Page 16 of Claimed

My eyes widen at the explanation. I’d already gotten a glimpse of his size. They’re saying part of it would get even bigger and has to go inside me?

Maddox smiles and nods. “That’s another reason we need to wait. You’ve barely spent any time in your adult body.”

“I’m not a child,” I say in defense as he squeezes my leg.

“I know, sweetheart.”

“We should get going soon. The plane will be expecting us,” Gage says, and I glance over my shoulder at him.

“We never asked if you’re okay coming with us,” Maddox says. “You told me you didn’t have any family, so we hoped, especially now we know you're our mate, that you want to stay with us?”

“I go where she goes,” Bain says, narrowing his eyes on Maddox, which makes me laugh for some reason.

“You’re funny,” I tell him, which makes Hunter and Chase laugh.

“I’m just stating a fact.”

I smile at him, then look at Maddox before speaking. “Thank you for giving me the choice. Seriously, I’m not sure if you realize how important that is to me after all this time.” I turn to Bain before continuing. “And I feel the same way as you do. Where you five go, I go.”

He squeezes my leg and gives me a pleased, satisfied look that sends a pulse of desire between my legs. I press them together, but I see Bain’s nostrils flare, and that satisfied look only intensifies.

“Any other questions before we leave?” Maddox asks, distracting Bain and me from our stare-off.

“Yeah. When do I get to kiss the rest of you?”

Chapter 5

Maddox

My mate is testing my self-control. And somehow that just makes me love her even more. Part of me worried that when she shifted, she’d be nervous and maybe even scared of us. I never imagined she’d be so outspoken and… adorable.

There really is no other word for it. She’s somehow the perfect blend of curious, funny, smart, and sweet, all wrapped up in one gorgeous little package.

I’m dying to see her standing. I know she’ll be shorter than me, but as the shortest of our pack at only five-ten, I had a small worry that my mate will see me as lacking. She’s already erased any doubt of that in my mind, though. I can tell she wouldn't care, even if I were shorter than her. But I’d guess she’s under five-two. Perfect.

I glance over at her sitting in Bain’s lap in the window seat of the plane, looking out into the clouds like she’s never been on a plane before. She seems calm. I’m pleased flying doesn’t upset her. Then again, with everything she’s been through, this is probably a walk in the park for her.

I’m desperate to know exactly what these experiments consisted of. But I’m also terrified to ask. I might not be able to get the image of it out of my head. But she had to actually live through it, and she deserves to share that with someone else, to share her burden with us, so we understand.

Deciding not to fill my mind with such negative thoughts right now, I instead fill it with memories of my little mate. The way she tried to bite me and mark me as hers. I grin, pride filling me that she wanted me so badly that it was her first instinct when we hugged. Then, later, she begged me to complete the bond.

I might be a fool to have said no, but there was no way we could get intimate with her while she was at risk of shifting. Hopefully, Starfall Haven is where we think it is and holds the answers we need to help her.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Hunter says, and I glance up at where he’s sitting across from me in question. “I have a feeling Starfall Haven will be there, that it’s where we’re supposed to be.”

“I hope so,” I say with a sigh as I glance back over at her. “I’d hate to be leading our pack into something worse than where we came from.”

“It’s all going to work out, just you wait and see.” His optimism has no backing, but I decide to lean on it anyway. We’re already heading there. May as well hope for the best.

We stand outside the building that reads Starfall Animal Sanctuary, as we all stare at it in silence. After a smooth plane ride, we drove an hour and a half in a rental SUV to finally reach this location.

“What if they start yelling about a wolf on the loose?” Hunter asks and I glance down at Cherry. I hadn’t thought of that. If this is a non-supernaturally run animal sanctuary, they would flip out at seeing a wild wolf walk in with us. We were lucky we could keep her hidden from human eyes so far.

“We’re not collaring her,” Bain says angrily as he steps forward. “If they freak out, then we know they’re humans.”

He marches forward, and we quickly follow so he doesn’t enter without us, keeping Cherry secure in the middle of our pack.

When we step inside, we’re greeted by a large, empty lobby. I take a second to look around. Everything looks very clean, but I expected to see lots of people in here.