Page 27 of Freed

“She’ll need time to emotionally recover,” Maddox says as if I’m the one who suggested it.

“I know. But she’s clearly not happy about you three being in pain, and she already asked me to complete the bond with her.”

I look at her beautiful sleeping face. She’s not the only one desperate to complete the bond. Watching Blaze approach her as she tried to close herself in the panic room was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to see, maybe only second to him carrying her out of there while Chase and I lay paralyzed in the bed.

Whatever magic he used to get into the house unseen or unscented, we need to make sure we have a way to see through it. And now that Cherry doesn’t have a pack bond with us, it’s put her at further risk, not being able to yell out for help.

Hopefully, if she bonds with Chase and I, the link will be reestablished, and we’ll be able to hear her again. It’s only been hours, and I already miss hearing her random thoughts that she can’t control.

“Hunt?” Chase says to me through the bond. I look at him in question. “Once she’s fully recovered, and feeling up to it, we’re cementing our bond with her. I can’t wait any longer.”

I grin at him and nod, glad we’re on the same page where our mate is concerned. “Me either.”

Chapter 11

Cherry

As I slowly wake up, the scents of all five of my mates fill my nose and I inhale happily. I feel a warm chest under my cheek and slowly open my eyes.

The first thing I see is my hand, resting on that bare chest, and the smooth skin of my wrist, where a mate bond should be.

A deep pain hits me in the stomach, as if I’ve been punched in the gut, making me groan.

“What’s wrong?” Maddox asks with worry, and I tilt my head up to him, realizing it’s his chest I’m lying on.

I look into his green eyes as I search inside myself for our bond, but it’s not there. The tightness in my stomach increases.

My eyes fill with tears, and he hauls me up his chest so my face is right in front of his. His hand cups my cheek, his thumb wiping my tears away as he searches my face.

“Sweetheart, tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it.”

“Our bond,” I say with a sniffle. “It’s really gone.”

He pulls me in tight, hugging me against him as he whispers, “You will always be my mate, Cherry. Bond or not. He can never take that from us.”

I nod against him in silent agreement. No matter what Blaze and Dr. J took from us, they can’t take away how we feel and what we do next.

“Besides,” Maddox whispers as he rubs his hand up and down my back. “I still have your mate bite.” I pull back in surprise and he shows me his neck. Gage had said the same thing, but somehow I forgot.

I run my fingers over the scarred skin as I ask, “Can you feel that?” He nods with a satisfied smile.

That has to be a good sign. Maybe there is a way to mend the bond with some sort of magical spell.

“I need to talk to Erica.”

“You can text her and make arrangements to see her, if you like? I know she’s been waiting for you to message her.” She has?

“Is she awake?” Chase asks as my bedroom door is pushed open.

“She’s up,” Maddox says as he helps me sit up.

Glancing down, I realize I’m in a clean T-shirt, one of Bain’s, if I’m not mistaken, and nothing else. They must have changed me when we got home.

I must have really been out of it because I don’t remember much of the car ride either.

“How long have we been home?” I ask as I stretch my arms over my head.

“Two days,” Gage says, entering after Chase as his eyes scan my body.