Chapter 5 #4
You know, despite how scary he seemed, Tore was actually a rather relaxed individual. At least from what I’d experienced so far. He seemed like a sort of teddy bear. I liked that about him, and I found myself sinking back into him further.
My eyes widened only slightly, realizing that while he may have been relaxed, not all parts of him were.
In fact, there was a rather hard part of him that was very excited, and I was going to do my best to ignore that for now.
That wasn’t an easy task, though, considering how flushed it made me.
I tried to not let the surge of desire that was forming make an appearance.
I wasn’t good at hiding my feelings, and I knew wolves, at least fenrir wolves, could scent desire.
“We have like maybe ten cars in our pack, total. My household doesn’t own one… they could have asked Alpha, I guess. He’s my uncle, sort of, but he also never offered.”
“Your uncle is the Alpha of a pack and he didn’t send you up here with anyone?” Dakota’s lips pulled back slightly as if pissed.
“Yes, adopted uncle, technically. I grew up in the Whitepaw Fenrir Pack.”
When no one said anything, I blushed, feeling like they were all staring at me. “I don’t understand what’s with all the questions. Why is it a big deal?”
“Calm down,” Tore demanded softly when Caedmon let out a small growl that had me freezing. I met his gaze, concerned he was mad at me, my pulse spiking in fear… only to find him staring down at the expensive shoes he wore, looking very tense.
Dakota seemed to take the lead here, and Julian was by far the most relaxed. I couldn’t quite figure out how Tore or Caedmon fit into their dynamic, but I could see there was tension in the group, and I found myself wanting to resolve it.
“So you just decided to apply? Are you transferring from another school?” Dakota asked, leaning forward, resting his forearms on his knees.
“No.” I shook my head. “I didn’t plan on going to school. I didn’t apply. I just received a letter of acceptance with a full scholarship package less than three days ago.”
That seemed to once again freeze the room.
Dakota’s eyes flashed with something dark and concerned before fixing Julian with a look.
“Clearly she was brought here for a reason. I just wonder if whoever it was knew or not.” Then, turning to me, he added, “Thank fuck you were on that train when Julian was coming back from the city.”
“Knew what?” I asked, nervous to ask a question but also not wanting to be kept from understanding what was going on since it clearly involved me.
“She doesn’t know,” Caedmon explained softly, tapping his foot as if trying to stop himself from saying something.
“Know what?” I was tense, and Tore rolled his forehead against my shoulder, his arm wrapping around my waist as if worried I was going to try to move or get up. I didn’t think he realized how comfortable I was.
“We need to explain,” Julian pointed out, handing me another bagel, and I couldn’t lie—while I was frustrated, I also found I was a bit more hungry than I realized.
I offered him a small thankful smile as he winked at me.
My cheeks flushed as everything inside of me tightened, and I looked away before I could let that grow.
Plus, I very much still needed to know what they were talking about.
“How much do you know about blood-bonded packs, Effie?” Dakota asked. I swallowed, trying to ignore the flash of heat that ran over my body at the way he said my name, while trying to form a serious sentence.
“Honestly, I don’t exactly have a lot of knowledge about the supernatural community,” I hedged nervously, “so none on blood-bonded packs. I wasn’t exactly given a lot of liberties at home, and I was homeschooled, so I learned mostly about our pack and I guess the ‘normal’ school curriculum.
When I asked about other types of wolves, no one would give me much information besides more about fenrir and then all the reasons bitten wolves were weak.
” I ended in a frustrated noise at that nonsense.
What would have been the harm in learning about other wolves?
“Do you know about the other two wolf species?” Caedmon asked, looking suddenly nervous.
I resisted the urge to move off Tore’s lap and go comfort him.
The man had a very odd edge to him, one that I wanted to soothe.
It was an unfamiliar feeling that almost verged on the line of protectiveness.
Something that was laughable, considering my inability to protect even myself.
