Page 25 of Strays
And I mean it. I don’t care what the rules say. I don’t care what her family thinks. I don’t care what the MAB decides.
We’re not leaving her.
Not now. Not ever.
“Thanks,” she sighs. “I feel bad. Alice has a four-year-old and lives five hours away. And we might as well use the time to get to know each other.”
Shane’s already halfway to the door. “Want me to call her for you?”
“Yeah, that’d be great.”
As soon as he opens the door, Commander Eneas and the three lieutenants walk in. The Commander’s eyes go straight to Johane’s head resting against Jay’s stomach, and his mouth twitches, amused. She sits up quickly, pulling back.
“Can we close this meeting?” he asks. “Or do you need more time?”
She doesn’t hesitate. “We can close the meeting. But they’ve agreed to stay with me, so my friend can go home.”
If he’s surprised, he hides it well. “Fair enough,” he says, pulling out a card. “I’ll leave you my office number. Call me when you’ve reached a decision.”
“Oh, I already have,” she replies. “This pack is mine.”
Just like that, she just claims us before we’ve even met her fathers. I can’t feelmy legs. Or my arms. My whole body’s lit up. The hum in my chest is so loud I can barely hear anything else.
I’m hers.
We’re hers.
And she’s ours.
The Commander hides it fast, but I saw it. She caught him off guard. Our nyra is that powerful.
“That’s excellent news,” he says, turning to me. “In that case, there are a few things we need to discuss. I’ll need you three with me.”
He glances at Johane. “It won’t take long. Afterward, they’ll return, and you can let your friend go.”
She nods. The Commander and the lieutenants turn to leave, but we don’t move. I don’t want to go, nor do my brothers.
The Commander’s voice calls back from the hallway. “The sooner we go, the sooner you can come back, officers.”
I finally force my legs to move and step out the door after him. The blond human rushes into Johane’s room the second we clear the doorway.
We follow Commander Eneas down the corridor to an empty office at the end.
Before entering Johane’s room, I never realized how hard breathing had always been for me. But now, after being close to her, I’m painfully aware of the constriction creeping back into my lungs the second her scent fades from reach.
The Commander takes a seat behind a vacant doctor’s desk. There are only two chairs across from him. Shane and I sit. Jay stands beside me.
“Congratulations to all of you,” he says, surprisingly warm. “Tomorrow, you and your mate will have a formal meeting at the MAB to confirm your decision to bond. That’s when we’ll begin your transfer paperwork to Special Ops. A medical team will be present to supervise the bite and provide aftercare for your nyra.”
It doesn’t feel real. My brain hasn’t caught up.
The Commander’s tone shifts, more matter-of-fact now. “Think of this as an informal briefing. I want to make sure you understand what comes next. How much do you know about the bonding process and rank ascension?”
I glance at Jay, and he answers for us, steady as always. “We know the basics. The physical bond is completed when we bite our nyra. That triggers changes in her body. Those changes, in turn, trigger changes in ours.”
“Correct,” the commander nods. “Once the bite happens, the changes will begin, but they won’t happen overnight. They take place over the first year of bonding. In most cases I’ve seen, packs who bond with Prime nyras reach Tier-Two in about three or four months. Tier-One usually comes between seven and eight.”
He leans back slightly. “You’ll undergo monthly bloodwork and physicalevaluations. Once you hit Tier-Two, you’ll be assigned to a garrison and begin Special Ops training. Until then, you’ll be temporarily assigned to a police department.”
