Page 59

Which is how I found myself standing in a new house, Slade inspecting all the features with relish.

“Come winter, we’ll be able to build a big fire. I’ll be all hot and sweaty from chopping logs,” he said as he swaggered over to where I stood, “and we’ll snuggle up tight?—”

“Slade, son of Cheryl.”

We both jumped apart to see an older woman walk inside the door. She held herself with a proud bearing, a long mane of grey hair pulled back into a ponytail. She smiled when she saw me and walked over. “I am Ophelia, one of the matriarchs here, and you must be Julie.”

“Yes. Hello.” God, I sounded like an idiot. “Sorry, what’s a matriarch?”

She took my hand and patted it. “You must have many questions. Let’s sit and talk for a while. Slade, you need to tune into your mate bond.”

“What?” He touched my arm, and his eyes went slightly unfocused for a second. “Oh. Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling like that, love?”

He sat down beside me, arm going around my shoulders.

Instantly, a sense of peace settled over me, wiping away what had been mostly confusion and fear.

I shook my head, unsettled by the rapid transition, and moved away from him a few centimetres so we were no longer skin to skin.

Yup, there it was, that feeling of unease.

“What is that?” I asked the strange woman. “Why does his touch act like a mood stabilizer?”

She smiled at this. “It’s what pack bonds do. They settle us, connect us, make us feel strong. Like a baby getting skin to skin contact from its mother. It’s what makes us thrive. But you should not be discovering this piecemeal like this. I told Kelly you should come and see me.”

“Hello, Ophelia.”

We looked up to see Kelly had arrived, Finn at her back. “Kelly.” Ophelia inclined her head regally at the alpha.

“Well, Julie, things have progressed a little faster than we had expected.” Ophelia harrumphed at that. “We thought we had a bit more time,” she glanced at Finn, “but I guess you can’t predict when love will develop, can you? How are you feeling? Does this place suit your needs?”

“Fine, confused, fine, can I have some answers now?” I said. Ophelia grinned at me. It was a little disconcerting, like she was going to reach over and fist bump me.

“Of course, do you mind if I sit?” I shook my head. I watched Finn take up a position by Kelly’s shoulder with narrowed eyes. “Surely you have duties to attend to, Ophelia?”

“Not at all. I have to see young Kerry’s daughter at 2pm, but I am otherwise free.”

“Do you want Ophelia here, Julie?”

Kelly’s green eyes bored into mine, and I could feel the forbidding power throbbing there, but I nodded.

I had no idea who the old stick was, but right now, she had offered more transparency in the last few minutes than Kelly had since I’d come here.

I caught Ophelia’s smirk from the corner of my eye.

“Taking mates comes with some rights and responsibilities. It makes you a fully recognised member of the community. You can attend the Women’s Council, where decisions are made.” I heard Ophelia shift on the couch. “Our next meeting is this coming Thursday.”

“OK, cool and whatever, but you’ll excuse me if I get down to basics.

I want to know more about Sanctuary, about how it runs, but I have one guy who’s over the moon and planning a massive family celebration, I have another two who are looking like I just killed their childhood pet, and another two who will have no idea where we are. ”

“I left them with directions on a note,” Finn said. “But don’t worry. The way this place works, they’ll be here with all our stuff after work.”

“Not with all of their stuff, unless you’ve chosen your pack?” Ophelia said.

“I was getting to that,” Kelly said. “Quarters on this side of Sanctuary are for bonded pack members only. The others can visit and stay over, if that’s what you want, Julie.

But everyone who isn’t pack needs to return to their homes, and their jobs.

We gave you a protracted period in the honeymoon cottage to allow for your recent inclusion to the community.

There’s a lot we would have liked to cover before your transition,” a glance flicked at Ophelia, “such as pack bonds, but it appears we need to do that now.

“Bonding happens in many ways, but the formal acceptance of a member into your pack usually takes place at a period of heightened emotion, often when one or more members express love towards the other. If the woman feels this is someone she wants in her pack, she bites the person on the neck. Her venom mixes with his blood and ties you to one another, up until such a time that the emotional bond has broken.”

“That sounds like a good thing,” I said. Slade’s hand grabbed mine and squeezed. I looked up to where Finn stood, stiff as a board. “Why is everyone getting so upset?”

“It always ruffles the men’s feathers,” Ophelia said with a smile.

