Page 53 of Bound

Deciding we need to lighten the mood a little, I stand up as I tell her, “Why don’t you get comfortable on the couch, and we’ll find a movie to watch?”

She stands up and shakes out her body. I head to the kitchen for some snacks, and when I return, setting a variety of food on the coffee table, I’m pleased to see they’ve left me a seat right beside her, with Maddox on her other side.

Hunter scowls through the selection, occasionally asking her if she wants to watch something. We end up watching a show called True Blood. I’ve never heard of it before, but apparently, it has wolf shifters, vampires, witches, and fairies, and Red seems almost excited to watch it.

I lean forward and grab a handful of jellybeans and sit back, throwing a couple in my mouth as the show starts. Red leans against my side, and I smile, loving how much she seems to like being touched now.

When we met her, she did everything to stay away from us, and now she was almost seeking it out.

I feel the gentle weight of her head on my shoulder and turn to see her staring at my hand and licking her lips.

I laugh and hold the jellybeans out to her. “You want this?”

Her jaw snaps forward, somehow managing to quickly take it from my hand without biting my fingers. My eyes widen in surprise. “Are you hungry?” I ask, even though I saw her eat three giant steaks just over an hour ago.

“Maybe she just loves candy,” Hunter says from the nearby armchair. She licks her lips, so I hold out another one for her, and she quickly takes it from me and crunches away happily.

“These can’t hurt her, right?” I ask, looking at Maddox then at Gage in question.

Gage shakes his head. “It’s the same as her eating them in human form in terms of how it would affect her body. So they won’t harm her, but too many and she might get an upset stomach.”

I nod and feed her a few more, not wanting to make her feel sick. Eventually, she lies down between Maddox and me, with her head pressed against my side as she watches the TV.

I dig my fingers into her fur, once again basking in being able to touch her so freely.

I’m not an idiot. I know the chances of her being all of our fated mate is slim to none, but I’m not willing to give up on that dream yet. Not until she is able to shift and confirm one way or another, and until that happens, I want to spend as much time with her as possible.

Chapter 26

Cherry

“This is your room,” Maddox says, gesturing into the bedroom. “We’ll always leave the door open so you can come and go as you like.”

Taking a step into the room, I glance around. It’s lovely. Lovelier than I remember any of my shared bedrooms with my sisters to be. But something about it made me uncomfortable.

My nose twitches as I try to take in any scents, but I smell nothing. Which isn’t unusual for me, but the rest of the house has a faint smell of the five of them, and this room doesn’t. As if it’s sat vacant for a long time.

It’s not that it has been unused that makes me feel queasy; it’s that having been constantly surrounded by their scents has helped to calm me for the first time in years, and in this space, I can already feel my hackles rising.

“If you need anything at all through the night, my room is right there,” Maddox says, pointing across the hall. “And everyone else is along this hall too.”

“I’ll, uh, open the shower door for you,” Hunter says,stepping past to go into the ensuite. “You can pee in there if you need to go in the night.”

If I could blush in embarrassment, my cheeks would be bright red right now.

“Of course you can wake me to take you outside if you prefer,” Maddox says. I’m honestly not sure what I’d prefer at this point.

Peeing in a shower feels embarrassing, but so does waking them to let me out like their pet dog.

I stand there, glancing around the room at the large queen bed and the cozy-looking armchair until Maddox finally speaks again. “Okay, well, good night, Red. You know where to find us.”

I turn, watching anxiously as each of them nods or waves before heading off to their rooms. When they disappear from sight, I step into the doorway and look down the hall, seeing that everyone has left their doors wide open.

The rustling of fabric tells me they are getting changed for bed, so I take a moment to better inspect my room. It’s decorated in soft greens and whites, and I wish I felt comfortable in here. It really is the nicest room I’ve ever slept in.

Jumping up on the bed, I circle it a few times before lying down, right in the middle. I close my eyes and try to sleep, but I feel too tense. Today has been extremely eventful, and physically, I’m exhausted. But my mind can’t seem to settle.

I start to think about my childhood and my family, which makes my mind spiral into darker places. Flashes of my imprisonment remind me that although I may have escaped, Dr. J is out there somewhere, no doubt searching for me.