“I know they exist, obviously, but I don’t even know what they are called.” I winced, feeling ignorant, and I intertwined my fingers nervously. “Probably seems pretty ridiculous, especially since I can tell you two aren’t fenrir or bitten wolves.”
“Not ridiculous,” Caedmon immediately contradicted, my smile growing slightly as Dakota’s chest rumbled, bringing my gaze back to where he was staring at me.
I got the feeling he didn’t like it when I didn’t look at him.
He didn’t say so, but his gaze was demanding and almost willing me to hold it.
Unlike Tore, his dominance didn’t have me wanting to submit or look away, it had me wanting to meet it.
Fully. It was a very odd feeling, because I also wouldn’t have minded climbing on his lap and feeling his lips pressed against my neck.
More specifically, my bite mark, something that I seemed to only be craving with these men.
“Alright.” Dakota nodded. “We can cover more later. But easiest put, blood-bonded packs are specialty packs that some of the more connected families within our community choose to form in an attempted ‘alliance.’ They consist of alphas from the four different species, and they are set up to create harmony within the community. They can be found at most of the large supernatural universities throughout the world.”
Ah. I tilted my head. “So you create a pack of all different types of wolves to make sure there is a reason for them to get along because of the relationship there? That makes sense.”
In fact, it was actually really smart. If I had to base it off how fenrir wolves felt about bitten… well, then it made sense there would be issues. Although, Tore didn’t seem to feel that way towards me.
Would he think it was weird that this was the longest someone had ever touched me in this soft or sweet of a way?
I mean, I had barely been hugged before being around these men today.
I guess I still had yet to get my first hug.
Was that odd? Maybe that was normal if you didn’t have real parents.
I saw a lot of moms and dads hug their children on television, but those were ‘bullshit fairytales,’ according to Gerald.
I knew for a fact that most pack parents completely ignored their children, so he was probably right.
“They also share a mate to ensure success. The theory is if there is a mate and pups that come from that, there would be less of a reason to break it up. Not all wolf species have ‘fated’ mates, per se, but when the blood bond is created, each wolf species brings something to the pack. There is also a mate bond created for the pack as a whole upon completion of the bonding ritual, resulting in us being assigned a ‘fated’ mate, so to speak. I have only talked to the other three bonded packs on campus, but it seems the process is much the same no matter where you come from.”
All I could focus on was the word ‘mate.’ Did they have a mate? I didn’t like the concept of them having a mate at all. My heart tightened as my hand curled around the back of my neck, and my voice came out soft and unsure. “So… you guys will share a mate?”
Before they could answer, I jumped slightly, Tore pushing up my sleeve and gently brushing his lips against my wrist where it was bruised.
I turned and met his gaze, melting slightly, and bathing in the soft action.
But that was before the word ‘mate’ sounded in my head again, reminding me of the other shoe that was about to drop.
I’d heard it wasn’t uncommon for one woman to share male mates, but I had never personally seen it myself.
The concept of mating had always been unappealing to me, so the notion of me worrying about their mate now was unsettling.
I also didn’t know how to feel about the idea of them sharing one woman.
Well, actually I hated that idea. Hated the idea of them being with someone that wasn’t… me?
My wolf offered me an innocent look as if she didn’t know what was going on. That would make two of us. I didn’t even like the idea of mating, especially if it was like Gerald and Theresa’s relationship… so why was all of this catching my interest so much?
“Yes,” Julian answered, his eyes sparking with something.
My throat suddenly felt choked at an unnamed emotion washing over me. “So do you have one? A mate?”
Please say no. I mean, I knew nothing could happen between us…
well, I didn’t know that, but I assumed they wouldn’t be interested in someone like me.
I also knew that any mate in their right mind who had four beautiful men like this wouldn’t want some girl hanging out in their lap.
My eyes widened in concern at that, not wanting to cause problems.
Not that any girl would be threatened by me, especially most stunning shifter women. I mean, I was small and sort of mousy with oversized secondhand clothes and a torn beanie on my head. I wasn’t exactly an ideal mate for anyone. So why did the concept of not being their mate make me so sad?