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KNOX
Cyrus boundedout of the cabin in his wolf form and slipped into the dark forest surrounding the glade.
My pulse lurched. Something had happened. But I had no idea what.
The last time I’d seen him, he’d been sleeping on the porch swing while I’d been trying to sleep on the far side of the glade, as far away from the cabin as the mating bond would let me.
I hurried to the cabin before I realized what I was doing, grabbed the door that Cyrus had left open, and stared inside into the dark living room.
I didn’t hear screaming or sex and Bishop wasn’t calling me. Audrey had to be okay.
Except she wasn’t… and if I didn’t want her to be stuck with me with my fucked-up head, I had to let my brothers take care of her.
They had a plan, and I just had to keep my wolf collared and wait until we were in Stonehaven and Whil had transferred the bond before releasing him.
I shut the door and turned to head back to the far side of the glade but couldn’t make myself step off the porch.
The pull of the mating bond mixed with my worries was just too strong. It squeezed my chest, making it hard to breathe and move and hell, just think about anything else.
Fuck, this was my worst nightmare. I hadn’t even known thatthiswas what I feared the most. But the terror howling and clawing and unable to break free from inside me was stronger than even the squeezing, suffocating panic that seized me if I was inside for too long or surrounded by too many people.
Everything in my soul screamed that I needed to protect her, and my wolf was losing his shit, furious that I’d let Cyrus and Bishop lock him away.
Her heat had been going on for too long and even if I hadn’t overheard Cyrus and Bishop’s conversation about it not stopping — and the theory that it wasn’t going to stop until our mating bond was sealed — I’d be terrified for her.
I curled up on the porch swing, forcing more ice into the mating bond, praying that would help stop me from completely fucking up her life.
I couldn’t take care of her the way a mate was supposed to.
I couldn’t even cover the basics for a mate.
I couldn’t spend more than a few hours inside, and I couldn’t ask her to live like I did, sleeping in the tall grass outside Stonehaven or in the sacred grove outside the alpha’s residence. Even if she could shift, she’d still need shelter for winter and the storm season.
But she couldn’t shift and she’d want more than just “living inside.” She’d want a life and she deserved to have one. She deserved everything her old pack had denied her: friends, family. Hope.
No. I couldn’t be her mate. I couldn’t be anyone’s mate. I was too fucked up.
I squeezed my eyes shut and fought to still my racing thoughts. If the bond wouldn’t let me leave the porch, then I needed to embrace the oblivion of sleep. In the morning we’d start the journey back to Stonehaven and then everything would be fine.
Hell, maybe whatever had made Cyrus race out of the cabin as a wolf had been whatever she needed and the fever would be broken by morning… and I wasn’t going to think too deeply about what that might have been. A heat fever was dangerous and whatever he’d done would have been to protect Audrey.
I sucked in a slow breath then another and listened to the crickets. I could do this. Audrey could do it. Everything was going to be okay.
A soft thump jerked me awake and I sat up with a start. Inside the cabin, slow footsteps shuffled across the wood floor in an unsteady rhythm, drawing closer. Then a door squeaked and clicked shut, and a moment later, the shower started.
I strained to hear more. It hadn’t sounded like Bishop. He was tired, but his steps would have been heavier and surer. Which meant Audrey was in the shower. By herself. Did that mean her heat had broken? Even if it had, she had to be weak. The fever had ridden her hard and she’d barely eaten or slept. Why was he letting her use the shower by herself?
What the hell was wrong with him?
I mentally nudged him and received a sleepy groan in response. Exhaustion and worry surged through our twin bond and I clamped down on it before it could affect me. I hadn’t realized just how tired he was.
My wolf wrenched against the collar. If Audrey’s fever was that bad, then we needed to go to her, not just to protect her, but to protect the other half of our human soul as well.
I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut. Bishop wasn’t alone. Cyrus might have needed to go for a run, but he’d be back, and Audrey had both of them. They’d be fine.
But my wolf didn’t believe that and a growing part of the human me didn’t believe it, either.
Something insidethumpedand all my senses snapped to high alert. Bishop remained asleep and the showershushedin a steady, undisturbed stream of water. Audrey wasn’t moving around, that would change the sound of the falling water.
