Page 70 of Bound

“It’s pretty bad. That will probably take all night,”Bain says as he looks down at my bloody leg.

“I’ll carry you back,”Chase says before changing to his human form.

“I’d rather you didn’t—”Chase ignores my protests, scooping me up in my wolf form and turning back to our home. Bain leads the way as I try not to feel pathetic being carried like some damsel in distress.

When we start to cross through our backyard, I tell him,“Put me down. I don’t want Red to see me being carried.”

“Suck it up, buttercup,” Chase says out loud. “I’m not letting you walk on that.”

Bain shifts at the back door and puts on his clothes, then takes me from Chase so he can get dressed and grab my clothes.

We step inside, and my eyes immediately find Red, still in the last place I left her by the fireplace. But when she sees me being carried, she’s instantly on her feet, practically running toward us.

“He’s okay,” Chase tells her as she shuffles from foot to foot. She lets out a soft whine, and Chase proceeds to tell them what happened.

Chase sets me on the ground beside her spot in front of the fireplace, and she immediately starts to sniff me. She rubs her head over my neck as another small whine escapes her.

Unable to resist the urge to reassure her with my words that I’m okay, I shift and immediately wrap my arms around her. “I’m okay, baby girl. I’m okay.” I pull back so I can see her face, then give her a little smile. “I’ll be right as rain by morning.”

“You should eat something while you’re in human form,” Maddox says as he moves to the kitchen.

“Let me help you move to the couch,” Chase says as he helps me stand. Red jumps out of the way but stays right on my heels. As soon as I’m sitting on the couch with clothes on, she’s right there beside me, looking at my leg with concern.

“Hey, I’m okay,” I tell her as I stroke her neck. She whines again, then a look of what can only be called determination crosses her face, and she closes her eyes. I can literally feel the tension radiating off ‌her before her body starts to shake.

“What’s going on?” I ask in alarm.

“Shit, I think she’s trying to shift!” Maddox says as everyone moves closer.

She lets out a pained whine, making my heart clench tightly with worry.

“Help her!” I beg him.

“Don’t you remember what happened last time?” he argues. “I refuse to cause her pain like that again.”

“But what if it works this time?” I fire back.

“What if it doesn’t?” I press my lips together as I watch her, my heart breaking as I watch her entire body strain with the need to shift.

Of course, I don’t know what she’s thinking right now, but something about seeing me injured has made her desperate to shift. And even still, she’s unable.

When she finally collapses from the effort and starts to pant heavily, I hold her in my arms and whisper to her, “Everything is going to be okay, baby girl. We’ll figure it out.”

I say the words over and over, praying that they’re true, and that our sixth pack mate isn’t trapped as a wolf forever.

Chapter 32

Cherry

Iwake with a start, looking around. When I realize I’m on the couch, curled up with Hunter in his human form, I suddenly remember that he got hurt.

Sniffing at his leg, I can’t find any trace of the injury. I seem to remember him being in wolf form during the night, but he must have woken up and switched back since he’s fast asleep wearing only a pair of boxers.

Seeing him injured had terrified me. They said it was a rogue that did it, and that it’s dead now, but part of me still worries it’s somehow connected to me, and that my being here is putting them in danger. But even if I wanted to leave, they never let me out of their sight. Not to mention what happened last time I tried to run away.

I watch the rise and fall of Hunter’s chest and know I couldn’t leave him, leave any of them, not without my heart breaking. Maybe this is how all wolf shifters feel about their packs, that they would literally die to save them, and the thought of not being with them brings them physical pain too.

Or maybe it’s just me.