Bound to My Mate Ch. 07

As I started off again I was hoping my ploy would buy me a few more minutes from the dogs. A werewolf's nose was sharp and they may not even fall for my stunt, I just prayed they did.

Rounding a corner I looked up and the setting sun had cast the oddest shadow on the steep rock wall above me. It almost looked like something moved. I jumped off the road and just started running wildly into the forest.

Brambles reached out and grabbed me in the dense undergrowth. I was leaving a perfect trail and I knew it. Trying to get out of the thick growth I scrambled down a large embankment and nearly fell into a river splashing through the forest.

Pulling myself to my feet I waded into the water wondering if simple water could dilute me enough. The water had come almost to my waist, so I prayed it washed something away. I was shivering as I pulled out of the stream, from fear and cold, but kept running.

Out of nowhere I was in a desolate area scarred by a recent wildfire. At least I knew I was heading back the way we'd come. The underbrush was burned away and the ground was black with soot. I slipped twice in the muck badly skinning my right knee. Limping hard I looked in the direction of the sun and ran that way.

'Please Joel,' I silently called, 'I'm running west, please find me.'

I was running out of options and I knew it. I was no longer on a marked road and I had no idea where I was. Realizing my running could just be taking me in circles I decided to stop. Joel knew the forest and as long as I was somewhere memorable, he would find me. I just prayed it was before the rogues did.

Scrambling, I pulled myself up on a ledge of rock near the burned area. Above me sat what I considered an impressive slope. I huddled myself into an indent in the rock face and tried to get out of the wind. I continued to concentrate on the look of that rock face above me.

Minutes turned slowly and the panic I'd been holding back started to blossom. I cocked the gun and held it tightly. I'd use it if I had to. The howling I heard faintly in the distance did little to sooth my nerves. It sounded like a hunt and I feared I was the prize.

A voice in the back of my head told me this is what I got for not listening. As long as I wasn't allowing Joel to change me I should accept every aspect of his protection. If I had done that, I never would have ended up here.

Suddenly it struck me that if I had been a were wolf, I'd be in a lot less trouble. My struggle at the clinic may have actually amounted to something. Even if they had gotten me to the cabin, I would have been prepared to make a run for it in the forest. The way I was now wasn't cut out for this life.

Honestly, I wasn't that surprised when several sets of luminescent eyes appeared in front of me. I stood up and prepared to defend myself. I held Ryana's gun in a steady grip and aimed. From what I'd seen a gun probably wouldn't kill a werewolf, but I'd at least make them hurt.

I'd already made up my mind. The freaks weren't taking my mate from me just to get control of the pack. I'd fight them until they killed me. Joel and I would lose, but his pack would be safe. I could at least give him that much.

"I would prefer," a voice intoned from in front of me, "that you give me the opportunity to defend you before you throw yourself on a sword."

The gun dropped to the ground as I saw Joel emerge naked from the forest. He was flanked by several large wolves on either side. I could only remember one other time I'd been this glad to see him.

It may not be wise to rush a werewolf, but I did so without hesitation. Jumping from the ledge I wrapped my arms around Joel's thick shoulders and buried my face in his chest. Shifting me to his back, I felt him change under me into the large black wolf.

I hung on for dear life as we raced through the forest. Looking left and right we were flanked by several wolves on either side. The wolves moved with unfailing grace in what I considered impassable terrain. As relief crept up on me so did the cold.

The wolves moved at a relentless pace and I was soaking wet in the cold night air. I tried to concentrate on anything else; because I had a feeling my discomfort was being transmitted directly to the wolf I was on top of. Frankly, I'd rather be cold and not dead. My ride snorted at the last thought and continued his pace, so I know he heard me. I huddled closer to him and pressed my chest to his back and was warmer.

I saw light ahead and the group slowed as we passed into it. It was a clearing full of wolves and wolf men in various stages of change. At the sight of Joel with me on his back a collective howl went up into the night sky.

I felt Joel start his shift under me and I allowed myself to fall off his back as he changed. I assumed he wanted to talk to his troops, so I started to step back from him out of the way. I headed for a stump several feet away; it looked like a good place to sit.

My trip was cut short as the wolf man dragged me back in front of him growling menacingly. Meeting the creature's angry gold gaze, I got the point quickly. I was to stay with him. Wrapping my arms around him I nuzzled his chest and stroked his back. Huddled close the fur receded to skin and human Joel was back. He stroked my hair while he addressed the rest of the pack there.

