Acorn snorted in my mind.Duty and logic. A practical pact. Romance, it seems, is a skill that you lack.
“Hush.”
Feral’s eyebrow rose. “Excuse me?”
“I wasn’t speaking to you. I was telling my companion, Acorn, to stop chattering away in my mind.”
I can hear you, you know,Acorn said, sounding affronted.
“Acorn?” Feral asked.
I nudged my head to the squirrel by my feet.
Feral’s pale blue gaze drilled my companion. “I see. How did he come by that particular name?”
“He adores acorns.”
“I see,” Feral said again.
A nut well-stored outlasts the coldest snow. Territory management is just violence with a bow.
I relayed what he’d said.
“Does he always speak like that?” Feral asked, his mouth twitching upward, deploying an almost-smile that did dangerous things to my respiratory system.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Does he always speak in rhyme?”
“Not all the time.”
He grunted.
The elder wrapped a ceremonial cord around our joined hands. “Please speak the final words of the binding.”
“We hunt together,” Feral said.
“We protect together,” I said. Thankfully, they’d delivered a script before the wedding.
“We are pack.”
“We are?—”
Magic slammed into me, nearly knocking me to the ground.
It erupted from where our hands touched, a resonance that sang through my bones and lit up every nerve. I gasped, staggering, and Feral’s grip tightened, steadying me. His eyes had gone wide, the pupils blown.
I gulped. “What just happened?”
“I don’t know.” His voice dropped to a whisper.
Magic pulsed between us, not his or mine but something entirely new. I could feel his wolf, wild and protective and utterlyfocused on me. Could sense the way his instincts screamed mate with a certainty that I found terrifying.
The elder smiled. “The bond recognizes truth. Please continue.”
Feral’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t let go of my hands. “We are pack.”
“We are bonded,” I said, my voice coming out steadier than it should after… that.
