Page 58 of Unbreakable Bond
Chapter 23
Zoey’s heartwas racing too fast. So fast, too fast, she thought it might explode. All she could hear was her blood pounding in her ears. All she could feel was the distance between her and her mate growing and it was making her wolf go crazy. She wanted to race after him but the panic inside of her had stopped her in her tracks as soon as she stumbled into the meadow full of fightingwolves.
Fighting wolves. Wolves attacking each other. Teeth and claws and fighting the likes of which she’d never even imagined in her wildest dreams. As soon as she’d seen the battle raging she’d come to a grinding halt as her wolf tried to process what was happening and figure out who waswho.
Who was friendly? Who was enemy? Who was pack? Herpack.
Something had happened when she broke through the woods into the clearing. She didn’t know what it was. She didn’t know how it had happened. But Rafe wasn’t the only wolf she could sense anymore. She could identify others within the pack now. She could scent their blood and recognized it as her own. Pack. They were part of herpack.
In the back of her mind, her human side pondered the revelation. Pack. Michael had said she wasn’t one of his wolves but she could sense them now. It was like she’d been wearing blinders all night but at the scent of blood, the sight of her friends and family fighting, they’d been rippedaway.
She was pack. Moirae pack. That meant Rafe was pack toobut…
Zoey’s wolf whined and shook her head. Rafe was too far away. She couldn’t feel her mate. All she could feel now was the giant hole in her chest that his absence had left behind. She felt empty andlost.
He’d left her. He’d really left her. On her first full moon, during her first shift, he’d left heralone.
Not just alone but unprotected amidst anattack.
Her wolf howled and scuffed at the dirt and Zoey tried to take a few deep breaths and calm her other half down. She needed to focus. She needed to concentrate and take control of the situation. Her human half understood that something terrible had happened here and it had fractured Rafe’s tenuous hold on his control. Her wolf only felt his abandonment and she was fluctuating between going after him to rip into him and dismissing himcompletely.
Zoey tried to push to the surface. She needed to shift. She needed to be human. This was something she needed to handle calmly and rationally. As a human. Her wolf was an animal and she didn’t understand how to process this situation through the filters of the past and circumstance and love. Zoey tried again to push to the surface but nothinghappened.
Her wolf was too strong. Newborn and fierce, she wasn’t giving her skin up easily. She’d gotten through the first few awkward minutes quickly. She’d found her footing in the real world easily and she didn’t want to go back inside Zoey so soon. The moon was still up and tonight was hers. Zoey could feel her fighting to stay in control and she didn’t know how to convince her other half to give itup.
This was why she needed Rafe. He was supposed to walk her through how to shift back to her human form. He was supposed to be there with her every step of the way. He’d taught her how to let her wolf free but he hadn’t shown her how to get herself back out and into her own skin. He was supposed to be here forthis.
Panic flooded through her system and her wolf howledagain.
“Zo?” Her wolf hissed at the sound of her name and spun to face the person that was slowly moving towardsher.
Michael. Her human side surged for the surface but her wolf growled and shook her off. The wolf narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth. Subconsciously she knew that the half-naked man was a friend. She recognized him but she didn’t like that he’d gotten so close without her noticing and she didn’t like that he smelled similar to her mate, but wasn’thim.
“Zoey…” Michael stopped moving towards her and held a hand out, “Zo, it’s me. It’s Michael. You know me. Calmdown.”
The wolf tilted her head but didn’tmove.
“Come on, Zoey.” He kept his voice soft and calm, “I know you’re in there. Look at me. You need to calm down and shift back so I can talk to you,okay?”
Internally, she rolled her eyes and externally her wolf must have made some sort of similar response because Michael smirked a little. She wanted to yell at him. She wanted to tell him that she was trying to shift back but she didn’t know how. But they couldn’t talk because she was still awolf.
“Shit.” Michael ran a hand through his hair, “Fucking Rafe. He didn’t tell you how, didhe?”
Her wolf bared her teeth again and Michaelwinced.
“Sorry. Sorry. Not insulting your mate.” He held both hands up now, “I want to help you find him but first I need you to shift for me. I can’t leave you like this. Okay, Zo? So… shift for me,please?”
Zoey tried. She really tried. She reached for the surface with every ounce of willpower she had but her wolf wasn’t having any of it. She shook Zoey off and gave an internal growl that was threatening and a little bit scary. Zoey recoiled from the anger her wolf directed at her and felt her panic spikeagain.
What if her wolf never let her surface again? What if she was too strong? What if this scarred her wolf the way Rafe’s was scarred and they were never able to live in harmony again? Whatif….
“Zoey.” Michael’s voice had turned hard and her wolf stiffened thistime.
There was something different in his tone. Something that made her wolf perk her ears up. She calmed just a hair and twitched as if suddenly uncertain of who she was dealingwith.
“That’s what I thought…” Michael’s brows furrowed slightly and he shook his head, “Son of a bitch, I was wrong. I don’t know how it’s possible or what changed but… you’re one of mine now. You and Rafeboth.”
Mine. Zoey would’ve laughed if she’d been in her human skin. How long had she yearned for Michael to call her that? For as long as she could remember she’d wanted to be his. Now her wolf hummed a low growl in herthroat.
