Page 14 of Wolf Bound

The men, or wolves in Bronson and Harris’ case, move quickly into their tasks. These packmates are the only ones I trust fully outside of our circle of brothers. They trust my instructions with no questions asked. In a dangerous situation like the one back at the castle, we work so in sync with one another, and I never have to worry my men will fuck it up.

Turning towards Penn and Drayton, I watch as they gently place the unconscious woman down on their shirts that are spread out on the ground. I approach them quickly, signalling to Wes and Forrester who have shifted back to human to follow meover. We all convene behind the SUV, passing out the rest of the clothes.

No one says a word as we all get dressed and ready to move out. My eyes continuously flick over to my mate, her scent filling the air around us and making it hard for me to stay focused on getting us to safety.

“We need to talk about this,” Wes eventually speaks, breaking the heavy silence between us. “Penn, is this the woman from your visions?”

Penn turns to look at him, a smirk on his lips. “You mean the woman I told you all would be our mate? The one I said would be fated for all five of us? Why yes, yes, it is.”

“If that isn’t the mostI told you soanswer you could have pulled out of your ass, I don’t know what is,” Dray jokes, shaking his head with a small laugh.

“Well, actually, I told you so would have been the mostI told you soanswer he could have said,” Forrester fires back, his tone indicating how little he thinks of his brother.

“Fuck off, Forrester,” Penn says, pushing his shoulder in a half-friendly, half-warning kind of way. “Don’t be a pedantic asshole.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I suppress a groan at the verbal sparring that’s breaking out among my brothers. It’s always about petty shit, and if they don’t stop, it will escalate to cut-throat arguing.

This is how it’s been since the death of the last alpha. Constant bickering and fighting, none of them getting along. It’s become exhausting being around most of them. One on one, each of them is fine, yet together it’s a bloody fight waiting to happen.

“We need to get moving,” I bellow out over them, trying and failing to keep the annoyance out of my voice. “You can beat each other’s asses when we’re all back in the security of the packlands.Our mate needs us to get her to safety, so get your asses in the SUV and let’s get on the road.”

Drayton raises an eyebrow at me, his wolf pushing forward and making his light blue eyes glow in the darkness. Dray understands I’m not trying to order around the alpha to take his spot, but his wolf is another story.

Shrugging my head to the side in a show of submission, I breathe out a sigh of relief when the glow fades from his eyes. The last thing we need right now is Dray’s wolf fighting for dominance.

Drayton smiles apologetically at me and nods to show his thanks. We both know that the tediousness of his wolf is frustrating to all wolves, but it’s the reality of an alpha. Every time I see the internal struggle or hear Dray talk about his battle of wills, I thank the goddess that I wasn’t given the alpha gene. Could I be an alpha without it? Yeah. However neither me or my wolf want that level of responsibility.

“Penn, you and Forrester take the back row so you can get some rest after being through so much,” Drayton directs, taking over getting everyone on the road. “Wes, I want you up front with Alaric. I need both of you on high alert until we’re safe. I’ll be in the middle row with —“

“Talia,” Penn murmurs lovingly, his face already showing how smitten he is with our mate.

“Right. I’ll be in the middle row with Talia,” Drayton says, his voice shaking on her name. There’s a moment of vulnerability from our alpha as he looks at Talia, a mixture of fear, surprise, warmth, and affection. “Let’s move. I want to get home.”

There’s a moment of hesitation from all of us, our eyes glued to the teal haired shifter that we all feel connected to. I haven’t even had the chance to hold her in my arms or hear her voice, yet I still know that I will destroy anyone and anything that tries to hurt her.

The Croisés have held her captive, doing goddess knows what to her, for who knows how long. When she wakes up from her injury, I’ll have her write a list of everyone that hurt her in her time here. I’ll hunt down every last one of them, tearing them limb from limb until they’re on the cusp of death, then I’ll smile as I rip their head from their body with my bare hands.

Everyone else starts moving, Penn and Forrester, opening the back and climbing over the seats. Bending down, I scoop my mate into my arms, breathing her scent in deeply. Dray glares at me, his own arms already out for her.

“You got to carry her out of there and you get to hold her on the way home. You can’t hog our mate,” I admonish lightly, pulling her tighter against me. “This way you can get in the seat and I can lay her down comfortably on the seat and you.”

“Fair enough,” Dray tosses back, fighting back a smirk. “I’m the alpha though, that means I get to hog our mate.”

“Over my dead fucking body,” I shoot back, kicking some dirt up at him.

“I second that!” Penn whisper-yells from the backseat, his face popping out over the seat. “Over all our dead fucking bodies.”

“Eh, you can keep my dead body out of this,” Forr mumbles in disdain. “I don’t want any part of this.”

Penn whips his head in Forrester’s direction. “You can’t be fucking serious.”

“Of course I’m serious,” he counters, a dry, humourless laugh following his words. “You can’t expect me to stick around for a mate I’m supposed to share with some pack members I want nothing to do with. I have a life and it doesn’t include the pack.”

“Then why are you here?” Dray asks, zero emotion in his voice.

“I’m here for Penn and only him. He’s the only one of you fuckers I give a shit about.” Forrester throws himself against the back of the seat, shaking the SUV in the process.

“Well, he’s part of the pack and you don’t give a shit about anyone in the pack. Isn’t that what you keep telling us?” I ask, a shit-eating grin on my face. If he wants to be an asshole, I’ll show him what a true asshole looks like. “It’s time for you to get the fuck out of this SUV and walk back to that human life you love so fucking much. The pack doesn’t need your cowardice hanging around, so while you’re still tucking your tail between your legs and trying to pass it off as your dick, you need to get the fuck out of here.”

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