Page 52 of Wolf Bound

“You're the fucking murderer, you piece of shit. You're a traitorous bastard and when you're executed, I'm going to dance on your fucking grave.” Forrester growls out every syllable, the fury in his words taking everyone except Penn by surprise. “You’re lucky I’m not the one fighting you today, because I would make you choke on your own blood for talking about my mate the way you did. Drayton is far more composed than I would be.”

“You insolent child! I raised you, boy!”

“And you did a fucking awful job of it,” Forrester shoots back, grabbing Marcus by his throat. “I'm going to enjoy watching my brother beat the life out of you. It's the least you deserve.”

With that he releases Marcus, turning his back on him to walk towards the rest of us. Marcus lunges for him, but Drayton is suddenly between them.

Drayton’s fist hits Marcus so hard and fast, his head snaps backwards and blood splatter flies through the air. Marcus hitsthe ground, but Drayton immediately drops on top of him with another sharp punch to his nose.

There's a distinct crunch that has me turning my face into Wes. Bile rises in my throat and I swallow it back. I glance up and see Marcus unconscious with Drayton slowly rising to stand above him. He turns and nods towards us which is a cue for Alaric to step in.

“Marcus Bellmont has not only lost his challenge, but he has committed acts of treason against this pack and against your alpha,” Drayton addresses the pack, his voice loud and stoic. “He will be dealt with in a public execution in front of this pack, and the rest of the shifter community. He not only put our pack at risk, he put the shifter community as a whole at risk when he worked with the Croises cult.”

Alaric's team cuffs Marcus and carries his unconscious body out of the circle.

“Let this be a warning to those who wish to go against their alpha, their pack, and shifter kind. It will not end well for you.” Drayton looks at four specific people who cower and drop their gazes. “You're all dismissed for now.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Talia

Forrester stands at the far end of the deck, his back to me as he leans against the railing. The sun is just starting to rise, painting the black of night with streaks of blue, orange, and pink. The forest is still shrouded in darkness, the sun not yet strong enough to penetrate the shadows within.

The cool air wraps around me, pushing through the thin white cardigan I put on before stepping outside. I shiver, hugging my arms around my center and consider heading back inside for shoes and a thicker sweater, but ultimately decide against it. Using magic should warm me up and if it doesn’t, my hot wolf mate in front of me will probably do it.

My bare feet are quiet against the wood of the deck, but Forrester turns to face me as I approach, a soft smile stretching his full, pink lips. To think, when we met he was so full of hatred that even with the mate pull, he almost broke our mate bond and left. Now, he looks at me with so much affection in his eyes, I can’t help but swoon a little bit.

“Come watch the sunrise with me,” Forrester says, his voice a quiet rumble in the peaceful silence of the morning. “It’s beautiful. Not as beautiful as you, but still worth appreciating.”

My cheeks flush from his compliment, the heat a welcome feeling against the coolness of the air. He reaches his hand out between us and I place my own in his, allowing him to pull me to the railing of the deck.

Forrester pulls me in front of him, caging me against him and the deck with his arms on either side of me. My back is flush with his front and every nerve-ending in my body is on fire with his closeness. His breath brushes the shell of my ear as he leans his head down towards me.

“So gorgeous,” he whispers in my ear. Me? The sunrise? It honestly doesn’t matter, my knees are weak either way. “Easy there, baby. Do you need me to hold you up?”

There’s a hint of humour in his voice, but it does nothing to hide the raw, undeniable need I can hear as well.

“No, I-I can stand,” I manage to mumble out, unsure if Iactually canstand on my own. The smell of him, the feel of him, all of it, is making my head spin with arousal.

Why are we standing here again?Right! The sunrise. Focus on the pretty colours and not the tall, sexy man pressed against me.

“Are you sure, baby? You seem to be trembling a little bit.” Forrester’s voice deepens with every word. His wolf must be pushing closer to the surface because he leans in and draws in a deep breath, growling his approval at my scent.

“Being this close to my mate has that effect on me,” I whisper back to him and close my eyes to breathe in his scent in return.

“It has the same effect on me,” Forrester growls in my ear. “We should try that healing thing now, or I don’t know if we’ll get to it this morning at all.”

Heat shoots down to my clit, arousal setting my blood on fire. Despite knowing exactly what he’s talking about, I play innocent. “Oh? What would we do instead?”

“I would give you thirty seconds to run into those woods and see if you could hide from me, before chasing you down,” Forrester whispers, his lips brushing the outside of my ear. “Then when I caught you, I would pin you against a tree and mark you for everybody to see while I fuck that pretty little pussy of yours.”

“I would very much like to do that,” I answer automatically before shaking the arousal away enough to bring me out of the haze. “But we do need to see if I can heal your psychological wounds and ease some of the pain you carry around.”

"You’re right. Especially after everything with Marcus, all that pain and anger that filled me during his challenge with Drayton, I’m feeling desperate to try this.” Forrester sighs and steps away from me. “So, let’s do this. When I do finally take you, I want to be a better man than I am right now.”

Turning to face Forr, I twist my hair between my fingers nervously. “I don’t know for sure if this will work, but I’m pretty sure it will. I really hope it will. I don’t want you to feel so hurt and broken all the time. You deserve better than that.”

Forrester rubs the back of his neck and grimaces at my words. “I don’t know about that, baby. Thank you for putting your faith in me though, even after everything I put you through. I definitely don’t deserve shit after that.”

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