Page 88 of Broken Bonds
“What’d you tell him?”
“I told him yeah, duh. Like I’m going to run the kid off.” I laugh. “And when we had our run we were talking and I might have wound him up a little about sampling your knot.”
Now Jax snorts. “How’d that conversation go?”
“Long story. We were taking a water break and the subject of doing it shifted or not came up.”
“I’m surprised you guys weren’t shifted for your run.”
“We were.” When Jax goes quiet, I check to make sure the call hasn’t dropped. “Jax?”
“You…were?” he asks in a weird tone.
“Were what?”
“Shifted. You were running shifted?”
“Uh, yeah. Kid loved the fuck out of it.”
“You were both shifted?”
“I know you’re tired, dude,” I say, “but yes. We were both running shifted and stayed that way the whole time. We didn’t shift back until we returned and took a second dip in the hot tub.” I laugh again. “He loves my rack.”
Another long silence. “You aren’t processing what you just told me,” he flatly says.
Now he’s starting to freak me out. “I don’t get your point. I mean, he was telling me how in his old pack they don’t fuck while?—”
“Todd. Listen to me. How many times have we run together since we were kids and you couldn’t hear me or Shawn? How many times have we had group pack runs, and you couldn’t communicate silently with anyone else?”
“I—” My mouth snaps shut with an audible click.
Fuuuuuck.
Fuuuuuuuuck me.
“Todd?”
“Jax,” I whisper, barely able to force the words out. “I think…” My pulse hammers in my chest. “I think maybe I have a mate bond with Mal.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Jax
Balancing Act
I honestly don’t know who’s freaking out more now—me, or Todd.
“What the fuck am I going to do?” he whispers because I honestly think he’s afraid he’ll start screaming. “We don’t even know if?—”
“Calm down.” I rub my eyes. He’s my best friend but I’m also his pack Alpha and hope I can use both to rein him in right now. “We don’t know that’s the case. You said you guys played, and?—”
“Yeah, but I didn’t fuck him! I swear to the Goddess, Jax! He blew me while he was on the frame, and we snuggled in the hot tub before our run, and then again after we got back. He fell asleep in the hot tub and I tucked him into bed. His bed.”
“Did you mentally talk to him while you guys weren’t shifted?”
“No, but we were, ya know, talking.”
“Okay, take a deep breath, To?—”