"We killed several of the renegades!" he boomed out. This pronouncement was met with a howl from the surrounding wolves. "As many of you already know the witch and two others have eluded us." I wanted to ask him how they could already know, but I just stayed quiet and listened instead. He continued, "Will has the witch's scent, please familiarize yourselves with it. Divide into your teams, start the search once everyone is ready."

I glanced up from Joel's chest to see Will holding a soiled piece of bloody linen high for the other wolves to inspect. It looked like the scrub top the medical assistants at work wore.

Will himself was not unscarred with several wide angry claw marks across his chest and one on his face. He handed the top to Nate who was still human and unlike almost everyone else, still dressed. Nate proceeded to walk it around to the other wolves to smell.

For what had been a successful hunt, the area was surprisingly subdued. The wolves seemed to move nervously as Joel barked orders. If eight foot wolf men could look skittish, these did. The reason became apparent a moment later as Will walked away from the hunt.

Will joined two men that had acted as my guard standing away from the rest of the groups. They bore the same marks as Will did. Those gouges were not left by the renegades, they had been left by my mate. I stared at Will feeling awful. This was my fault.

Will noticed me looking at him and hit a knee, head bowed low; his colleagues followed suit. I wasn't sure what was going on and looked up at Joel. There was silence in the gathered wolves.

"What will you do with them? They failed you," Joel said looking down at me.

"They did not fail me," I stated with more authority than I felt, "I did not obey your orders. They shouldn't have to pay for my stupidity. Please forgive them," I finished and looked pleadingly at Joel.

Joel seemed to consider me objectively for a minute. I held my breath.

"As you wish, the price for today's disobedience will be between us, mate. The protection detail does not suffer further punishment," he stated pulling me close again.

I was never so happy to be told I was going to be punished in my life and had to withhold a grin. I hated to have others blamed for my mistakes. It was like a dam of tension broke and the assembled wolves howled to the sky, why I didn't know.

"That's appreciation for taking on all of my ire, love," Joel whispered low into my ear. "You should definitely wait to see if you're happy when I'm done with you."

I looked up to see swirling gold and shuddered at this dominant male's idea of punishment. I had guessed he would be angry at me for allowing myself to get captured again.

The wolves had divided into teams to find Ryana and the other renegades in the woods. Apparently Ryana had managed to throw them off her scent with magic, but she could only throw so many wolves at a time. Stronger wolves, like Will, she wasn't able to throw as easily and he almost got her.

Will had dug his claws into her and managed to get her blouse, but then she hit him with a burning liquid. He said his world had gone dark. When he got his senses back she was gone. The wolves were using her clothing and blood to strengthen what they knew to be her distinct smell. Hopefully, they would find her quickly.

I was starting to shiver again because of the cold. The light in the small clearing was coming from the headlights of several of the pack's vehicles and I longed to get in one and crank up the heat. Instead I opted to stay close to Joel for warmth and just hoped he would get done directing his wolves soon.

Turning to me Joel cocked his head and took in my countenance. My outfit was soaked and ruined.

Joel motioned and someone brought him a thick grey blanket. Wrapping it around me loosely he told me to remove the wet clothes, "They will just make you colder," he said.

I agreed with him and slipped everything off. As I wrapped the blanket tight around me I noted how flat his voice sounded. It was like his fury at what was happening had peaked to a point it wasn't expressible. That wasn't good.

Sticking my leg out the slit in the blanket I looked at my knee. Joel had an arm around me, but was busy giving instructions to someone. My knee was bruised and bloody. Either I would have to ask Joel to heal it or I was going to have to treat it back at the den. It would get infected otherwise.

Will was in front of us a second later, back down on one knee. 'What now?' I wondered.

"Your leg is cut and you are bleeding, Madam. May a grateful wolf heal this injury for you?" he asked dutifully.

I looked at Joel; I was really out of my depth here. His face looked hard, but he nodded assent.

The man shifted rapidly to a large brown wolf and approached me on his belly. I held my leg out and felt the familiar tingle as the rough tongue rubbed against me. Soon the pain in my knee was all but a memory.

As the wolf became a man he stood in front of me head still bowed. "I'm glad you got away. I'm so sorry-" he started to say.

I cut him off. "No, I did not listen to you or to Joel. You gave me good advice and I ignored it. You should not be blamed for my bad decisions," I took a breath and continued, "and by the look of your chest you have already borne the brunt of someone's anger. Please forgive me for that," I finished in a gush.

"Of course," he smiled genuinely at me. I wondered how he could not be angry at me. He just bowed low and then stepped back, melding into the hunt for Ryana.

"You were not the only one to make mistakes today, mate. You have taken responsibility for all of them, though. The wolves are sincerely grateful to you for that," Joel said quietly guiding me toward the pack's vehicles.

