Wolf Bonded (Wolfish 1)

She doesn’t pick it, just brings her nose close enough to the earth to take a deep lungful.

“It’s funny, isn’t it,” she starts, and I already know exactly what direction she’s heading, “how certain scents stick with you long after they’re gone?”

I hum in agreement, and she straightens up.

She keeps her eyes trained on the tiny yellow bud, but she’s still talking to me.

“I’m not going to launch into some long analogy here, Rory, because I’m afraid you’d miss the point if I did.”

She finally fixes me with a stare that shuts me up before I can protest—which is exactly what I was going to do.

“I’ve been feeling you boys withdraw from me, from Romulus, for a while now,” she says, “so are you going to tell me why, or are you going to make me guess?”

I consider for a moment, before I let out a short sigh and glance away from her, up into the mountains.

“If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell Romulus.” I finally look over to her, fixing her with the same serious look she gave me earlier. “At least until it’s the right time.”

There’s really no point in holding back anymore. Like she said … either I’m going to be the one to tell her, or it’s going to come out another way. This sort of thing, as much as I’d like to, simply can’t

be avoided any longer.

Telling her leaves me feeling lighter.

And even though it doesn’t change anything … somehow, it changes everything.

16

Sabrina

Whatever the real reason for Marlowe and Kaleb’s visit yesterday, they made a good point about hiding up in the cabin. Holing up here isn’t going to do me any favors.

If my father is going to come find us, then he’s going to come find us.

It could be today. It could be tomorrow.

It could be a year from now.

All I know is even if we wanted to run, I don’t think we could. There’s a feeling I get about a place when it’s time to go, time to flee, and I haven’t felt it yet. Not quite yet, anyway.

True to my promise to Marlowe, I return to school in the morning ready to face Rory.

There’s no dramatic confrontation in the hallways this time, not even much of an acknowledgement that I was gone at all. He’s so quiet in our Civilizations class that I’m genuinely surprised when he asks me to meet up after school to finally work on the project.

“Wow, I’d started to think you were just going to pretend I didn’t exist from here on out,” I say, following him out into the hallway.

He doesn’t look at me. “As much as that would simplify things, no. I’m not very good at pretending.”

I’m not sure exactly what I’m supposed to say to that, if anything, so thankfully he saves me from having to answer.

“Just meet me outside after school,” he says, heading off down the hall without sending me so much as a glance.

It’s no wonder I’m left pacing in the parking lot at the end of the day.

Tom offers to wait with me when Jess and Aimee finally have to head out, but I ensure him I’m going to be fine on my own. Even still, he lingers around in his truck until he realizes I’ve caught him staring and has to reluctantly drive off.

Thank god. The only thing worse than having to face Rory is having to face him with Tom here like some sort of backup. That is, if Rory ever shows.

I’ve just begun to lose hope when he finally appears, books in tow, and heads straight for me. He’s got a determined look on his face that would be sexy if I wasn’t already so damn frustrated with him for … well … everything.