Wolf Bonded (Wolfish 1)

“We should probably just take you back to the cabin,” he says. He holds out a hand behind himself towards me, but I don’t take it. “Come on,” he repeats, stretching out his fingers. “We don’t want you caught out here at night.”

“So what was this?”

He half turns, confusion on his face as he takes me in.

I wave my arms around me, motioning to the forest around me. “All this? Was it just a

n excuse to get me away from the house so you could remind me that I’ll never truly be one of you?”

My voice sounds hollow, empty.

Like me.

Rory stares at me, unseeing. “What are you …”

“Well, I’m tired of it.” My temper flares, and with it, so does my adrenaline. “It’s not fair, Rory.” I turn to glare at Marlowe and Kaleb. “And you two, you’re no better.”

“Sabrina …” Kaleb’s voice is cautious as he reaches out to me. He alone seems to be able to sense how close I’ve drawn to the edge of the precipice.

“No!” I swat his hand away and stumble a step back, off the path. My head is shaking back and forth so quickly that all I see is a blur of their faces between the green tree trunks. Tears, unbidden, streak my vision further. “No, Kaleb. No, Marlowe. I’m done.”

As soon as the words leave my lips, all the world stills.

I lift my eyes up to meet them, and it’s as if the whole forest is waiting with bated breath.

“I’m done.”

When the words leave my lips again, there’s nothing left to do but turn on my heel and flee.

I hear them calling at me, but then I hear Rory scold Kaleb when it sounds like he tries to come after me. Because that would be the worst thing, wouldn’t it?

Every other time, they’ve insisted on following me. Walking me back.

This is the time they don’t choose to follow?

Marlowe’s shout carries above the others, a warning to me to stay in my house until the full moon passes tonight.

Screw them, I’ll do what I want. Just like I always do … depend on no one.

I’m half surprised that they don’t chase me to my front door, but then again, I suppose they have more important full-moon things to get ready for tonight. Things I’ll never be allowed to be a part of.

Whatever. I’m going to watch a Netflix marathon about fictional werewolves that are less righteous and have more sex appeal.

Even in my furious state, I know I’m kidding myself if I think that there are any wolf-shifters with more sex appeal than Rory, Marlowe, or Kaleb; but at least it makes me feel a bit better to pretend.

But as soon as I kick in the door to the cabin, I realize just how wrong I am.

How wrong we all are.

I’ve been focused on all the wrong things. Worried about all the wrong things.

My chest freezes in the middle of an inhale, leaving me feeling like I’m both about to burst and like I’m suffocating at the same time. The boys warned me to stay inside my cabin so that I would be safe. All this time I’ve been watching out for rogue wolves running loose in the forest; but it was never the wolves that I should have been worried about.

I was so careful, I think to myself, crying inside of my own head.

SO CAREFUL … up until the point that I wasn’t. I’ve been so distracted by the boys, and by the fantasy that I suddenly found myself living among the supernatural, that I let my guard down where it really mattered. I forgot what led us up here to this place, to Washington in the first place, and now it’s cost me everything.

Because when I open the door, I discover that my mother is home for what feels like the first time in weeks … but she isn’t alone.