“Do you, though?” Rory asks, stepping forward, his voice gruff.

I shoot him a withering look and ball my hands into determined fists at my sides.

“I know that our pups will be raised without ever knowing their parents and trust me when I say that I know how much parentless childhoods suck. I know that I might have to watch one of you die on this hill tomorrow or that you might have to watch me be killed. I am very much aware of all the horrific things that could happen … but I will not leave you and I will not let you leave me behind again, not ever. You heard what Romulus said; we are bonded and to me that means everything. Without that, there is nothing else; no family, no future.”

I stand there waiting for one, or all, of them to lay into me more about how foolish and reckless I am being. But this time, they don’t.

They just look at me.

They look into me.

“Okay,” Rory says.

“Huh?” I say, not sure what he’s agreeing to because I thought for sure we would have to argue about this more.

Rory walks over to me and kisses my cheek. Marlowe walks over to join us too. Then all three of them wrap their arms around me and I take a deep breath in as I bury my head against their chests. This is my grounding space, between them.

“You can come,” Rory says reluctantly. “Not that we would have been able to stop you anyways. I should know that by now.”

30

Sabrina

That night as I lay there between the boys and with the babies sleeping on top of furs around us, I can’t bring myself to close my eyes.

I’m too afraid that this will be our last night together. I’m too afraid that if I close my eyes now … that tomorrow night I will hate myself for not looking at them all with every moment that I had.

The boys are worried too, I don’t need the bond between us to sense it. They stayed awake for a long time, lying beside me in silence as we held each other. I could feel the nervousness emit from their skin and the uneasy, unsettled energy in the air. But eventually they gave way to sleep.

Nursed and coddled, the pups have fallen into a satiated and dreamy slumber.

They’re calmer than I imagine human babies are. They barely fuss—and even when they do, it’s as if I instinctively know exactly what they need.

Like the bond I share with their fathers.

Tonight they were even quieter than normal. It’s like they seemed to know that rest and quiet was needed. Every once in a while, one of them still opens a drowsy eye but before a cry is made, they fall right back to sleep. The three of them look a bit like the four of us, snuggled up against each other and resting in comfort as long as they each have a hand or a foot or a nose touching the others.

No matter what happens tomorrow, at least they have each other.

Like Rory, Marlowe, and Kaleb … they will never be alone.

I can’t cry anymore. There’s no point in it, and besides, there are no tears left.

There is only the strength to survive.

When I finally do close my eyes, it’s already nearly morning and I can see the light in the room change from a pitch black to a dim gray. I want to dream. I want to have a gloriou

s dream that shows me that we will be successful, that we will all survive.

I can’t hope for more than that. At this point, survival is enough.

Still, I want to see a dream in which all of my babies and all of my mates are with me and I am no longer afraid to close my eyes and lose them.

But I don’t dream at all. There is only an empty sleep that leaves me feeling vacant when my eyes open again to the sound of babies finally crying.

“I think they’re hungry,” Kaleb says as he brings one of the pups to me.

I take her and wrap my arms around her as she nurses. Marlowe hands me another, and I do the same; while Rory cuddles with our third baby as he waits his turn.

Tags: Eden Beck Wolfish Paranormal
Source: readsnovelonline.net