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As we come to a stop once we’re under cover at the stables, Maddie turns to me. “Thank you. Are you going back for Tai now?”
I smirk. “Nah, he looked like he needed to cool down. Nothing like bucketing rain to clear the mind.”
After I dismount, I help her off and Lady White nudges her side with her nose. Maddie starts, but I smile, running my hand through the horse’s wiry mane. “She likes you.”
“Does she?” Maddie asks, seemingly surprised before she suddenly rolls her eyes. “Not everything that rubs up against you likes you, you know.”
“Well, in this case, that’s not true. I was just rubbing up against you, and I like you.”
Those green eyes dart back to mine as she runs a hand along Lady White’s neck. “Do you?”
“I do.”
“Is that why you came to find me?”
I shrug, but I don’t give her a definitive answer. The truth is that as soon as I saw the storm approaching and I realized she and Tai weren’t back yet, I nearly lost my shit. My protective instinct hasn’t reared up like that in years. Perhaps not since I saw my little sister getting bullied by some asshole once.
Even then, it wasn’t this strong.
But I don’t say any of that.
None of us needs this to be any harder than it already is.
Maddie drops her arm away from Lady White and as she turns, she spots Sergeant Pepper in the stall behind her and smiles. “Hello, you. Miss me?”
The Sergeant lowers his head over his stable door and I laugh. “He wants a scratch.”
“From me?”
I nod. “Definitely.”
Who wouldn’t want your hands all over them?
She approaches him cautiously, but he’s on his best behavior today. Storms have a tendency of unsettling these animals, but I’m right here. Since the Omegas have stopped randomly popping in, they’ve been a lot more comfortable.
“Wow.” Maddie laughs when the Sergeant closes his eyes as she rubs between them. “I thought for sure that this guy hated me.”
“Nah, he was just a little unsure way back at the beginning,” I explain. “He’s a lot like Kaz that way. He only threw you off because he was scared.”
“You’re comparing your packmate to a horse?”
“If the shoe fits,” I joke. “On a more serious note, though, fear makes every creature on God’s earth react differently than they ordinarily do. It’s instinctive. Fight or flight.”
She eyes the Sergeant’s relaxed demeanor and eventually nods. “Yeah, I think I know what you mean. I also think I understand this guy a little better now. I was scared. He was scared. I knew even then that he didn’t mean to hurt me, but it makes a lot more sense now.”
Slowly walking up behind her, I reach around her side to offer him a sugar cube from my pocket. She giggles when she sees him gobble it up, then she turns to me. “Do you have another one?”
“Always.” I dig one out and hand it to her, but before she turns away again to feed it to him, her green eyes latch on mine. “How did you find us?”
From the corner of my eye, I see the Sergeant straining for the sugar in her hand. I trust the big guy, but to get to his sugar… Well, he’s pretty determined. I know how he feels.I wouldn’t stop at much to get to the sugar I’m after right now, either. But first things first.
“You better give him his treat while I explain,” I say, and when she offers it to him on the flat of her palm like I did before, she giggles again when his whiskers tickle her.
The sound of her easy giggles bringsanothersmile to my lips. I slide my hands into my pockets before I use them for something else. “To answer your question, I knew where you were because of our pack bond.”
“Oh, right. I’ve heard of that. It’s a similar concept to, like, twin-tuition, isn’t it?”
“Sort of, but not really,” I say, realizing that I’m about to get passionate, but our bond is one of my favorite things about being in a pack. It always has been. I’ve been told that I sound almost reverent when I talk about it, but that’s because I genuinely do revere it. “Alphas can feel each other’s emotions through our pack bond. It’s like this invisible tether linking us to each other regardless of the distance between us. I love it.”
