Page 18 of Pit Stop

CHAPTER

NINE

SKYE

The doctor examines my body, his eyebrows arching upward with each new bite he finds.

“Well,” he says as he stands back and types something into the computer. “It seems you’ve both bonded. The extent of the bites…”

Maverick shifts near the door and runs a hand down his face. He looks disappointed. Maybe because he’s stuck with me now. I mean, he could definitely do better.

“Could it have been my bite on him?” I ask, and the doctor shakes his head.

“No, only an alpha bite can bond two people.”

“Oh, okay.”

“And with the number of bites you have…well, it seems it doesn’t matter the location. It happened anyway.”

“Shit,” Maverick replies, his head hanging, not even meeting my gaze. Well, then.

“Listen, as your doctor, I really can’t offer any medical solutions.

For now, I’d advise you to stay close to one another so that you can make this transition easier.

Over time, you’ll be able to spend more time apart, but for now, you should be close to one another to foster the bond and to make sure that Skye here doesn’t get sick again. ”

“So, there’s no solution to fix this?” Maverick asks.

The doctor looks at him and shakes his head. “Nothing medically sound, although if you wanted to try something different and very unorthodox you could look into shamans.”

“Shamans?” I ask, and the doctor nods.

“In some shifting clans they have shamans who may be able to reverse this.”

I meet Maverick’s gaze, and he nods, looking resolute. “I’ll do some research.”

“Do that, but for now, enjoy it. A bond can be a great experience if you let it.”

I bite back a sigh and then feel myself deflate when Maverick looks like he’s going to be sick. Apparently being bonded to me isn’t something he’s looking forward to.

Which is fine. This was an accident.

We will just have to make the best of it until we can find a solution.

As we exit the doctor’s office, Maverick slides his hands inside his pockets and looks up with a sigh.

“Fuck, I’m sorry, Skye. This…this isn’t what I wanted.”

I glower at him. “I mean, I know I’m not the best choice, but you don’t need to be so cruel about it.”

His eyes slam into mine and he shakes his head in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I mean, you could have anyone and now you’re stuck with me. I get it. It’s not ideal.”

“I don’t feel stuck. I just don’t want you to have to give anything up because I lost my fucking head and bit you. It has nothing to do with it being you. For fuck’s sake, Skye.”

I put my sunglasses on and continue walking. “It’s fine. You don’t need to explain. We’ll manage.”

“Yeah, all right.”

We drive the entire way to my dad’s house in silence and when we arrive, I see Forest and River standing in the driveway, waiting for us. River is grinning stupidly, and Forest looks like he’s going to put a hole in the nearest wall.

“Mav! Nice one, bro. Welcome to the family,” River calls out dopily as we exit Mav’s car.

Forest smacks him on the back of the head and then puts him in a headlock.

“Shut the fuck up. This isn’t a good thing. Skye was going places…”

“Hey, don’t talk mean about my mate,” I grumble. “At least until we’re not bonded anymore. I don’t like it.”

Forest lets River go and then scoffs.

“And he didn’t mean to do this. We’re going to figure this out and get the bond dissolved.”

“Yeah, we fucking are. It’s why we’re all here,” Forest murmurs.

“Oh gods, don’t tell me Sage and Glenn are here too. I don’t want to deal with all of you. It’s too much alpha ego all in one place.”

“We sure are,” Glenn growls as he appears on the porch with my dad, his enormous arms folded over his chest. He looks like the quintessential lumberjack. “River told us everything.”

I stick my tongue out at my annoying brother as Sage meanders down the stairs in his long, flowing pants and linen shirt, pulling me into a hug. He smells like patchouli and pine needles. He’s my favorite, a hippie inside and out, and the most chill out of all of us.

I squeeze him back and then Sage asks, “So, spill. What did the doctor say?”

“Nothing can be done unless we go the shaman route.”

Sage’s eyebrows rise. “Oh, interesting. I know of a couple clans that have those. Red is in town. I could probably ask him if he knows of one.”

I shake my head. “I don’t know if I want to get involved with that guy.”

“Yeah, we don’t want to get involved with him,” Forest chimes in, but Sage just shakes his head.

“You won’t get into the clan without an invite. They’re very protective.”

“Didn’t he get kicked out of his clan?” Glenn asks, and Sage turns his gaze to my bear of a brother.

“No, he left, but he can still extend an invite. I’ll take care of this. Unless you don’t want to dissolve this bond?”

I realize that I’ve moved over to Maverick and am cuddling into his chest.

Blushing, I push away from him, adjusting my glasses as I go.

