I know the pack would come looking eventually, and most certainly Caleb, but it’s the only thing I have to cling to.
Still, every time I think I’ve found a way, the idea dissolves as the likelihood of anything working feels so low. It doesn’t help that the bond complicates everything, clawing away at me on the inside.
All of it is so unbelievably infuriating.
Worst of all, despite how furious I am with him, and despite everything he did to me, I can’t shut him out completely. Not while he’s literally in my head now.
It’s early afternoon when it happens the first time, and I’m sitting on the back porch by myself, watching the streamfrom a distance. Everything’s quiet, and while I can sense him nearby, it feels like something of a reprieve.
There’s a nasty spider in the kitchen. You should come see it.
I jump in place, brows immediately furrowing as his voice fills my head, almost like a memory, but far too clear and direct to be that. His words brush against the edges of my mind, almost like a caress. The presence is so distinctly not mine, and I freeze.
Caleb?I think back, not at all meant for him to receive.
His voice slides back in, feeling far too familiar there, as if he’s been in my mind all along.So you do know how to use it…
Staring at nothing in particular, that disbelief grips me, and it takes a moment to process before the realization strikes me.
The mental link. I knew it was part of the mating bond, but I’ve been so furious with him and everything happening that it completely escaped me.
I see you’re not very good at protecting your thoughts yet. That’s dangerous.
I narrow my eyes and snap back at him through the connection,Stop it.
But of course, he doesn’t leave. Instead, I feel his amusement through the bond, almost like distant laughter, but more as a sensation than an audible sound.
Tempting… but I felt you pulling on it first, whether you knew it or not,Caleb sends back with a strange kind of ease. It’s far too smug for my liking.Were you secretly thinking about me?
My cheeks immediately burn at the implications, and it takes all of my power not to squirm.
I wasn’t.
Lila, you definitely were.
That matter-of-fact tone only pisses me off more, and I glance over my shoulder to find the kitchen window open and Caleb leaning his arms against the sill with his chin resting on them, and an infuriating grin.
“Caleb,” I hiss out loud, teeth gritting. “Stay out of my head.”
“I will if you stop thinking so loud,” he says before standing up and moving to the back door, pushing the screen open, and leaning in the threshold. “You were practically shouting.”
“I wasn’t.”
He shrugs, gaining far too much amusement from this. “Kinda felt like you were.”
God, I hate him.
I hate how easily he gets under my skin, and more so than that, I hate how my pulse flutters at the sight of him.
I spent so long pushing down those feelings before, and without even trying, he has brought them back to the surface. He’s twisting and reshaping them, lacing memories and resentment with more heat than he should even be allowed.
More than anything, I want to throw something at him right now, but I don’t. I won’t let him see how unsettled I am by all of it.
Caleb just watches me for a while, eyes still gleaming from his previous teasing, then he crosses his arms deliberately.It takes incredible strength not to stare at the way it makes his muscles pop.
“You haven’t eaten anything today,” he says quietly, not hiding that subtle concern. “You should.”
Blinking back at him, it almost feels like I’m enduring whiplash.
