Page 59 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)
CYRUS
It was midafternoon by the time the hunting party finished searching the area around the village. Knox hadn’t scented more than the original three grimalkins, and one of the village trackers had come to the same conclusion. That tracker had been the young guy who’d blushed the second he’d laid eyes on Audrey and had proven himself to be quite skilled, which pissed my wolf off even more.
Not only had he looked at her with desire, but he was competent and decent looking, too. He might have been a human, but that didn’t mean Audrey wouldn’t be interested. She saw herself as practically human. She might think a human would be a good match.
Or, if the spell to break her bond with Knox worked, she might think mating with a human was the only match available to her.
I bit back a growl as Knox and I passed through the magical barrier protecting the village from ill intent that had been fixed while we were hunting and mentally reached out to Bishop to find out where he and Audrey were.
We’d been too far away to communicate telepathically, and it had been driving me crazy not knowing what was going on with her. Was she being stubborn? Was Bishop giving in and letting her be stubborn?
He wasn’t a pushover, but he was so in love with her that it wouldn’t surprise me if he let her do something stupid in an attempt to nurture her fragile confidence.
Where are you? I asked him, another growl bubbling in my throat making my mental words harsher than I intended.
In the field where they’re setting up for the wedding. Is there trouble?
Only with me and my wolf wanting someone we couldn’t have and being jealous over a human. We were leaving tomorrow and Bishop wasn’t going to let her out of his sight. Knox wouldn’t, either, but he’d lurk in the shadows and watch, not hold onto her all night like Bishop would. I had no reason to be jealous of some random human.
I had no reason to be jealous at all.
She wasn’t mine.
The image of her ramming her broken stick into the grimalkin’s mouth and killing it flashed through me. She’d risked her life to protect children again, and my wolf was losing his shit, both because she’d been in danger and because she’d proven herself to be a fierce protector.
He didn’t care that she was already mate bonded with Knox and, if Bishop had his way, be bonded with him before the year was out. It didn’t matter to him that being with her could throw the pack’s leadership into turmoil and put her in the spotlight to be criticized, something that wouldn’t help her confidence. He was determined to have her, too.
We reached the edge of the field and Bishop glared at me.
Pull your power back before you get any closer, he snarled. She’s asleep and I’d like to keep it that way until the wedding gets started.
Fuck, I snarled somehow managing to keep that thought to myself. I needed to pull myself together. I didn’t want her. It was just her heat affecting me and as soon as it was over, my wolf would calm the fuck down.
I wrenched my power back under my control and marched to the grassy rise where Bishop lay. He was half propped up against the slope with Audrey cuddled against his chest, her nose buried in his neck, one hand tangled in his hair and the other pressed against his heart.
She wore a pale blue dress covered in flowers in various shades of blue. The skirt reached midthigh and Bishop had wrapped a hand under her ass to keep the fabric down so she wouldn’t accidentally flash anyone walking by.
For any other shifter that would have been ridiculous. But Audrey was so shy, especially of her body, that the action spoke to just how much Bishop cared for her and how aware he was of her needs.
My gaze dipped from the sensual curve of her ass to the bandage wrapped around her calf and the soft slippers on her feet, and a hint of my power slipped through my control before I could stop it.
Audrey murmured, her brow pinching in discomfort, and snuggled closer to Bishop who glared at me.
I know, I huffed at him, pulling it back. I’m just so pissed she didn’t tell us about her feet.
You’re pissed that you didn’t think of it before it got so bad, Knox replied, his ears swiveling and his gaze sweeping over the field, searching for danger even though Rafe, the town’s magistrate and Neera’s husband, had been assured that the stones creating the magical protective barrier around the village had been repositioned.
Unbeknownst to the villagers, the torrential downpour two weeks ago had shifted a few of them, weakening the barrier, which was how the grimalkins had gotten through.
When this is done, we should send Lucius to the capital of the Birialis Kingdom to negotiate. Their closest god is Alexiares, a god of protection, and they’ve figured out that the rocks near his resting place can create a protective barrier.
You think we can use them instead of building another wall around Stonehaven? Bishop asked.
If Birialis’s king is willing to trade, it would mean we wouldn’t have to restrict the town’s limits again like our ancestors did with Old Town, I replied, because even if we did build another wall, Stonehaven could continue to grow and we’d overflow our boundaries again. If we can’t get the beast activity in the area to go down again, there will be more attacks and we can’t fit the town’s population within Old Town’s walls anymore, not for any extended period of time.
I sat in the grass beside Bishop and pushed aside the cloth covering the basket between us as Knox sat beside me, using me as a shield between him and Audrey.
He was still tense from being around the villagers, but he’d agreed that it wasn’t safe for the villagers or for him to be on his own, not with everyone jumping at shadows looking for beasts. Someone could overreact and attack without thinking and then he’d be forced to defend himself, which would only turn a bad situation worse.
I was actually impressed with how well he’d held it together. There’d been a lot of people in the square crowding close to us, and he’d managed to stay at my side, something he hadn’t been able to do even a month ago… although he hadn’t had much choice today. Last month at our mother’s and fathers’ five-year memorial, Bishop had convinced Knox to try to join us, but before we’d even gotten thirty people in the square, he’d slipped back into an alley to watch from the shadows.