“To be the first accepted is a great honour, something you need to be mindful of, young Slade. But it starts to spread doubt in the heart of other contenders. Will they be selected? Why did you bond with Slade first? Is what they have with you heat-fever or real? Will he gain precedence in your pack, being first marked? There is also the dynamics between the men. Finn here has been the unacknowledged leader of the men for a while, yet you chose someone he would see as subordinate to him. Only slightly, of course, but there’s that.

” I looked up at Finn, who stood there as still as a stone as we discussed him.

The only sign of his discomfort was the way his eyes glowed against the now pale skin of his face.

“He thinks he needs to keep it all in, feels it’s showing strength, and you’ve chosen someone who wears his heart on his sleeve to a degree. Perhaps there is a lesson there?”

She waited a beat, until Finn nodded stiffly.

“It is no matter to you how the men feel about it. You may like them, care about them, desire them, but what Kelly appears to be skirting is it is your Tirian that chooses. She allows you and the heat to bring her a wide selection of potentials, but she decides who is fit to run by her side.”

Ophelia’s pale grey eyes stared into mine, her smile broadening as I continued to stare back. She nodded her head slightly, then reached out and took my hand.

“I have seen that this is a hard process for outsider women. You need to believe, as we do, that everything you require to get through this process with honour is inside you. Care for your men, we do not condone cruelty. Treat them with the consideration you would wish to be treated with, but the bond cannot be made with desire, duty, obligation, or need. It is something else altogether. Now, in light of all of this, I will need to make an impromptu visit to my apprentice.”

“Apprentice?”

“Brandon. Driving trucks is something he does, helping others is who he is. He is still learning, particularly the limits of his abilities, but he shows promise. Come see me in three days. We will talk more then.”

With a final pat, she got to her feet. “Kelly,” she said with a nod, and then stalked out the door.

She’s a Tirian too, right? I thought.

Yes , a powerful one. Do not anger her.

She seems more like a cat than a wolf.

“So, as I was saying...”

Kelly droned on for a bit about rights and responsibilities, handing over house keys, talking about what facilities I could request in the home, the steps to take if we decided to have kids, and then she finally got up to leave.

She paused at the door, waiting for Finn. “I’ll be there in a sec,” he told her.

He didn’t turn to us until the door was closed, but when it was, he moved around the couch, not using the furniture as a buffer anymore.

He drew his hands out of his pockets and then held one out to Slade.

“I’m sorry, mate. I didn’t take it well, but congratulations.

I... I should’ve said so from the start. ”

“Mate.” Slade got up and pulled Finn into a man hug, the two of them thumping each other on the back. “So, you’ll come tonight?”

“Of course. I’ll get the lads at Stores to bring the beer and make sure the others get here as well,” he glanced at me. “Even if I have to drag them by the scruff of their necks. This is your night. Let’s make it a big one.”

Slade’s cheeky grin had returned by the time they turned to me. He looked like he was about to say something, when his phone rang.

“Yeah, Mum? Hey, yeah, I was just gonna give you a ring when Kelly came by. Yep, tonight. Bring everyone! You’ll meet her tonight...”

Finn dropped down beside me, placing a hand on my leg, and mine went to cover his automatically. “It’ll be OK, Jules. I’ll sort the guys and see if Ophelia can’t soothe Brandon’s ruffled feathers. Aaron’s gonna be devastated he has to go back to barracks living.”

“And you?”

He looked away, a wry smile twisting his face before shaking his head.

I thought he was going to say something, organise something, but he grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me close, his arms going around me and his mouth crashing down on mine.

His lips parted almost instantly, his tongue pushing past mine, and he dug his fingers into my hair.

Then as quickly as he’d started, he stopped, taking a moment to rest his forehead against mine.

“I think you know where I am in this, Jules.” He kissed me again, a slower, softer thing.

“Just, no matter what happens, no matter who you choose, I’m on your side, love.

I’ll always do what I can to look out for you.

” And as fast as he’d kissed me, he was up and taking several steps back, the back of his hand to his lips.

He stared at me for a blink more, then turned and went.

“That was Mum,” Slade explained, bouncing down on the couch beside me.

“She’s a bit full on, so just stick with me tonight.

” He leaned forward to look at me when I didn’t respond.

“Don’t worry about Finnegan, princess. Your Tirian will choose him once he removes that oh so honourable stick out of his arse, and then it’ll all be happy families. ”

It was all so simple for him, as he leaned over and kissed the spot Finn had—as if eradicating all trace of his friend—before dragging me onto his lap, bucking his hips so I could feel his reaction to it all.

I felt it, the sweet thrum of his desire, which infected me, but within the dizzying maelstrom of sensation was a small, hard kernel of doubt.