Page 111 of A Wolf's Wound
“Shit,” Gavin hisses, but he doesn’t sound mad.If anything, he sounds impressed.
“What?”I ask.
“The mate bond,” Gavin says.
“You think so?”Lori asks, even as my mom starts nodding.
“I can see it now,” my mom tells her.
“What are you guys talking about?”I ask uneasily because I think I already know.
“The scent Ryder smelled,” Gavin begins.
But Ryder interrupts him.“Wait, really?I wasn’t sure.”
“Really, man.”
“Will someone tell me what’s going on!”I yell.“It has been a very long night and I’m tired and smell like death.I don’t need people talking in code about me while I’m standing right here!”
“Sorry, Hannah,” Gavin says.“But the scent that Ryder smelled that stopped him?That’s the mate bond.You’re his mate.”
What the actualfuck?I whirl around and stare at Ryder.
Chapter 63
Ryder
OfallthewaysI’ve idly wondered what it would be like when I knew I’d found my mate, this never made the list.
Hannah’s staring at me like I’ve just grown another head.Gavin and her stepfather are both looking at me with very serious expressions.Hannah’s mother grabs my mom’s hand, and I don’t know if it’s in excitement or shock.And of course, we’re surrounded by death and injured shifters.
I wish I could snap my fingers and make everyone except me and Hannah disappear.Or teleport us any place where we could be alone together to absorb this news.I want to know how Hannah feels and what she’s thinking.I want her to have space to share her fears and uncertainties, and for her to listen to mine.I want to be somewhere that doesn’t smell of death and echo with the moans of injured shifters.
Since none of that is possible, I try to make the best of this incredibly weird and awkward situation.“Um, yeah,” I say to Hannah, forcing myself to just look at her and not our families.“You’re my mate.”
“No fucking way,” she says, but her voice is more amazed than upset.At least, that’s what I hope I’m hearing.
“I’m afraid so,” I say, trying to smile.
“How long have you known about this?”Hannah asks me.
“About thirty seconds longer than you,” I say honestly.“I wasn’t sure if that’s what it meant until Gavin said it was.”
Hannah arches an eyebrow at me, clearly not buying it.“Really?Then why did you ask how I felt about mates after we—”
“Hannah!”I cut her off, heat already beginning to crawl up my neck.She glances around, seeming to remember thatbothof our mothers are standing mere feet away before turning a deep shade of crimson.If I wasn’t feeling similarly right now, I would laugh.
“I swear I’m telling the truth.I wasn’t sure that’s what it was until Gavin confirmed it,” I promise her.Despite averting that particular, most certainly minor, crisis, the heat in my face doesn’t fade.Instead, it prickles up my spine uncomfortably, my head spinning slightly.
“Holy shit,” Hannah says softly.
I nod, and all of a sudden a wave of dizziness hits me.I stagger backward, feeling lightheaded and nauseated, the heat I was experiencing moments ago turning into a raging inferno beneath my skin.I try to take a deep breath, but that just makes me feel sicker.So does standing up straight.
“Sorry,” I say from my half-crouch, raising my head to see Hannah staring at me, but this time her eyes are wide with shock.“Come on, I’m not doing that badly,” I say, trying to reassure her.But just as the words leave my mouth, I realize that no, I am actually doing that badly.
All I can feel right now is how injured I am.The cuts on my head throb, it hurts to breathe, and my legs are so gashed up that my jeans are pasted to them with blood.I feel my knees tremble and then collapse onto the ground, my vision blurring as the adrenaline that’s been keeping me upright suddenly vanishes from my system.
I don’t actually pass out.But I stay on the ground, breathing heavily, as I hear my brothers shouting and my mother’s voice.They’re all coming toward me but then there’s Hannah leaning over me.
