Page 62 of Wolf Bound

"Holy shit," Theodora, another wolf alpha that has been silent up until this point. "I've never seen a creature like her before."

"She's a pear-ee-ton?" One of the bear shifters asks from the back, sounding out the word slowly. "What exactly is that?"

"She's part doe, part bird, with a special affinity for healing as well as skills that help her hide and blend in," I answer the questions and barely stifle the chuckle when Tal whips her doeeyes in my direction. I can practically hear the say that again? from her. "You can shift back now, baby."

Talia's peryton form is washed in that same magic until she's standing in her human form again, a perplexed look on her face. I step forward and pull her into my arms, whispering in her ear that I will explain later. Talia is crazy smart, but she was also super sheltered and abused, it's no wonder she hasn't put two and two together to understand why she can move through things and heal from a distance.

There's a lot of low talking throughout the crowd so I step forward again.

"We have a beautiful buffet dinner planned for tonight as well as a bonfire event to welcome all of you to our packlands," I address everyone. "Please take the rest of the afternoon to get settled into your cabins and talk all of this over. We do understand it's a lot to take in and we will address any and all questions you have. Let's reconvene tomorrow at the same time and place."

With the approval from all alphas, we move towards the exit. That went as well as it could have, but I highly suspect a lot of questions will be coming tonight and tomorrow. First step is uniting these shifters, from there we can hope they will rally with other packs until all of shifter kind can be united for this fight.

“Do you think she can actually do it? Heal all of shifter-kind?” Derrik steps up beside me, his question simply curious, not a hint of animosity.

"I think she already is," I respond to him inquiry with a nod in Talia’s direction.

Talia is surrounded by shifters of all types, laughing and answering all of their questions with so much grace that seems to just come naturally to her. She healed the arm of Braun, who is now her biggest supporter and has started acting like a big-brother bodyguard for her.

"If she can so easily win over Braun, I think she'll have no problem healing the bonds between shifters and in turn, healing us as a whole." I look over at Derrik, his dark buzz cut hair creating a harsh image. He's one of the most stoic, yet trustworthy alpha's I've met in my life. He looks rough and mean, but he's simply weathered and logical.

"You do have a point," he answers with a nod. "It's about fucking time shifters reunited. We were never meant to be this divided. Yes, we're territorial, but we're all also animals that thrive in groups. You can count on Moniteurre pack to be by your side in this."

"Thank you, Derrik. With your influence and alliances with a lot of the other wolf packs, I know that will mean a lot will follow in your footsteps," I acknowledge the weight of his words. "I appreciate you believing us, and standing with us in this."

“After seeing your mate, it would be impossible not to. You’ve got one incredible woman right there.”

“That’s for damn sure.” I laugh as he squeezes my shoulder. “Thanks again.”

He walks away from me, moving towards a few of the panther shifters that are off to the side, talking amongst themselves. Having him on our side is a huge win. One that the others will want to know about as well.

Forrester is close behind Talia, so I walk away to find Wes, Penn, or Alaric. Penn is telling jokes with his mom and some of the beta's of the other packs so I leave him there and findWes and Alaric talking to each other on the outskirts of the celebration.

"Derrik has given us his support," I say as I approach. "Even without his support, Braun clearly supports Talia which means he will be supporting us as well."

"Good," Alaric grunts out. "Those two have the most sway out of the wolf pack leaders."

"Miles is obviously in support as well," Wes chimes in. "He has a lot of sway with the bear dens so I don't think it'll be hard to get them on our side."

"That leaves about six other sections of shifters to rally together," I say with a sigh. "None of the mountain lion shifters showed up today, but the coyotes seem to be following the wolves from what I've seen so we can most likely count on them as well."

"The larger cat shifters are our wild cards at the moment." Alaric looks over at the alphas by Talia. "Do you think the panthers will come around?"

"Maybe?" I shrug and look away. "They've always been far less likely to interact with us. I don't think we'll know which way they'll fall until they tell us. I'm surprised Bastian didn't come. He's normally the panther alpha we can count on."

Wes coughs and smiles. "Yeah, he's having troubles with his brothers. The one has gone almost completely rogue so he couldn't step away to come."

"I know what that's like."

“We can touch base with them afterwards,” Alaric states with a nod. “That meeting is in two days and once we know more, we’ll reach out to everyone that couldn’t make it and have our new allies do the same.”

“Sounds like we’ve got a plan,” I clap my hands together and look at Wes and Alaric. “Let’s get a drink and mingle. The betterthey all see us, the more alliances we can make and the better chance we have of saving shifters.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Talia

Sashaying my hips, I bite my lip in excitement as I walk away from Forrester and the celebration bonfire. If there’s one of my mates that’s been increasingly difficult, it’s him. We’ve gone through so much in getting where we are now, and it hasn’t been easy. That said, I don’t want to waste another minute with him.

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