“No, we do. It’s just new. The doctor said feeling the need to be close is perfectly normal.”

“So, will you be moving in then?” Forest grits out, and Maverick shrugs, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“Don’t know. Whatever is best for Skye.”

He peers over at me, and I purse my lips, trying my best not to scoot over to him once more. Something is tugging inside of me, pulling me toward him, and it takes everything within me not to melt into his side.

Being bonded is so different and weird.

And this internal itch seems to only apply to omegas because Maverick is not having the same issue as I am. He seems completely unaffected.

“Yeah, I’ll be moving in with him,” I say when I see my brothers all staring at me. “I refuse to have you all up in my business. This is bad enough without you all breathing down my neck.”

Maverick huffs next to me, but I ignore him. I’m worried that if I look at him, his hardness will propel me closer.

“Probably for the best,” my dad says, and Glenn nods.

“And when Sage gets an invite and a date we can all head up north together.”

“Great, so now that’s settled. When is dinner?” River asks, and Forest slaps him on the back of the head once more.

“Ow! Hey! I’m hungry. It was a good question.”

“I can make something if you can wait a bit,” I say as Mav moves up to me, placing a hand on my waist and leading me toward the porch.

“I’ll help. You’re still exhausted.”

That warms my heart, my stomach fluttering at the way he sees me. “I’m fine, so you don’t need to help if you just wanna hang out.”

“No, I want to,” he says, his finger sliding under my shirt and caressing my skin. It makes me lean into him despite telling myself not to. I can’t help it though, the pull, the tug. It’s winding around me, almost tightly. I can’t do anything to resist it.

“The youngest mated before all of you,” my dad murmurs, and I roll my eyes.

“It wasn’t planned, okay?”

He huffs and then takes a seat in his chair, lighting up a cigar and letting smoke float from his mouth. Forest and Glenn join him, and a moment later, the three of them are debating the merits of the color of the power tools in their garage.

Mav and I make our way into the kitchen, River and Sage following us.

“Lazy alphas,” Sage mutters as he leans against the island and watches as I pull things from the fridge.

“And you’re offering to help?” I ask, and he grins at me.

“No, I can’t cook. Please. I just wanted you to know I stand by you in solidarity. Also, no meat for me. I’m vegetarian again.”

“Yeah, okay,” I reply as I pull out enough meat for the slew of alphas in my midst. “I’m thinking tacos.”

“Oh yes, please. I really am starving,” River croons, and I throw a lime at his head. It hits his forehead and rolls to the ground.

“You can help me make the pico de gallo then.”

“I don’t know how.”

“What do you eat at your place? Seriously, River? Have none of you learned to cook?”

“Um, well, I eat cereal and boxed mac and cheese,” River says with a sheepish grin.

Mav eyes me as he takes the meat from me, and I grab the spices from the drawer.

“You poor thing. Good thing I’m around today to feed your sorry ass.”

River nods as I point at him. “Pico, River. Sage, you help. He needs to learn how to cook for himself.” Then I follow my mate out onto the porch where the grill sits.

He turns it on and gets started grilling while I work on warming the tortillas.

By the time we’re done, River has successfully managed to cut up the onion, tomato, and cilantro—not evenly and by no means in small pieces, but it works.

When everyone grabs their plates, I hand them their tortillas and Maverick scoops up the meat, insisting on serving me first and then ordering me to sit in a way that makes my dick chub up a little.

He really should stop being so nice and sexy because I may fall for him. And that would be tragic indeed.

As we eat, I can feel all my brothers’ eyes on me, but I ignore them and focus on my food. It seems I’m famished, still slightly weak from my heat. It’s good to know how my body will be handling this and how I can adjust.

I put down two tacos and when I’m done, I rub my stomach, feeling completely full.

Maverick gets up and disappears for a moment before returning with a popsicle. He hands it to me, and I meet his gaze.

“What’s this for?”

“You need to hydrate more. You don’t drink enough water,” he says lowly. River croons at the two of us in the background, but all I can sense is Maverick. My heart leaps in my chest at the thoughtful gesture.

“You really need to stop being so nice to me,” I murmur, but still unwrap the dessert and slide it between my lips.

“Mm, cherry. My favorite.”

Maverick clears his throat, and I grin around the popsicle as he settles down next to me. I peer over at him through my lashes and see him watching me intently. I can’t help but drag it across my tongue, wetting my lips in the process.

“Dude. I’d rather not think about you sucking Mav’s dick,” Forest grumbles, and now it’s my dad’s turn to smack him upside the head.

“Shut up. I raised you better than that.”