Page 44 of Wolf Bound

Walking over to Dray, I attempt to shift his legs onto the couch to lie him down. Alaric leans over me a moment later, shifting Dray’s legs for me. I spin and place a kiss on his cheek in silent gratitude before sliding the blanket still draped around my shoulders off and placing it on my sleeping mate.

With a smile, I take Alaric’s hand and lead him out of the living room as quietly as possible. He shakes his head at me with a lopsided grin, but moves just as silently as I do. Once we’re far enough from the living room, I stop and look up at my tallest mate.

“So, what are we doing?” I look down at my stretchy yoga pants and loose tank top then back up at my mate. “Should I go change?”

Alaric places his hands on my hips and pulls me into him. He brushes a lock of hair behind my ear and kisses my forehead gently. “What you’re wearing is perfect. I’m going to take you to meet our security team for the pack and a few of the other wolves that have been anxious to check on you since the attack.”

“Are you sure yoga pants are okay to meet your team in?” I grab a lock of his long blonde hair and twirl it between my index finger and thumb. “It’s a little underdressed for meeting people, isn’t it?”

“Not at all,” he assures me. “We’re heading out to the training area which means what you’re wearing will fit right in with everyone else. I was also hoping, if you were up for it, we could see about some defense training for you. It may be easier for you in a group setting to see how moves work and what good and bad form can look and feel like. What do you think?”

Nerves and excitement fill my chest in equal parts. It would be good for me to get some training in and I would love to meet more of the wolves in the pack. But, what if I’m bad at combat? What if I can’t grasp any of the moves and I look silly in front of the others? I’m not a predator like they are. I’m a healer, not a fighter, and I don’t know if fighting is ever going to come easy to me.

“Okay,” I say hesitantly, but with a smile. “Let me just put my hair up so it’s out of the way.”

“Good idea, kitten. I’ll wait here for you.”

Alaric kisses me then shoos me towards the stairs with a gentle push. I take the plush steps two at a time, racing into my room to grab the hair tie I know I left on my bedside table. My nerves are making my palms sweaty and I drop the black hair tie twice before finally securing it around my wrist.

Despite how long I’ve been here now, I haven’t had much of a chance to really interact with a lot of the wolves here. A few of the braver pups have come by to meet me and play a couple times, but with all the tension around Drayton becoming alpha, not many of the older wolves have come around. Helen being one of the few exceptions to that and that’s probably only because she’s Penn’s mom.

The overprotectiveness of my mates is the other reason I’ve been kept away from the majority of the pack. With Marcus stirring things up, it’s hard to always know who is friend and who is foe which has my mates being far more cautious with me.

The fact that Alaric is taking me to meet and train with his team has my stomach full of butterflies. I want to belong to this pack as a whole, not just to my mates. This feels like the first step in that direction.

Once my hair is securely in a ponytail, I head back downstairs. I blow a kiss to Penn as I pass by his room and he pretends to catch it with a wink.

“Have fun, Tal!” Penn hollers after me. “Don’t forget we have dinner plans tonight.”

“I won’t!” I yell back before launching myself into Alaric’s arms. “Ready?”

Alaric holds me up by the back of my thighs and kisses me deeply. When he pulls back, I can hardly catch my breath, but I know my smile is dazed and happy.

“Now I’m ready,” he says with a smirk. He places me on my feet and takes my hand in his, pulling me towards the door.

It’s cool outside as we walk to the training grounds, the smell of the forest calming me with every step. It’s not far from the alpha’s house so we get there faster than I was expecting. Alaric stops me before we walk in, looking down at me with a soft smile.

“You have nothing to worry about with any of these guys. I promise that,” Alaric assures me, his face going serious. “But Talia, if at any point you feel uncomfortable or want to leave, you have to let me know. I want you to be able to protect yourself, but I don’t want you to push yourself past what you can handle.”

“I’ll let you know,” I promise him. I squeeze his hand with my own for extra reassurance. “Let’s go meet everyone!”

Alaric walks into the training area, his thumb rubbing reassuring circles on the back of my hand as he pulls me with him.

The training area is set in a semi circle of trees with three buildings making up the other half of the circle. To enter, you either need to come through the dense tree lines or under the arch that sits between two of the buildings.

Inside the clearing is eight different wolves, three female and five males. They all stop talking as Alaric walks towards them and dip their heads in respect to him. Their eyes shift to the ground and stay there until we reach the group. Once there, itslike a rubber band snaps and they all lift their heads and greet us happily.

“Alaric! Good to see you,” a red-headed man greets him with a pat on the shoulder. He’s nearly as tall as Alaric, with orange red hair and light brown eyes that turn to look at me. “Talia, right? I’m Garth, the head of security under Alaric. Behind me is my team. From left to right we have Maya, Selene, Kira, Harris, Freddy, Baron, and Drac. It’s so good to finally meet you. We’ve been getting on Drayton and Alaric to bring you to meet us since you got here.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well,” I say, stepping up to stand beside Alaric. “The guys are a touch overprotective, aren’t they?”

Alaric shrugs at my teasing, completely unapologetic for doing what he thought was best to keep me safe. Not that I expected he would be. If there’s one thing all five of my guys agree on, it’s protecting me.

"We wanted you protected and we didn't want to overwhelm you right away. You went from isolation to a pack, we wanted you to have time to adjust," Alaric explains, his eyes never leaving mine. When he turns to the others he grins in an almost feral way. "Besides, you assholes are a handful as is. No one should just be thrown to you right out of the gate."

"You got us there," a female wolf with amber coloured eyes that I believe was introduced as Kira, claps Garth on the shoulder and smiles at me. "We're tough and loyal, but we do fall a wee bit on the feral side of things."

Maya on the end scoffs and rolls her eyes playfully. "Speak for yourself, Kira. I amnotferal, thank you very much. That's why Talia and I will be the best of friends," she says with a wink at me. "Because I know how to behave like a civilised being."

---