Page 36 of Fat Sold Mate
Sera shakes her head. “I left in a hurry. Obviously.”
“Where are they headquartered?” The question comes from Ruby, who seems urgent now.
“A cabin about fifty miles south-east of here,” Sera says, hope flickering in her eyes. “If you could help me get back there, maybe we could free—”
“No,” I cut in, caution overriding curiosity. “We're not going deeper into Cheslem territory on the word of someone we just met.”
“James,” Ruby begins, her tone already argumentative.
“We don't know if any of this is true,” I say, meeting her frustrated gaze. “This could be an elaborate trap.”
Sera struggles to stand, determination giving her the strength to do so despite her injuries. “Look at me,” shedemands. “Look at what they did to me. Why would I make this up?”
“To lure us into a trap,” I reply evenly. “To finish what the scouts started.”
“You're alive because of me, James, don’t talk over me,” Ruby cuts in, rising to stand between us. “Sera's warning could be the key to stopping the Cheslem pack. To save Silvercreek. If there are innocent people—if there’s some way to break them free—it could be the only way.”
I run a hand through my hair, frustration mounting. “Or it could get us both killed. Then what good are we to anyone?”
The argument might have continued if not for the sudden pallor that washes over Sera's face. She sways on her feet, her injuries and exhaustion catching up with her stubborn determination. Ruby catches her before she can fall, helping her back to the cot.
“This discussion can wait,” Ruby says firmly. “She needs rest, and so do we.”
I concede the point with a nod, though my skepticism remains. “I'll take first watch,” I say, moving back to my position by the window. “You should sleep.”
Ruby doesn't argue, her own exhaustion evident in the shadows beneath her eyes. She settles on her makeshift bed of blankets across the room, the grimoire clutched to her chest like a talisman. Within minutes, her breathing deepens into sleep, her features softening in a way they never do when she's conscious around me.
Sera, too, has fallen into restless slumber, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the weight of decisions that could determine all our fates.
Hours pass as the sun climbs toward its zenith, then begins its slow descent. I maintain my vigil, alternating between watching the forest outside for signs of pursuit and observing our Cheslem guest for any hint of deception. But mostly, if I'm honest, my attention keeps returning to Ruby.
In sleep, the walls she's built against me seem to thin, allowing glimpses of the woman beneath the defenses. Her dark hair spreads across the makeshift pillow, her hand still curled protectively around her mother's grimoire. The bond between us pulses with her dreams—not their content, but their emotional tenor. Right now, it's peaceful, a rare respite from the constant tension that defines our waking interactions.
What happened between us? The question circles my mind like a restless wolf. Two months ago, after the League attack, something was growing between us. Quiet conversations in the medical tent as she volunteered, walks back to her bookshop under star-filled skies, a tentative connection neither of us acknowledged directly, but both felt. Then that kiss—unexpected, electric, promising. And the next day, nothing. Cold withdrawal, averted eyes, excuses to avoid me.
I never understood what changed. Never had the chance to ask before the lottery threw us together in the worst possible way. Now, bound by blood and magic against our will, whatever fragile thing was budding between us seems irrevocably damaged.
The bond tugs at my awareness, a constant reminder of what we are to each other, legally if not emotionally. It wants more than we've given it. My wolf paces beneath my skin at the thought, eager in a way that shames my human consciousness.
Evening shadows lengthen across the floor as my thoughts chase themselves in circles. Eventually, Ruby stirs, hereyes opening directly to mine as if she sensed my attention even in sleep. Something passes between us—awareness, recognition, a tension that has nothing to do with anger and everything to do with the primal connection we're both fighting.
She looks away first, rising to take over the watch. “You should rest,” she says, her voice still husky from sleep. “You've been up all night.”
I nod, too weary to argue, and take her place on the blankets that still hold her warmth and scent. Sleep claims me almost immediately, dragging me into dreams that waste no time in turning to her.
In the dream, we're back in Silvercreek, in the small cottage behind her bookshop. There's no lottery, no Cheslem threat, no forced bond—just Ruby, her amber eyes warm with invitation, her body curved toward mine like a question I'm eager to answer. Her skin is silk beneath my hands, her lips sweet with desire as they meet mine. The bond between us pulses with shared pleasure, amplifying every sensation, every touch, a circuit completed.
“James,” she whispers against my mouth, my name a prayer on her lips. Her hands map my body with reverent hunger, finding places that make my breath catch, my control fray at the edges.
We fall together onto her bed, a tangle of limbs and need and something deeper I dare not name even in dreams. The bond flares between us, brilliant and consuming, as I cover her body with mine—
I wake with a jolt, my body hard and aching, the bond between us vibrating with an intensity that makes me wonder if she felt it too. Across the room, Ruby sits by the window,her back to me, her posture rigid in a way that suggests she's deliberately not looking in my direction.
Embarrassment and frustrated desire war within me as I shift to hide the evidence of my dream. Sera sleeps on, oblivious to the tension thickening the air between her reluctant protectors.
Outside, night has fallen completely, stars appearing one by one in the velvet sky. I know I won't sleep again tonight, not with the dream still vivid behind my eyes, not with Ruby's scent filling my nostrils and the bond pulsing between us like a second heartbeat.
Tomorrow we'll have to decide whether to trust Sera, whether to risk everything on the slim chance of a counter-ritual that might save Silvercreek. But tonight, in the darkness of this forgotten ranger station, I'm facing a more immediate truth: that despite everything—the forced bond, the misunderstandings, the danger surrounding us—I want Ruby Mulligan with a desperation that has nothing to do with magic and everything to do with the woman herself.
