Page 46 of Ransomed to the World
Sorrow clutched inside her at his confession.
It seemed so terribly sad.
A dream that would never come true.
Logan tugged at her hair, giving her a gentle smile, his blue eyes solemn. “They were myths to us. All my pack cared about were influence and money.”
Emotions shimmered between her and the guys through their connections.
Their joy at being claimed.
Reverence.
Peace.
Contentment.
Worry for her safety.
“She’s right,” Edgar spoke up from the back. “If it can give her an edge when facing the phantoms, we need to know everything about them.”
Xander replied first. “Some can sense emotions, even thoughts.”
Annora brushed her thumb against the tattoo at her wrist. “Or that could just be because of the mating marks.”
“But you heard me before the marks,” Mason protested. “The marks only strengthened the bond.”
“Some can borrow powers,” Camden chimed in, his tone thoughtful. “You have a natural immunity, but maybe it’s how you’re able to tolerate my touch.”
He studied her carefully, his neon green eyes almost calculating, but Annora caught the cautiously hopeful spark in his eyes. Heat swamped her, then quickly turned to hunger.
“You’ve more than proved your need to protect those you consider your pack.” Logan gave her a lopsided grin, but his shoulders remained tense. Since the first time they met, his need to protect her was something that drew her to him.
“You also crave our touch.” Edgar watched her with sadness, his focus on where her hand was once again resting against Xander.
She jerked her arm back, but Xander was having none of it. He lashed out, quickly grabbing her wrist and returned her hand to his belt.
“It’s the mating marks…touch helps cement the bond.” Edgar gave her a gentle smile. “The craving is on both sides. It’s like an addiction, a need we don’t want to fight.”
Her heart ached as she gazed into his fathomless blue eyes. While she’d forgiven him, the closeness they once shared was gone, and she longed to get it back…only she didn’t know how to fix the problem.
Xander interrupted her thoughts. “Shifters with a pack grá are said to be more powerful, because they share the powers among them. Strength is drawn to strength. Others will be drawn to you as well, either to take advantage or because they want to join our pack.”
Annora stifled a groan at the thought of more people entering her life. In a few short weeks, she’d gone from an existence so lonely she could go weeks without speaking a word, to gaining an entire family, something she would never have dreamed possible.
Chaos seemed to follow her wherever she went.
Sometimes, the outside world threatened to overwhelm her, swallow her down into a black hole of despair, but then she’d remember the guys and couldn’t imagine her life without them.
“If you die, the pack will crumble.” Camden moved the torch, shadows dancing on his face, pulling her out of her ruminations, and she shuddered at his complete conviction. “Our beasts will take over until we’re no longer human. It would only be a matter of time before we all died.”
“No.” Fear turned her stomach sour. She glared at each of them in turn, struggling to hold back the darkness that threatened to explode out of her. “If I’m the leader of this group, I order you to go on living if anything happens to me.”
“We’ll fight every second for the chance to stand by your side.” Logan cracked a fierce smile and ran a possessive finger down her cheek. “We’re more powerful together. We’re family. We’re pack. You need to trust us to protect you.”
She gritted her teeth when none of them acknowledged her command and stewed in silence as they marched through the tunnels, her anger keeping her focused and the darkness at bay. Time dragged, and she startled when Logan tapped her shoulder, passing her a piece of jerky and a canteen of water, trailing his fingers into her hair, like he couldn’t be close and not touch her.
She bit into the jerky savagely, then glared at him when she saw blissful contentment on his face. She reached for the thread connecting them.What?
