Page 15 of Bound

I curl up in the back of the cave, hoping they’ll leave me alone. Hunter steps up to stand at the mouth of the cave with a frown etched on his handsome face. The large wolf has turned back into a man, with track pants on, thankfully, and says something quietly to Hunter.

His frown turns to a look of sadness, and he sighs in what sounds like disappointment.Crap.Why did that keep bothering me? Why do I care about disappointing these men?

I don’t, nope, not one little bit.

I must have fallen asleep again, because when I wake, it’s dark out.

Looking around, I’m relieved to see I’m alone in the cave. I slowly stretch out my limbs and try to extend my senses beyond the entrance. The sounds of a crackling fire and murmured voices reach my ears. I know my wolf senses should be able to hear what they’re saying, even from this distance, but I’m stilltoo injured. But what I really care about right now is food. Not raw meat, but something cooked.

I sniff the air to see if it’s still the same five men out there, and the scent of each reaches me and pulls me closer. I don’t know why, but something about their scents makes me feel safe and want to move closer to them.

Suddenly, I catch a whiff of something else… meat.Cookedmeat. I can’t be sure, but I think it’s rabbit.

Slowly, I move to the front of the cave entrance, where I see them sitting around a campfire. None of them looks my way. I lie down and watch them with my head on my paws.

The twins, Hunter and Chase, and the shorter man, Maddox, are sitting on the left side of the fire, and the lumberjack and black-haired man are on the right. They’re mostly sitting sideways to me, so I’m not in their direct line of sight, but I’m not behind their backs either.

It’s the first time I’ve seen Chase in human form, and I’m surprised how different he looks, considering Hunter said they were twins. Chase is bulkier than his brother, as if he lifts weights regularly. He also has a head of light pink hair. But the more I study his jawline and face, the more I realize that they are, in fact, identical otherwise.

The lumberjack stands up to rotate a stick with some large meat skewered on it. I lick my lips when I see it’s brown and juicy. The scent makes my stomach twist with hunger so sharp it hurts. My mouth waters, making me crave it so badly my chest aches, but there’s no way I’m going to walk over there. I need to stay far away from them.

They’re silent now, telling me they know I’m here, so running would be pointless. They’d catch me within seconds.

Eventually, the meat is pulled off the fire, and they share it around, each pulling off their own piece to eat. I watch as the lumberjack bites into a piece of meat and the juice runs downhis chin. I lick my lips, wishing I could get my mouth on him.On the meat, not him.

Yummy.

Where did that thought come from?

All at once, they stop eating and start glancing at one another. I swallow nervously, wondering if they are talking through a pack bond. They all throw glances my way, and my ears press down instinctively, trying to make myself smaller. Which I know is stupid, they can obviously see me lying at the cave entrance.

They share another look, then Hunter stands up and brings a bit of meat toward me.

Jumping up, I scurry back into the cave. He stops at the cave entrance, watching me carefully. He shows me the meat in his hand, then places it on the floor where I had been lying, then goes back to sit at the fire.

I try to calm my shaking body as I breathe deeply. The smell of the rabbit mixed with Hunter’s pine and citrus scent has my mouth watering again.

I wait a full minute before the sounds of them all eating tell me I’m safe to move, so I slowly stand and walk toward the entrance, taking a second to peek out at them. None of them are looking my way, so I quickly grab the meat in my mouth and retreat to the back of the cave. It only takes me a couple of quick bites to finish it.

The flavor explodes on my tongue—smoky, rich, tender. It’s so good it nearly brings tears to my eyes. I haven’t had cooked meat in over ten years. For a heartbeat, it feels like home, like the warmth of my mother’s hands passing me a plate, my father laughing as my sisters tease him for cutting up Mom’s piece like he always did.

The memory guts me. One moment I’m tasting comfort, the next I’m choking on grief. I see the last meal I ever sharedwith them, hear the echoes of voices I’ll never hear again. The sweetness of the meat turns bitter in my mouth.

Any thought of wanting more food dies as I curl up against the back wall of the cave, pulling into myself as if I can shield against the ache. I let the weight of the memory crush me, thinking about my family and everything I lost that day.

Chapter8

Chase

“Oh, thank God, she’s not a vegetarian!” I sigh in relief after she disappears with the rabbit leg.

“It wouldn’t matter if she was,” Gage tells me with a shake of his head.

“I know, but it makes it so much easier to keep her healthy if she isn’t,” I tell him as I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. Everything about this little wolf makes my hackles rise.

“She likes meat, but only cooked… for some reason. That’s very unusual. Have you ever heard of a wolf rejecting raw meat before?” Hunter asks before turning to Gage for an answer. Gage knows everything, so if any of us has some insight into the little wolf’s strange behavior, it would be him.

“No, I’ve never heard of anything like it,” Gage says, voice flat and fast. “Wolves are always carnivores and have no problem ingesting raw meat. Cooked meat is more of a modern novelty, and voluntarily rejecting raw flesh is definitely unusual. Her rejection of it could be from dental trauma or jaw pain.”