Page 42 of Bound

“It’s okay, little wolf. They’re part of our pack,” Maddox tells me, putting himself in front of the twins, halting the wolves’ approach. As soon as they reach Maddox, they shift and I yip, burying my face in Bain’s chest, not wanting to see their naked bodies.

I hear the deep rumble of Bain’s chest as he growls, which is echoed among the others.

“Maddox, it’s good to see you’re all back. We were starting to worry about you being gone for so long,” one man says. He sounds friendly, but I’ve been fooled before.

“We ran into something important we had to take care of,” Maddox replies smoothly. My body tenses, realizing none of the guys know where I come from or who could be a danger to me. Any of these people could be connected to the facility and could report me to them, or snatch me away themselves.

If they recognize me, which they would due to my unusual dark red coloring, I have no doubt the doc would send someonehere as fast as he could, probably willing to kill anybody to get me back. I whine as my mind fills with worry.

“It’s okay,” Bain whispers, lifting me higher so he can press his face into my neck.

“Is she okay?” Gage asks quietly.

“No, she’s shaking and whining. We need to get her inside. Now.” The command in his voice makes me flinch, but he just holds me tighter as he whispers, “Shh, I’ve got you. You’re safe with me.”

Am I?

My head and heart seem to be in agreement that he’s telling the truth, that all five of them are safe. Although I’m not sure why I feel that way. It could be the way they’ve been nothing but a steady presence since I woke up in that cave. It could be the way they protected me against the bear. Or it could be the way they’ve fed me, cleaned me, kept me warm, and asked for absolutely nothing in return.

I just hope that none of that changes when they get me into their home. Right now, my instincts are telling me that they are safer than these two new wolves, and much safer than being on my own.

I miss what else is said until I hear Maddox dismissing the two newcomers, telling them he’ll catch them up later. They shift and take off back the way they came.

The twins move aside, letting Maddox step over to me. He gently strokes my neck as he studies me. I never realized how much shorter he is than the others before. Bain must be about eight inches taller than him. It’s hard to tell how tall any of them are when I’m in my wolf form, but I have a feeling Maddox would still have at least nine inches on me.

Although I don’t even know how tall I am. When I was taken at fourteen, I was five feet tall, the shortest in my family, by six inches. Did I grow much afterthat?

“It’s okay, they’re gone now. Let’s get you inside,” Maddox says before glancing up at Bain, who nods in return. Then he turns and leads us to the house.

Resting my head against Bain, I close my eyes, suddenly feeling my exhaustion again. The low timber of their voices surrounds me, but I can’t seem to grasp what anyone is saying, as if everything is underwater.

The creak of a door opening has my ears twitching. A few moments later, Bain sits down, and I open my eyes, seeing we’re in a large living room. Soft gray walls surround us. One wall is covered with large bookshelves, overflowing with books.

Bain strokes my head and back as I settle back against him. “You’re safe here. Go to sleep. I’ll watch over you.”

His words soothe me, and I close my eyes, feeling utterly exhausted. Regenerating really takes a lot out of me, and I don’t think I’ve eaten since it happened.

“Is she any better?” Hunter asks from beside us.

“She’s stopped shaking,” Bain replies, kissing the top of my head gently. I wiggle slightly, loving the feeling of being cared for by him. It’s not something I ever expected to experience again, and I have no idea why he’s doing it, but right now, I don’t care what the reason is.

I just let the feeling of comfort and safety lull me to sleep.

Chapter 21

Gage

Igaze at her sleeping in Bain’s lap as he gently strokes her head and back. She looks so content, unlike how she was when we first found her. But it’s still not enough.

“We need to focus on her health and making her feel safe,” I tell them with a nod of my head.

We need a plan.

“I’ll order a bunch of cooked chickens,” Chase says, heading for the stairs. “I’ll go grab our phones too.” We had Maddox’s phone with us at camp but decided to leave the rest as it was too hard to carry in our wolf forms.

Chase returns quickly with our fully charged phones, passing them out as he starts ordering groceries on his.

“We’ll need clothes and other girl stuff,” Hunter says, deep in thought.