Chapter 21

TWENTY-ONE

CARVER

T he moment my teeth punctured Ruth's delicate skin, the bond snapped into place, chaining us together forever.

I held her tight in my arms as her body stiffened and her muscles convulsed from the pain. She bit down on my arm, not to give me a mating mark—bunnies didn't do that—but to silence her screams. When she settled in my embrace, I finally unlatched from her.

Her eyes were puffy and tear-filled, but there was something else behind them that had my chest tight with emotion.

I stroked my paw over her head, my claws combing through her hair. "What a good mate you are. You took your alpha's cock so well. I can't wait to see how much of my cum your pretty little womb can hold."

I kept praising her. It was easy until she drifted to sleep in my embrace.

My human counterpart stirred in the back of my mind, making its discomfort known. "You'll warm to her soon."

He wanted thecontrol back, but I stayed shifted for several hours more, enjoying the control as well as not wanting to disturb Ruth while she slept. I was tired, too, but I didn't want to fall asleep just yet. The moment I lowered my guard, I'd shift back.

The night eventually ebbed, and sunlight crept through the bedroom window. I turned to see where Ruth was positioned in my arms, a sunbeam wrapping her all in gold. She'd managed to keep up her half-shifted state even in her sleep. I envied that.

I stroked her bunny ear, loving the feel of her down-soft fur. At some point, I fell asleep, and as darkness closed in, I realized my mistake. With my last coherent thought, I hoped like hell that my human had come to his senses.

The sight of her tucked against my side, snoring softly into the crook of my arm, felt so...

Shit. I didn't know how to feel. The clusterfuck of emotions knotting in my chest was impossible to untangle.

Shifting her gently out of my arms, I climbed out of bed, careful not to jostle the mattress and tugged on the sweats I'd left on the floor beside the ax. I eyed it for a moment before trudging out of the room.

The clock mounted on the wall of my living room read 7:37 a.m. I plucked a cigarette from the pack lying on the side table along with a lighter and went outside to smoke my breakfast.

Leaning against my porch railing and staring into the treeline, bitter thoughts knotted in my chest at the image of my brother's dead body lying in the woods. It was pack tradition to allow our dead to be reclaimed by the forest, but letting the wildlife eat away at him didn't sit right with me.

At least I could bury his head.

After several more moments of silence, I decided to do just that. Going inside, I gathered his head then went to my shed out back and found an old shovel. I dug a hole not far from the cabin, placed the head at the bottom of the pit, and said a silent goodbye to my twin before filling in the hole.

My thoughts drifted to Ruth.

"Have you forgiven her?"

The voice in my head startled me.

"Oh, you're awake. You know, it's fucking sad how desperate I was for you to talk to me my whole life. Now, all I want is for you to stay asleep," I snapped.

"Then you're in luck because now I must rest. But soon, I will come out and claim my pretty mate all over again. Next time I'll come inside her. I want to see her drip with me."

The voice faded, and just as it promised, it drifted to sleep, leaving my brain quiet.

I finished burying Casey and went back inside, immersed in troubling thoughts.

My wolf wanted to keep Ruth forever. And that part of me, being completely feral, had fucking told her so.

She should have been mortified, questioning if I'd go back on our deal to let her go come morning. But she'd only moaned and wiggled those hips as I fucked into her. Getting wetter. Hotter. Like she couldn't get enough of the idea that our bond could be something more than a means for her survival.

I'd questioned if that tight pussy could take my wolf form. I thought she'd break, and I'd be lying if there wasn't a wicked little part of me that almost wished that she had.

But no, she'd taken me so perfectly.

The bunny looked so damn sexy speared on my cock. It was a miracle I hadn't come from that pretty picture alone.

"Do you think they found Sawyer yet?"

I turned to find Ruth in the doorway. She was quiet when she wanted to be. I hadn't heard her open the door.

My eyes dipped down her body, appreciating the view. She'd found a fresh flannel shirt of mine. She hadn't bothered with anything else, not when she'd just shift the moment we said our goodbyes.

"That the male you came in with?"

She bit her bottom lip. "Yeah."

My brows furrowed as I sensed the cloud of discomfort hanging over her head. With our new bond, I could feel her in ways I'd never felt anyone before. She was easier to read now, and the invisible anvil that pressed on her chest sat heavily on mine just the same.

"What did he do to you?"

Her eyes became slits. "I don't want to talk about him. He'll be dead soon, anyway, if he isn't already, so it doesn't matter."

I bristled at the sudden wall she erected between us, though I shouldn't have expected anything different.

A moment of awkward silence spanned between us. She ran a hand through her mess of hair. "So, are you back to being an asshole again?"

" Mhm ."

"Too bad. I prefer the hairy version. Better dick too."

"I was going to make you eggs and bacon for breakfast, but if you keep mouthing off, all you'll get is a throat full of cock."

Her bunny ears perked at the mention of food. It occurred to me that she had to be starving.

"When's the last time you ate?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. The morning they drew my name?"

Annoyance flared through me, though I wasn't sure if it was because she hadn't eaten in two days or that I cared at all. "They don't give you breakfast?"

She shrugged again as if going days without a proper meal was no big deal. "They used to feed the sacrifices but when the new alpha was appointed, he instructed our Elders to make the sacrifices fast once selected."

"Fucking Lars," I mumbled, turning around to dig through the fridge.

I felt her stare heavy on my back. "Who?"

"My pussy of an alpha. He's just as bad as his father—the piece of shit who impregnated that sacrifice."

"Your entire pack deserves to die for that…" Her voice was almost a growl.

"It was years ago," I said dryly. "But you're probably right. Except for Lila. She's probably the only one of us worth a damn."

Lounging against the counter, I motioned at Ruth. "Come here, Ruthless."

She hesitated for a beat before approaching me.

I reached for her throat, not missing the way her breath hitched. My brows furrowed as I took in the bruises I'd left. Then, my attention slipped to the silvery scar marring the side of her neck.

My mouth watered at the memory of her tiny body twitching as I'd made the bite. I quickly turned back to the bacon, pushing the dirty thought away with the menial task.

"So, uh, you said some pretty heavy stuff last night about keeping me here," Ruth said from behind me.

"My beast has a different idea of what this new mating bond means. It's sleeping now. You have time to eat before it wakes up."

"Then what?"

"Then you leave."

"Oh…"

Our bond was fresh and new. It demanded we be as close as possible. The mere idea of being apart felt wrong. I had no damn clue how we were going to deal with never seeing each other again.

That was a post-breakfast problem.