Has she eaten any of this? I asked. The basket was packed with sandwiches and fruit and it looked like only a few things had been removed.
She got through a quarter of a sandwich before she passed out, Bishop replied. But I’ll make her eat when I wake her for the wedding and then we’ll make her eat again at dinner.
Knox huffed. Why bother waking her for the wedding?
Because she’ll also get rest tonight and I think she’ll like it, Bishop said. That and the villagers want to thank her. They’ve been pretty respectful since it’s obvious she’s asleep, but they keep looking at us and a mom has had to hold her kid back so he wouldn’t wake her. Bishop pressed his lips to the top of her head and inhaled her sweet fresh scent. She’ll be embarrassed, but hearing the villagers thank her will be good for her.
I pulled out a sandwich and took a large bite. Not as much meat as I usually liked, but it was fresh and not fire-roasted game or travel rations so I wasn’t going to complain, especially since after this we’d be back to whatever Knox could catch, what we could forage, and our rations.
I asked Neera if we could stay for a bit once we returned from the death god’s temple, Bishop said. We have to come back this way and if this spell works we won’t need to rush home. All of us could use the extra rest.
If it works, I warned. I didn’t want him to get his hopes up. Yes, he and Knox could share a mate bond with Audrey, but she didn’t seem interested in that idea. If it doesn’t work, she and Knox will be mates and have to figure things out. She hasn’t shown any indication that she’d be open to a multi-person mate bond so that might not be an option for you.
She hasn’t shown any interest in multi-person mate bonds because she didn’t know it was possible, Bishop replied.
My wolf jerked to attention at that and heaved within me. Did that mean he’d told her? Was she open to the idea?
I shoved my wolf back, fighting to stay in control. Even if she was open to taking another mate, she’d pick Bishop or someone else. I still couldn’t be in the running. I had responsibilities to my pack.
So, like a coward, I changed the topic instead of finding out what she wanted. I filled Bishop in on the other things I’d learned about the village while struggling to keep my attention on the villagers and not on Audrey.
Kelna, the village, sat on the Birialis’ border — a border that had been pushed out to settle Kelna sixty-three years ago. A rare moss grew in the caves near the village that absorbed the death god’s powers that the villagers refined into a powerful, highly effective, and safe sedative.
I also learned that the death god asleep in the north was Makaria, a goddess of peaceful eternal rest. Her spirits wouldn’t attack us like Tzanagoth’s since she wasn’t an evil or malicious goddess, but they could try to lure us into a slumber we’d never wake from, so it was best to avoid the death god’s lands during nighttime.
More people started to gather in the field, dressed in finer clothes than I’d seen before, and Knox shifted beside me. We were a good seventy feet away, but he was still starting to become uncomfortable with the crowd.
Come on, I said as I stood. The wedding is going to start soon and Bishop needs to wake her.
I didn’t want to leave her side, but I couldn’t let Knox be by himself, not if he wasn’t going to take his human form, and he needed to get farther away from the crowd.
We headed away from the wedding area but stayed within sight of Bishop and Audrey. He stroked her hair and murmured something to her. If he’d spoken normally, I would have heard him, but he didn’t want to shock her, something my wolf appreciated even if he thought he should be the one holding her.
She lifted her head, her gaze rising to his, and her face lit up with a soft, drowsy smile. Everything within me froze — my thoughts, my heart, and my soul — mesmerized by her. It was like time stood still and I was captured in the warm comfort of that smile even though it was directed at my brother.
Fuck.
I heaved my attention away and managed to not look at her until Hallie, escorted by her parents, crossed the field toward the large red canopy where her fiancé, his family, and the priestess waited. Then I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to see if Bishop was right, if she enjoyed the wedding… if she’d want a mating ceremony of her own.
She sat comfortably in Bishop’s embrace, eating — thank the sisters — her attention on the ceremony. Her soft smile had returned, but it grew softer and sadder as the ceremony went on. She wanted a ceremony and didn’t think she’d have one.
A low growl bubbled in my throat. I wanted to kill those assholes who’d raised her, who’d made her think she was worthless because she was powerless. It made me furious that she didn’t even think love was possible.
Of course, Knox wasn’t helping by rejecting their bond, but Knox was almost as broken as Audrey was and thought being bonded to him would be bad for her.
The ceremony finished and the celebration began. Platters of food were laid out on long tables and the bonfire was lit. Hallie brought her new husband to Audrey and they thanked her for saving their wedding, making Audrey dip her head, her cheeks turning pink with a soft blush.
More and more people approached Audrey and Bishop, bringing them food and drink, talking and making Audrey dip her head and offer shy smiles.
I grabbed a plate of food and rejoined Knox, who’d moved closer to them — although I wasn’t sure if was aware he’d moved closer or not — as half a dozen small children rushed to Audrey’s side. Two mothers quickly followed with apologetic smiles, but Audrey opened her arms to the smallest of the girls and let her climb into her lap while two of the boys regaled her with a retelling of her heroics at the pool.
More children gathered, and Audrey smiled and laughed and listened with rapt attention. She was radiant, a shy goddess completely unaware of the power she possessed, and my wolf fell even more in love with her.
She was going to be the mother of our pups.
He’d made up his mind no matter how impossible it was.