Unwanted Shewolf novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Bond

Rafe built up the fire in the low house and sat across the table from me with a pot of tea between us.

He kept his hands flat on the wood, away from me.

"Ask me anything," he said. "The oath's finished. I can answer all of it."

"What does the bond do?"

"I know where you are. I can tell when you're afraid. When you're hurt, it feels like it's happening to me a little."

"And that's all?"

"No." He looked at the table. "It makes me want to be near you. That part I won't pretend away."

I turned my cup in my hands.

"So you don't have a choice."

"I didn't choose the bond," he said. "I'm choosing what I do about it. Here are my terms, and you can hold me to every one."

He held out his scarred hands.

"You're free to leave the Hollow any day you like, and I'll walk you to the stones myself."

"I won't touch you unless you say so."

"And I won't put my mark on you until you ask me to, and you don't have to ask me for anything."

I waited for the catch.

There wasn't one, and that made me trust it less.

"Rafe," I said. "Everything you're saying is what the bond would make you say."

His eyes came up.

"Maybe," he said. "Then watch what I do, not what I say. I can wait."

I did not know what to do with that, so I held out my left wrist and looked at the mark instead.

The skin around the crescent was raw and red, and it throbbed.

"It's still burning," I said.

"That's normal. May I?"

I nodded.

He fetched a jar of salve from a shelf and came around the table, and he went down on one knee beside my chair.

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