Page 93 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)

CYRUS

With Bishop’s unconscious form over my shoulder, I stormed away from Audrey as fast as I could before I did something stupid like grab her, drag her up to my bedroom, and lock her inside so I always knew where she was and she was never in danger again. I’d never been so furious and so terrified in my life.

She’d fallen into the arena and Knox, little more than a feral wolf at that point, had charged her.

My heart had completely stopped and I was certain he was going to kill her.

If he’d been completely feral and he’d killed her, he wouldn’t have died or gone insane because of their broken mating bond.

How the hell had she even found us? She had to have followed Bishop after he’d shown her to her new rooms… which didn’t explain why she’d waited until the morning to jump in or didn’t come running when Knox was trying to kill us or react when Bishop’s last attempt to use his twin bond with Knox had knocked him out.

Sisters! Knox had been going crazy all night, slipping further and further into feralness, and had attacked us as if he hadn’t recognized us. We’d been trying to pin him down long enough for Bishop to calm him and use their twin bond to bring him back like he’d done the last time, but Knox was more ferocious than I’d ever seen him.

Deacon had almost lost an arm and I’d almost had my stomach ripped open. We’d been unable to shift to heal ourselves, since Knox would have seen that as an act of aggression, and none of us wanted to leave the others alone in the arena to go outside. That and I wasn’t sure if shifting would fully heal us. It certainly wouldn’t have left us with enough strength to battle Knox.

Then Audrey had shown up, naive and vulnerable like she always was. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t hurt her, that she’d been exactly what he’d needed to regain his humanity. She. Could. Have. Died.

I didn’t know how to get that through to her. I hadn’t meant to yell at her, not like I had with my power raging out of control.

Deacon had even warned me to calm down — thankfully through a telepathic link because embarrassing me in front of her would have completely set my wolf off — but I couldn’t calm down.

If she’d just stayed where she was supposed to, she wouldn’t have been in danger. I needed her to understand that, understand that seeing her in danger, seeing her die would turn me feral.

But she hadn’t heard what I was trying to tell her. She’d shut down, shrinking in on herself, staring at the floor, and trembling, which only made me angrier. Angry that her immediate response was to become fully submissive. I knew she had more fight in her than that, I’d seen it during our journey to the death god’s temple.

Except whatever fight she’d been born with had been trained out of her. The shivering, small woman who’d just cowered in front of me was what her previous alpha had made her.

And now she thought I was the same as that monster.

I bit back a howl but wasn’t strong enough to fully contain the wave of power rolling off me. I needed to get away from her, from everyone, and calm the fuck down.

I didn’t want her to look at me like she was terrified ever again.

And yet… maybe it was for the best. If she hated me, there couldn’t be anything between us.

Because there couldn’t be anything between us.

And I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

The memory of pushing into her tight, slick heat and holding her small soft body was burned into my brain.

I wanted more than a fevered desperation that she didn’t fully remember. I wanted the smiles and heated looks she’d given Bishop after her first time with him. I wanted to protect her, lift her up, and show her she could do anything.

I wanted her.

But the pack might not see what I saw. They’d see a shifter who couldn’t shift and I wasn’t going to risk putting her through that. Mating Knox and Bishop would be what was best for her, and I needed to forget all about her.

Hell, she didn’t even remember having sex with me. I suspected what she did remember she thought was just a fevered dream, which was why she kept glancing at me, looking confused and blushing, and a part of me prayed she’d always believe it was just a dream.

It was the coward’s way out and I hated being a coward, but she’d cried for days while partially sedated and still blushed when she looked at all three of us. Knowing we’d all seen her naked and begging and that we’d all slept with her would mortify her. Just knowing we could smell her arousal and that she was going into heat had embarrassed her. I wanted to save her that pain.

And yet, I’d just traumatized her by yelling at her.

Bishop couldn’t wake up fast enough. He was the only one who could patch up my complete fuck up, because it wasn’t just me she was afraid of. I’d seen her shrink away from Deacon as well and suspected she was going to be that way with everyone until they proved to her she was safe.

Fuck.

I reached the top of the narrow stairs carved into the heart of the mountain that connected the Residence with the arena and opened the heavy wooden door. It opened into a hall in the storage area of the castle near the kitchens, and I took one of the many back staircases up to Bishop’s suite.

Nova, I called out to her as I approached Bishop’s door. There was a chance she wasn’t in the Residence or even on the Residence’s ground, and while I had the greatest telepathic reach in the pack, I still wouldn’t be able to reach her if she were at the hospital.

Thankfully, as I opened Bishop’s door, I felt her feathery mental touch indicating she’d heard me.

Where do you need me? she asked in her Nova-the-physician voice, which still, every time I heard it, surprised me. She’d been more mischievous than Deacon and Bishop combined when we were growing up.

Bishop’s suite.

He hurt Bishop? she gasped, and I could just imagine the shock then deep worry flashing across her face before she was back in control of her emotions.

No. Knocked him out through their bond. I strode through Bishop’s sitting room to his bedroom, past the clutter of finished and half finished paintings, painting supplies, and musical instruments.

What about you and Deacon?

A shift and a good night’s sleep will suffice, I replied gruffly. I’d be exhausted for a couple of days but I’d be fine. I was more worried about Bishop. Knox had never knocked him out before and I was worried the mental blow had seriously hurt him.

The last time Bishop had pulled Knox back from the brink of going completely feral, he’d been exhausted and had a headache for a week.

Of course, the last time, Knox’s wolf hadn’t been furious with me and Bishop. He’d ended up surrounded by a crowd with no easy way out and had panicked. This time, his wolf had taken over because we’d collared him. To protect Audrey.

I bit back a growl at how stupid I was as Nova hurried into Bishop’s bedroom.

Knox’s wolf had wanted Audrey from the start. Even feral, the chances he’d hurt her were slim.

Nova set her medical bag on the floor by her feet, sat on the bed beside Bishop, and went to work checking him over.

“His pulse is strong, his breathing normal,” she said, pulling out a detection stone. It was mined near the underground lake where we got the water to make our elixirs and was imbued with some of the healing god’s power as well. It didn’t tell Nova what was wrong, but it did light up any area of the body that she needed to focus on. “Help me get him undressed.”

“If there’s nothing wrong,” I said pulling Bishop into a sitting position so Nova could take off his shirt, “can you wake him?”

Because he needed to wake up and fix what I’d fucked up with Audrey. Yes, she needed to hate me, not flash me shy, heated looks that made both me and my wolf want to claim her, but she didn’t have to be afraid of anyone else.

“I don’t know if I can, but it would be best if we let him wake naturally. I’ve never had a patient unconscious because of a soul bond.”

Swell.

“Then after this, check on Deacon?—”

Her eyes narrowed to the bloody mess I was still making of my pants and now Bishop’s bed.

“Fine. Check me out after I shift, then Deacon, then check on Audrey. I might have?—”

“Been yourself when it comes to women you’re romantically interested in?” she asked in her driest possible tone.

“I’m not interested in her.”

Her expression didn’t change.

Yeah, I didn’t believe myself, either.