Page 94 of Unclaimed Bonds

Luke taps the top of the car. “Hey. I’m gonna jump in with them. I’ll meet you back at the dorms.”

Before I can acknowledge, arms snake around my waist, making my skin crawl.

I run over to the driver’s side. “Hey, Xavier. Got room for one more up front?” He nods, and I reach into my pocket and toss the keys to the shuttle at Sodie. I waste no time getting into the passenger seat. Laughter echoes behind me. Sticking my hand out the window, I give them the finger.

Chapter 44

I Was A Fool

LUKE

EIGHT YEARS AGO:

November 15, 2016: 12:14 a.m.

Emerald Pack: Dairy Farm

It’s after midnight when I finally return to the house from the dorms. I decide at the last minute that I want to stop by the stables. I haven’t spent nearly as much time with Queenie as I had wanted to with the way the week turned out.

That’s when I see them. Charlie wraps his arm around Jessica’s shoulders. What the hell, Charlie? She’s sixteen.

Charlie could have anyone. I mean literally anyone. Why her? Why Jessica? He’s almost twenty-one, I think? Anyway, he’s older. He’s been with so many other women, older, experienced women.

Anger rages inside me. Quietly, I follow them into the barn. I glimpse Jessica’s purple-streaked ponytail enter Queenie’s stall.

“Words can’t describe how I feel right now,” Charlie says in a low voice. “It was perfect—so fucking amazingly perfect for our first time.”

What the fuck?! I kick something in my path, and it scatters across the walkway. I duck into one of the stalls and crouch against the wall.

Boots approach. “You hear something, Little Bird?” Charlie asks Jessica.

“No,” she answers.

“Huh?” His boots walk away, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

“So, when are we going to share our little secret? Do you still want it to be a surprise?” he prompts.

She giggles. “The whole point was to keep it a surprise.”

Silence. Images of Jessica kissing Charlie form in my head. Charlie, who virtually has the exact same face as mine. Images barrage me of Jessica straddling Charlie in the corner of the stall, his hands caressing those perfect breasts and that curvaceous ass.

“How do you think everyone will react?” Charlie inquires.

“I don’t know. This is all new to me, too,” she offers. Queenie joins the conversation. Jessica laughs. “Aww, you want to be included,” she coos to Queenie.

“Nah. I think she wants you to know that everyone will be stunned, at first. I think Aunt Shakti will cry. My mother will definitely cry. Emily will be pissed you’re holding out on her.”

“What makes you think I am holding out on Emily?”

“Wait. She knows?”

“Not all of it. Who do you think came up with the idea?”

I just can’t right now. Of course, Emily—fucking Emily—is involved with their little hookup. But why tell anyone? Did he mate her? He couldn’t have. Could he?

I need to think this through before I confront them. I can’t believe Charlie did this. Just when I thought I knew Jessica, I was a fool.

Lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, I replay their conversation in my mind. While it’s not uncommon for some shifters to mate early, we just don’t. It’s not who we are, unless we find our true mate.