn’t attacked me. It had simply run off. Then I’d been so damned tired and sleepy. I’d kept telling myself I had to keep going. Just keep going. Keep going. Keep going.

The alpha on the four-wheeler had turned up.

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