Page 2 of Unbreakable Bond
Chapter 2
The pack lodgeMichael had inherited from his parents was deep in the woods and backed to the river. A heavy, muggy night warmed Zoey’s skin even as a cool breeze played with her dress. She slipped off her heels and left them at the edge of the porch, tiptoeing barefoot across the damp grass. She followed the path she’d been taking since childhood, easily maneuvering her way over the uneven ground until she came face to face with the tree she hadn’t even realized she was lookingfor.
It was a cloudless night and the moon was bright. Bright enough that she could easily see the carving in the trunk of the tree. Michael’s initials, a plus sign then her initials followed by the simple promise of forever. She raised her hand, tracing the carving that they’d made when she was fourteen, eight years ago, but it felt more like eightytonight.
She couldn’t explain her sudden melancholy. She’d known for years that she and Michael were done. Since the day she’d turned eighteen and he hadn’t come for her, she’d known that they would never live out the fantasy life her teenage girl dreams had concocted. She’d been dealing with it for years but something was different tonight. She just couldn’t put her finger on what itwas.
There was a feeling in the air, something electric and powerful. She’d felt it before, on the day she found out what her parents were, on the day they’d moved here to Noir, on the day she’d become an adult. They were all important days in her life, days where she’d learned something big and essential that had changed her life forever. Then, this morning, while she was going about her business, baking at her shop she’d felt it again. Like a jolt it had hit her square in the chest… the question was,why?
Nothing out of the ordinary had happened today. Nothing made today special. Sure, Michael was hosting a party to welcome new pack members but that wasn’t unusual. They’d been getting a lot of new members lately and the pack loved any reason to party, particularly before the fullmoon.
The full moon… She glanced up at the big orb in the sky. It wasn’t tonight. If it was, she’d be locked in her house all alone as per usual and all the guests would be wearing fur and running the woods instead. She was human so the moon cycles didn’t affect her and yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this one would bedifferent.
“Sneaking awayalready?”
Zoey whirled around at the sound of the voice, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. She barely contained a shriek of surprise. He’d snuck up on her, one of his many talents, and he was grinning that slightly sheepish grin that was equal parts adorable andcharming.
She shrugged as she tried to calm her racing heart, “Didn’t think anyone wouldnotice.”
“Idid.”
“You alwaysdo.”
Michael smiled and she hated the small shred of wonder she couldn’t keep out of her voice. The smallest crumb of attention and here she was, eating it up. Still, it was nice to know that though his attention had been on another woman as they drank and danced their way through introductions and then innuendos that he’d kept one eye onher.
He always did, but not for the reasons she wished. He’d explained it to her, more than once. If they’d simply been friends, it might have been easier, but Michael’s wolf was involved, as much a part of their intense connection as their history. The bond his wolf had to her was something he understood even less than she did but he’d tried to tell her what it felt like forhim.
He’d said that he loved her… but he wasn’tinlove withher.
He wasn’t mated to her but his wolf cared about her, deeply, and was determined to take care of her. He’d said it was almost a feeling as if she were a member of his family. He’d said it was as if she were a belovedsister.
The brother-sister comment had felt like taking a lead pipe to the head. Her feelings for him were in no way sisterly. His certainly hadn’t been brotherly before she turned eighteen when he’d stuck his tongue down her throat and copped a feel every chance she gavehim.
But she supposed a teenage boy didn’t have to bein loveto want to do those things to a girl. Any girl. Particularly when said teenage boy was a shifter with enhanced alpha tendencies and ragingtestosterone.
“Earth toZoey?”
“Sorry, what?” She snapped back to reality when he said hername.
“I asked if you left because you weren’t having any fun or if something else drew youaway.”
“Oh…” She blinked, looking out over the water instead of directly at him, “I wasn’t bailing. I know tonight is important to you. I just needed to get some freshair.”
“Tonight is important.” He nodded, “The Gilles family will make a good addition to the pack. The parents were elders in the Crescent pack and their daughters are all young and unmated. It made the men happy to hear there would be fresh meat and several of their friends joined them for the party as well. If we’re lucky, there will be mate bonds made before the night isout.”
The air in her lungs tightened as he spoke and Zoey realized she wasn’t breathing by the time he finished. Her mind had finally caught up with what her subconscious had been trying to tell her all day. The gut feeling that something important was going to happen, it had been trying to tell her this exactthing.
Michael was going to find his matetonight.
She felt lightheaded. Sick. Nauseous. How had she not put it together before? It made sense. So many new faces running around town the last few days. The Gilles moving here was just the tip of it. There had been contractors working on their house, movers, even party planners all from out of town coming and going. Any one of them could be the lucky woman that would trigger Michael’s wolf to recognize hismate.
Had he already seen her? Did he know who she was? Was it the blonde from inside? Was that why he’d followed her out here? To tell her that he’d found hismate?
He was still talking, “It’s not only the addition of the Gilles family to the pack that we’re celebrating tonight though. I haven’t told anyone else but we’re welcoming back a member that has been gone for a long time too, someone I didn’t think was ever coming homeagain.”
She struggled to pay attention as her mind whirled with possibilities, “You didn’t mentionthat.”
“I wasn’t certain it was really happening until today.” Michael scratched his jaw and sighedheavily.
