Chapter 16 - Tannen

I tried respecting Thea's wishes. She wanted to be left alone, and I didn't know what to say to her that wouldn't sound hollow, anyway. Except after only a handful of minutes, I knew I wasn't going to be able to sit by idly. I needed to find her, to talk to her. And the longer I waited, the more anxious I got about her not coming back, the more certain I became.

I didn't care about other women anymore. Just her. She needed to know that.

Screw this. I wasn't going to wait around any longer. I shifted and ran into the woods, hunting for her scent so I could talk to her.

I couldn't find any trace of her. I couldn't get a read on her scent anywhere. She'd been serious when she said she didn't want to be followed, and she had managed to cover her tracks well. I wasn't going to let that stop me, though. I'd keep going.

I searched for Thea for hours, but came up empty. The longer I looked, the more a looming sense of dread washed over me.

Finally, I caught a hint of her scent. I followed it, expecting to find her nearby. Instead, what I found were the scents of more shifters. Familiar scents.

I came to a stop, realization and dread slamming into me as I recognized Viktor's scent. And Damien's.

Fuck. Damien was alive. And he had Thea.

My wolf howled his fury, claws flexing. He wanted to follow the scents immediately. But I held off this time. I needed backup.

Less than an hour later, the Silver Wolves—and an insistent Astrid—had gathered in Jameson's living room as I gave them a brief rundown of what had happened, not bothering to hide my rage.

"We have to go get her," I growled.

"We will," Jameson promised. "But we need to get all the information first."

"There's no time," I snarled. "Who knows what they're doing to her right now?"

"She's most likely fine," Malcolm promised. "They're probably going to use her as bait to get to you."

"Yeah, well, it's working."

Mark reached out, grabbing my arm and stopping me from pacing. I snarled, but he held firm, his eyes meeting mine.

"You're not thinking straight," Mark said. "You're not going to do her any favors by going in there like this. You need to calm down."

I exhaled through my nose, still glaring at Mark, even as his common sense broke through the veil of anger and worry over Thea. I gave a short jerk of my head, and Mark released me.

"Let's figure out a plan quickly, then. The sooner we get her, the better."

"We'll figure it out," Jameson promised.

"God, this claiming bond is driving me nuts," I snarled. "I don't know how you guys managed it. I can't stop thinking about her."

"It takes some getting used to," Jameson conceded. Evelyn and Oliver, another of the claimed couples, nodded their agreement.

"And that's not mentioning all the things I've started noticing about her," I growled. "Like how smart she is, how much I admire her bravery, even when it ends up getting her in trouble. She'll stick up for anyone despite being at a disadvantage, and thanks to the claiming bond, I've opened up to her more than anyone else. It's the emotional connection that's really making this such a pain in the ass."

I glanced over at the others, expecting them to agree. Instead, they all stared at me like I'd just started speaking gibberish.

"Um…" Evelyn and Oliver exchanged glances with one another, then looked at Jameson. All of them wore identical expressions of bewilderment.

"What?" I asked, glancing between each of them.

"That doesn't sound like our claiming bond at all," Evelyn said.

My brow furrowed. I swiveled to look at Jameson, who nodded.

"The protectiveness went up," he confirmed. "As did the desire to be around Georgia whenever possible. And the physical attraction. But emotional? Not really."

"Yeah, well, you were attracted to her before you had the claiming bond," I pointed out. "So of course that wouldn't change."

Evelyn shook her head this time. "A creep claimed me once," she said. "Remember? The only reason it didn't set in was because we killed him before it could click into place. And I can promise you there was no increased emotional attraction. A desire to have sex with him? Yes. But I definitely didn't start liking him more, or start to feel an emotional connection after the bond."

I stared blankly, trying to process exactly what they were saying. Because if I was understanding them correctly…

Jameson broke through my thoughts. "Are you able to sense where she is?" he asked. When I shook my head, he said, "By this point, that part of the bond would one-hundred percent have set in place. I can get a general idea of where Georgia is as easy as breathing."

"Same with us," Evelyn said. Oliver nodded.

I stood, running my fingers through my hair as I began pacing. "Are you telling me that the claiming bond didn't work?" I asked.

"The claiming mark, has it gotten more prominent?" Mark asked.

I froze, mouth opening. It hadn't. In fact, the last time Thea and I had sex, it had nearly healed entirely. How could I not have noticed it at the time?

"The claiming didn't go through," I said. "Why?"

"I have a theory," Malcolm said, scratching his stubble. "You told me the circumstances around the claiming. It didn't seem like either of you were actually willing."

"There has to be intent on at least one side," Malcolm explained. "If you were coerced… if neither of you were willing…"

"Then it didn't go through," I finished for him, my head spinning with the implications.

The claiming didn't go through. Which meant everything I'd felt about Thea over the past few days, how much I cared about her, how willing I was to do anything to protect her, how attracted to her I was, the fact that I couldn't stop thinking about her… it had all been real.

I was in love with Thea.

The realization slammed into me so hard that I nearly reared back in shock.

Everyone was staring at me, waiting for my response as I processed the new information.

"This doesn't change anything," I said, but that wasn't exactly true. If anything, I was more invested in rescuing her than I had been before.

Because I needed to tell her the truth. That I loved her.

"I'm still going to go rescue her, either on my own or with help," I said.

Mark nodded. "In that case, let's come up with a plan quickly and get the hell out of here."