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Because I have nowhere else to be and it’s pathetic to wait outside this room they locked me out of, I tell myself.
The corridors are eerily empty as I follow Cam. In the short time I’ve been at Auclair, I’ve never seen it this quiet.
“The other wolf…”
“Leif. He’s fine. A few of the others are here too. They might get on my fucking nerves, but they’re loyal, I’ll give them that. Didn’t even hesitate to follow me once Nina took over the pack—”
“Wait,what?”
An involuntary shudder rolls through me at Nina’s name. Despite spending however many weeks in the woods surrounded by wolves, being in her presence was the first time I’d felt that primal fear. The very cells in my body recognized her as a threat.
She’d been so insistent in Cam’s tent about Reid’s punishment after the two of us were caught, going on and on about how his pack wouldn’t respect him anymore, how there could be a usurper…a situation she clearly took full advantage of.
“What? You thought I came here just for you?”
My face burns as he turns for the exit that leads to the grounds.
“What happened with Nina?”
He sighs. “She saw an opportunity and took it. Everyone was already on edge after Terrence. I wish I could say we’d put up a more united front but…”
The sun is sharp and blinding as it crests the horizon, and I hold back my wince as we step outside. Cam nudges me to the shade on the other side of him as we walk, the touch tender in a way.
“I’m sorry, Cam. About the pack. I know it was your dad’s.”
He turns so I can’t see his face as he nods, and a knot of guilt twists in my stomach. Would the same have happened if it hadn’t been for me? If him helping me hadn’t pissed off so many of his wolves?
“Pack masters come and go, packs merge. It isn’t unusual.”
It’s a clear attempt to shut down the topic, so instead, I ask, “Where are the others now?”
“With the healer, last I checked. Patching up some minor stuff. They’re being dramatic, honestly. They just like the infirmary because the beds are more comfortable than in our quarters.”
I smirk. That does sound like them. “How did you even know…?”
Did Reid reach out? I can’t bring myself to ask. Just thinking his name hits like a punch to the chest.
Something shifts in Cam’s eyes, a wall coming down. Our steps slow as we come to a patch of shrubs surrounding a small fountain. He takes a seat on the bench and waits until I sink beside him, leaving a healthy amount of space between us.
He wets his lips and considers his words before saying, “I felt that you needed help. It was like it was in my bones or something. I think, maybe, well…” His gaze drifts to where the black mark had been on my wrist.
I blink at him, stunned, but the shock lasts only a second. “You don’t mean…we’re not…”
He scratches the back of his neck.
I swat his arm hard enough that he lets out a noise of protest.
“You let mebindmyself to you? You didn’t think that would be something to mention?”
“I didn’t know!” He shrinks away before I can hit him again, and his shoulders creep up to his ears in a gesture that looks distinctly guilty and entirely foreign on him. “And it’s not…I don’t know. I just felt that I needed to be here. I didn’t know why. I didn’t know what was going on. There was nothing keeping me in the barrens anyway.”
My fingers drift to my wrist even though they won’t find what they’re looking for. I should be disturbed by the thought of somehow being connected to Cam. Horrified, even. And I am.I am.
“I can’t feel you” is all I manage. At least, I don’t think I can. Would I have noticed with all the other chaos going on? Would it feel different than the bond with—
“I can’t feel you either. Not now. And not since that one time. And it wasn’t that I could feel you, exactly. I didn’t realize you were the reason until I got here.”
“Does that usually happen after transferring a blood deal?”
