Tiny, cold noses sniffed at us and I surrendered one hand so the cats could rub their faces against it. I couldn’t make words happen, but second by second, clarity slowly took up residence. Madison’s raspberry tarts were eventually eclipsed by the scent of enchiladas. I lifted my foggy head, my vision clearing to see the rest of the pack in the kitchen. Poppy perked up and headbutted my face. Pepper had wedged herself into Madison’s arms, purring away.
“What—”
“He lives,” Nathan said with a laugh. “Are you two still stuck together?”
I flexed my hips experimentally and Madison shivered. “Yep.”
“Are you going to bite anyone if we go over there?” Nathan asked.
“Bite anyone?” I blinked, trying to drag up memories of why he would ask. Everything was a blur of Madison.
She unwrapped her arm from Pepper—the cat gave me a death glare, as if I had been the one to make that decision—and stroked a soothing hand down my thigh beneath the blanket.
“You okay, Maddie?” Jude carried over two water glasses with bendy straws, offering one to me and tucking the tip of theother straw into Madison’s mouth. She drank it greedily, and I found I did the same when the first drop hit my tongue.
When she finished, she sighed and relaxed. “I’m okay.”
“Did the bond take?” Jude smoothed a hand over her hair, keeping a wary eye on me.
Madison popped up, scaring the shit out of Poppy, who bolted full speed over the couch. “I’m sorry, baby.” She turned to Jude, her nerves churning in my chest. “Bond? Is that…”
I knew all of the words being spoken, but my brain was taking its time parsing the actual meaning. Was Madison actually,officiallymine? Was I her first bond? With one bite, had I surrendered to her claim and put myself as a wall of protection between her and the life she’d had before?
“It took,” I replied after a moment, drawing her back down and curling tighter around her.
“How are you so relaxed right now?” Madison whispered, dragging Pepper for another cuddle.
“I have everything I’ve ever wanted. Why wouldn’t I be relaxed?”
She fidgeted. “I don’t know. Tyler never wanted to bond me. Now you’re stuck with me.”
“Tyler was a fucking idiot,” Nathan shouted as he dished up servings of dinner.
“Maybeyou’restuck withme.” I said it lightly, but it was true. I couldn’t summon up an ounce of panic over what had happened, but the same couldn’t be said for her. Madison’s anxiety had her heart racing against me. I flattened my palm against her chest, taking deep breaths until she matched my rhythm, and adding in my purr finally had her calming.
“It feels different than I thought it would,” she whispered.
“How so?” Jude asked.
“Like it should be overwhelming, but instead it’s soft, like my nest. I don’t—” She bit her lip. “I don’t think it would’ve felt like this with Tyler.”
“I bet it’s because Leo is a horse boy.” Nathan set two plates for us on the coffee table before returning with his own, dragging Alve with him. Jude took his own offered plate from Alve’s shaking hand.
“What does being a horse boy have anything to do with it?”
“I mean, they’re prey animals, right?” Nathan began. “You know how to gain their trust, how to make them feel safe when all their natural instincts are designed to keep them on alert. Makes sense to me that the same would kind of apply to omegas. You know how to make Madison feel safe with you.”
She poked Nathan with her toes. “You calling me a horse?”
“Only in the sense that you’re going to get ridden thoroughly and often.”
Madison’s cackle had everyone smiling, and her spark of joy flooded through the bond. Jude helped us sit up and I kept Madison in my lap, not that there was much choice, since my knot was taking its time today.
“Are things actually okay?” Alve asked. Anxiety wafted off him. “A bond is a huge deal, and an accidental one is?—”
“I’m not upset about it,” Madison told Alve. “Obviously I wasn’t expecting it, but it feels nice, and panicking won’t change anything, right?”
“I…suppose that makes sense.”
