Page 84 of Bound

When the light dies down, we all turn back to her. The blood is gone from her fur, and I stroke my fingers down her neck, feeling her unbroken skin and finding her pulse, solid and strong.

A jagged breath leaves me. “She has a pulse.”

“Her chest is rising again too,” Gage says as he lays his hand on her stomach. Relief fills me at seeing her breathe again, and I know I’m not the only one, as I can hear one of my brothers sniffling.

Suddenly, her eyes shoot open. She turns her head up to the ceiling and releases an almost silent cry, just like last time. I wish I knew why she did that. Is she in pain?

She glances around, and when she sees all five of us, she drops her head back into Gage’s lap. He hugs her head gently, and I see her tongue flick out to lick his wrist once before she starts to pant heavily.

“What do we do now?” Hunter asks after we continue to stare at her silently for ten minutes, as if none of us can take our eyes off her chest rising and falling with each breath she takes.

“We should leave for Starfall asap,” Gage suggests.

“We can’t,” Maddox says with a sigh. “Now that I’ve killed Kane, I need to make sure Westgrove has a good alpha in place before we leave.”

“They’ll expect it to be you,” I tell him, a hint of worryedging my tone. Would he finally take up the mantle the entire pack has expected him to take since he was old enough to show signs of being an alpha?

“I still don’t want it. This isn’t our home.” He lifts his head to make eye contact with each of us as he explains, “This place hasn’t felt like home in a very long time.”

“Then you secure a new alpha,” I tell him.

“Someone who’s not in this room,” Chase adds with a smirk.

“Then we go,” I say with a nod.

“Then we go,” he agrees. “But before all of that, we need the bodies cleaned up, and Red needs to heal.”

“You’re in charge now,” Gage reminds him. “Call in the pack to do it. We should all be with Red.”

Maddox considers it a moment before he nods. “Get her upstairs. I’ve got a few calls to make before I join you.”

Feeling the need to hold her close, I lift her into my arms and head upstairs to my room, my wolf pressing for as much of our scent to be on her as possible.

I sit in the middle of my bed, with her in my lap as the others sit around us.

“She’s asleep,” Hunter says as he gently strokes her head.

“Good, I think she needs it to recover,” Gage says from where he’s lying across the end of my bed, his eyes glued to her.

It takes about an hour for Maddox to join us, and he does so by silently slipping in and sitting in the vacant armchair in the corner, his eyes on her sleeping body, now settled in at my side, between Hunter and me.

Neither of us can seem to stop touching her, and I, not for the first time, wish she could shift. I wish I could hold her human body in my arms and hear her voice.

If Starfall Haven is the hidden town of supernaturals that we think it is, then there must be more information there thatcan help us figure out how to help her. But of course, along with that comes one terrifying thought.

What if when she does shift, I find out she’s not my fated mate? How am I supposed to not hold her in my arms and not sleep beside her at night?

It would be impossible.

Something wet nudges my cheek, and I open my eyes to find a pair of bright blue eyes, surrounded by a mass of red fur, staring at me.

“Red?” I ask, pushing myself into a seated position and wiping the sleep from my eyes. She stays lying down, but starts wagging her tail at me. “You’re awake!” I say in sudden realization as I gently lift her into my lap and hug her as tight as I dare.

My door bangs open, and the twins come flying in.

“Blue! You’re awake!” Chase says as he runs over. I release her and let him scoop her up as she nuzzles against his neck.

“Remember how exhausted she was last time,” I remind him. It’s clear she’s still tired, but she’s also happy, her tail wagging excitedly. He sets her on the bed as Hunter takes a seat beside her, hugging her gently.