Wolf Bonded (Wolfish 1)

Even she looks as though the conversation has treaded into unwelcome territory.

“There is a … phenomenon … that happens sometimes among werewolves and shifters,” she says. She’s speaking quietly now, as if she’s sharing a precious secret with me. “Certain females give off a very specific type of pheromone that attracts their mate. Normally, this happens with one female and one male, but rarely it can involve more than one potential mate at a time.”

“Okay …” I say, nodding along as if any of this makes sense to me. I’m still struggling to wrap my head around the fact that I was nearly murdered just last week.

All eyes are on me now. I shift in my seat.

“So … so what does that even mean?” I remember, briefly, several moments when I knew I’d caught the boys sniffing around me. Literally sniffing around me. “Is it just a hormonal thing? Some kind of attraction?”

The idea of a dog going into heat comes to mind, but I’m not a big fan of the image that conjures.

“It’s more than that.” It’s Romulus who speaks, his eyes turned to stare blankly at the wall over my head. “Unfortunately.”

Something about the look on his face gives me pause.

I glance back over to Lydia. “So then … what is it?”

Even she struggles for a moment to explain.

“Well, when it happens to shifters like us, the male becomes bonded to the female, whether he … or they … like it or not. And when it happens, they are as protective of the female as if their life depended on it, which—”

“That’s enough Lydia,” Romulus interrupts. “I think that’s enough for one night.”

But Lydia isn’t finished. Her hand reaches out to give Romulus’ a little squeeze, their eyes meeting as they come to some shared, unspoken agreement before Lydia continues.

“Up until recently, we thought it only happened to shifters like us. But apparently …” and here she trails off, suddenly uncertain, “apparently it can happen with humans, too.”

There’s a silence that follows.

I feel my forehead wrinkle a bit as I think about what Lydia said. Then it suddenly dawns on me. I look at the boys sitting around me, my eyes widening.

“You didn’t let Romulus kill me,” I sa

y in awe. “Because all three of you are bonded to me.”

My words hang in the air, as if suspended by my own disbelief.

“That’s what you meant when you said …” I trail off.

Lydia looks sadly over at the boys. She has the strangest look on her face, like she’s happy that they found someone to be the subject of their affections … but not happy that it’s me.

At least she and Romulus can agree on that.

Now it’s her turn to take on that same far off look. She starts playing with Romulus’ hair absentmindedly, twirling the strands between her fingers like a schoolgirl.

“I always wondered if these three would bond together,” she says, her voice taking on a dream-like quality for a moment. “I was starting to wonder if any of them would find a mate at all, and then they met you … and they couldn’t hide the way they felt. Not for an instant, not from me, anyway.”

“You know, they tried to keep it from me at first.” A slight smile pulls at her mouth. “It’s just a shame, really.”

Her words make the ground beneath me suddenly feel unsteady. A weight like lead settles in my stomach.

“A shame?”

“Mom …” Rory’s voice starts like a growl. He gets up on his haunches, already looking wolf-like in his human form.

Romulus rolls his eyes and reaches for his wine glass, making another annoyed huff when he realizes it’s empty. “And here we go. This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen tonight.”

Kaleb’s hand in mine has stiffened. Suddenly, Marlowe isn’t just casually leaning up against me anymore. He’s reaching for me, trying to tug me to my feet.