The Bond

Frank's POV

All of this is both amazing and terrifying. This woman is linked to this town and she is linked to me too. I just don’t know how it is possible. An Alpha like myself can only mate with a pureblooded werewolf of similiar rank, yet…yet…fuck!

I was going to just grab her a sandwich, but I need more time to think. I go to Maman’s Kitchen which is a cajun fusion restaurant. I can sit at their bar and eat while I figure out how to tell her that soon I won’t be able to contain myself around her. Ugh! “Dearie, you look troubled,” Adele says. She is an older werewolf who came through here searching for her mate. She leaves and returns a lot. I don’t expect her to stay forever because now I understand what the pull to a mate is like.

“I am a bit, but I will figure it out.”

“I hear talking helps? I might not be your mother, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t lend an ear,” she winks, “Or two.”

“Hypothetical, if you discovered that your mate isn’t the same as you, would you still mate with them?”

She pours me a whiskey and her one too. She raises her glass. “Fate doesn’t make mistakes, boy. If your wolf feels that pull, I suggest that you don’t deny him that bond. You can figure out the logistics later.”

“But, I am not an ordinary alpha. It could cost me my pack.”

“Then form another.”

“You can’t tell anyone about this.”

She grins. “I won’t and you know that.” She moves her glass to clink with mine. “So a toast.”

“To what?”

“Fate and paving your own destiny,” she replies. Why the hell not. I clink my glass to hers and we both drink. Maybe I can get Grace the information she needs and get her somewhere safe while I figure out how to tell her that she will be mated to an alpha unlike any other.

End Frank's POV

It seems like hours, but I know that he doesn’t leave me alone for very long. He comes through the door with a bag of food. It smells so good. “I thought you might be hungry. Have a soda because the caffeine will help boost healing. I got an appetizer sampler and some Italian.” He placed the platter on a small table in the corner of the room and pulled out my chair. I had dug through his drawers and found a pair of boxers and a long t-shirt. It was huge on me, and the boxers were baggy, but it was better than being naked.

“It smells good.”

“Eat, and I will tell you what I can. Usually, the clans don’t interfere with each other here in Darkness Falls. The vampires likely didn’t know you were a werewolf and could belong to a clan. This peace treaty has been in place since my father was killed. I have worked very hard to keep things civil between supernaturals,” he says as I eat. He takes a few bites between sentences.

“It’s logical, but unrealistic. There are laws for everything, but for every law there are lawbreakers too.”

“I get what you are saying, but here rules don’t get broken unless they want to die. Things are different here, but you will get used to it. Until you came to town, vampires didn’t hunt in city limits. Werewolves kept to the town and the woods. Then you show up and the treaty goes out the window.”

I hold my fork up to him. “Just how the fuck is this my fault?!?”

He sighs. “When I helped you in the alley, the vampire lord will likely think that I overstepped our boundaries.”

I spear my fork into the table. “Just hold up a goddamn minute! One of that fucking bloodsucker’s leeches was hunting at that bar which is in town. Therefore, if anyone overstepped, it was that vampire! His master should have better control, don’t you think?”

He grins. “I understand. But it wasn’t about who acted first, sugar. His attacking a human is a misdeed, but my protecting that human is a far greater offense.”

“If you thought I was human, then why bother? But the vampire didn’t attack a human. He attacked a wolf. That should ruffle the old vamp’s wings now, shouldn’t it?”

He laughs. “You talk like a wolf, you know?”

I shrug. I sigh. “If the vampires are going to keep attacking me, maybe I should leave town. I trust you enough to tell me if you learn anything about my father.”

He reaches across the table to use his thumb to remove some sauce from my lips. “I can’t do that now, sugar. I need to protect you. You are one of my pack now, and your wolf is starting to awaken.”

“Well, buddy, I have some questions because I won’t take an I told you so as one. How long are you going to keep me here?”