Within a few seconds I found myself in the blissful back seat of a large SUV with the heat on high. Joel had left me with his driver and Nate. Nate gave me a bottle of water and threw me an anxious look.

"You have no idea how angry he is right now," he warned, "please don't do anything to set him off."

"If it wasn't for the mate bond he would have killed your detail immediately. You gave them a small reprieve by feeling guilty. He knew you disobeyed him."

"I've never seen him so upset before. He keeps talking about chaining you up in his rooms until you learn to pay attention. As Alpha he could do that and no one would stop him, he needs to calm down for both your sakes," he finished pleading with his eyes. The driver subtly nodded his agreement, but kept his eyes straight ahead.

Nate had never said much to me and I got the feeling that was more than he really wanted to say. I took his warning seriously. I wanted to ask him more about it, but Joel was sliding in on my right as Saul slid in on my left. Joel was as naked as me, sans the blanket, but Saul had on a pair of jeans with a plain T shirt.

Quite quickly I found my blanket removed and I was pulled to sit in Joel's lap. We rested skin to skin and he wrapped the blanket back around us. There was palpable tension radiating from him and I wanted to make it better. I nuzzled him, biting and kissing the skin on his neck. My hands of their own accord started to run from his neck down his naked torso. As he pulled me close I had a horrible thought.

"Wait!" I shouted. "How do you know it's me and not Ryana?"

"Are you confused with who you are, love?" Joel asked sounding exasperated.

"No, but how do you know she isn't tricking you. She seemed really sure she could do it."

"I am familiar with the spell to which she refers," he said running his hand over my shoulders, "I have seen the copy the witches keep and it is entirely ineffective. We continue to let them think they understand us, but also continue to leak them false information. There is very little she could do to harm a werewolf."

"Not a werewolf, remember?" I said poking him in the chest and immediately regretting that decision

Joel angry countenance was right in mine a second later, "We are also very protective of the secrets regarding our human mates, she has nothing."

Dropping my gaze to his chest I started to put small kisses along his collar bone. I kissed soothingly along his neck and spared a glance back at his eyes. He was looking down at me.

"I should have sent Nate with you," he said shifting his gaze to stare out the window.

"I made the mistake, Joel. Will told me not to separate from him. He told me to eat my lunch from the den. It wasn't my guard's fault," I said arguing for the men that had already taken a pummeling for me.

The look on Joel's face told me that was the admission he was waiting for. He was furious with me.

"Explain it to me," he said, "what made you disregard my warnings so easily?" His face was a mask, his eyes hard and unyielding.

I was acutely aware of 4 sets of ears listening for a good answer. I licked my dry lips and groped for a reply that wouldn't further inflame him.

"It was a mistake; I wanted things to be normal again..." I trailed off not sure what else to say.

"Do you want to stay human?" he asked calmly.

"I want to stay with you," was my immediate response.

"That wasn't what I asked."

"But it's the answer," I pleaded, "I'll do anything I have to in order to stay with you. I don't care about being human. You are right, please change me."

I finished my tirade grabbing his shoulders and looking up into his stormy eyes. They softened as his arms pulled me tight.

"You have successfully distracted me from being angry at you for now," he smiled, "I guess I'll be taking my punishment out on your werewolf hide, that's probably better anyway."

"How would that make any possible difference," I mused into his neck.

"If I took it out on your human butt you wouldn't be able to sit down for a week," he said laughing. "Werewolves heal so fast I'll get to repeat the punishment every night for at least that long!"

I groaned into his neck and heard faint chuckling coming from the SUV's other occupants as they relaxed.

"So tell me, are you aware exactly what has to be done to change you?" he asked stroking my back.

"It has to be done on a full moon is all I know," I said looking up at him.

"We change our humans on a full moon out of tradition, but it doesn't have to be so. To change you I will take you to a special clearing in the woods and we will be surrounded by the pack. I will bite you as a wolf as I mate you. I will intend for my bite to infect you. We will wait for the next full moon to see if you have changed by then. If you haven't, we will repeat the ceremony."

I must have looked a little uncertain because he continued to stroke my back and answered my unspoken question, "The pack is present because in doing the ceremony you become one of the pack. I took you as a mate; the pack must accept you as a member."

I blanched at the idea of such public sex, no wonder Katrina had been "begrudgingly" changed. From a human perspective it didn't sound like fun.

Trying not to sound like a weenie, I smiled up at him, "Fine, when do we do this thing then?"

"Well, the pack does like its traditions and the full moon is two days away, so we will do it then."

Cringing slightly I cuddled closer into his warm chest and tried to breath normally. That was going to be one hell of a weird day.