Frank’s gaze slid toward August. “How’s your stomach,son?”
“Fine,” he repliedgruffly.
“What did I contract, Frank?” I was scared now. I wasn’t in pain but definitely indiscomfort.
“A mating bond,” Frank said. “That’swhat.”
“What?” My brain felt as though it were pirouetting inside my skull. “A what?” I looked towardAugust.
The color had leached from his skin, and his full lips parted with an inaudible gasp. “No. . . ”
“Yes,” Frank said. “I’m sorry, son. I imagine this isn’t what you or Ness want to hear, but your wolves decided they were meant for eachother.”
Ourwolves?
A matingbond?
I sucked in a breath. “What?” I whispered, not because I was dumb or dense—I’d gotten what Frank had just thrown at us—but because I was shocked. Beyond shocked. I was probably experiencing what my mother had felt the night I’d barreled out of my bedroom on four paws and whitefur.
While Frank explained the technicalities of a mating bond, I zoned out. I didn’t want a preordained fate. I wanted the freedom to fall in love with the person of my choice. And that person wasn’t August. I mean, I loved August, but as an olderbrother.
I didn’t love him asmore.
I could never love him asmore.
“This has nothing to do with love,” Franksaid.
Had he heard my thoughts? Had I spoken them outloud?
I scrutinized the beige grout between the slabs of gray stones on the floor. The lines blurred and intersected at wrong angles. This couldn’t be happening . . . I’d just become part of the pack. I’d just kissed Liam Kolane. I didn’t want a matingbond.
“Mating bonds areevolutionary—”
I cut Frank off. “Like eradicating females?” I was still bitter about this. I think I would always be bitter about my pack ingesting a fossilized tree root to ensure only boys were born to thepack.
“No,Ness.”
A hush fell over the room. Since Frank wasn’t launching into an explanation, and August wasn’t asking any questions, I deduced he’d been brought up to speed about the Boulder Wolves’ selectiontool.
“Not to sound pedantic, but let me give you a little history lesson. As you may already know, werewolves began existing when men and women settled around these parts. To survive, our ancestors were given the gift of claws and fur. They used their gifts to protect those who walked the earth only in skin.” Frank scraped in a breath. “To make sure our species endured the test of time, each one of our ancestors was drawn to a particular mate, someone who complemented their skillset, whose genes would ensure the making of a better, strongerwolf.
“Now, with the advent of modernity, the world became less hostile to the settlers, and so our numbers dwindled, but thanks to generations of mating, we never stopped existing. Sadly, with our people being killed off byhunters—”
“Or by tree roots,” I interjected, my gaze wandering over the tiny clumps of earth left behind by dirty boots, clumps that led all the way to a padlockedfridge.
What could possibly be kept in there that merited a lock and chain? The pack artifact? I hoped Liam would destroy ittonight.
“Or by tree roots,” Frank conceded, “mates have become rarer. It still happens, though. Some werewolves will even experience this with humans, a rare occurrence, but still anoccurrence.”
“Can we . . . ” I loosed a rough sigh. This situation was so unfair. “Can we breakit?”
“Break it?” Frankrasped.
My navel felt as though it had been filled with gasoline and set on fire. Was that a result of our link? I didn’t press my palm against my abdomen, afraid to bring attention to my duplicitousbody.
“Why would you want to break it, Ness?” Frankasked.
I looked at August, who was studying the humming refrigerator in the corner with such intensity that if he’d been a warlock instead of a werewolf, I was pretty sure the fridge would’ve melted into a puddle ofsteel.
