Soul Bonded (7 page)

Naked, she limped to the dresser by the closet and got a worn T-shirt out of the top drawer. Rafe’s scent wafted up to greet her, instantly comforting. She inhaled deeply as she tugged the shirt over her head, then cursed under her breath. He’d called her his bond-mate, and the wolf who’d bitten her had clearly sensed some connection between them. Was that why simply smelling Rafe made her feel like this? Like… She shivered again. Like she was
home
.

“Katie, are you okay?” Rafe’s voice came from just outside the bedroom door.

She walked stiffly to the pile of laundry and pulled a pair of her panties off the top. She had to struggle to make her limbs move so she could put them on. “I’m just so cold.” She shuffled to the door and threw it open, beyond caring about her lack of clothing. All she wanted was for Rafe to dress her wounds so she could crawl under the blankets. She never should have left in the first place. “I feel like I’ll never be warm again.”

Rafe’s gaze slid down the length of her body. His throat jumped when he saw her mangled legs. “He really got you.”

“Yeah.” She glanced down at her calves and shrugged, teeth chattering. “I can barely feel it. I can’t really feel anything right now.”
 

Rafe glanced over his shoulder at the bathroom door, then at her. “Why don’t you let me warm you a little before we look at the bites?”

Something about his tone told her that there was a reason he was asking permission. “What does that involve, exactly?”

He smiled, almost shyly. “A hug. Basically.”

“A hug.” She wasn’t sure she liked the idea. It almost felt like a trick. It was certainly too much for him to ask after what those beasts outside had put her through. But if there was any chance it might really help her fight off the ice that had settled into her bones, she was willing to take a leap of faith. “Okay.”

He seemed surprised by her easy acquiescence. “Okay.” He hesitated. “It would probably work better if we were skin-to-skin…”

Katie frowned. “No.”

“All right.” He held out his arms and looked into her eyes. “Come here.”

She surprised herself by stepping into his embrace without hesitation. He curled his powerful arms around her back and pulled her close enough to feel his heartbeat thumping in rhythm with her own. Within seconds, exquisite heat spread throughout her body, starting at her chest and flowing into the tips of her extremities. Katie gasped and nearly pulled away, but Rafe kept her close.

“It’s okay,” he murmured. “It’s normal. Let it happen.” He rubbed a hand up and down her spine, as though comforting a child. “I’ve got you. Just hold on to me.”

Katie clung to Rafe tightly, overwhelmed when the warmth that flowed from his body to hers bloomed into an intense rush of emotion. There was so much to process that she couldn’t separate everything she was feeling—love, safety, devotion, protectiveness, peace. The rhythm of his breathing shifted to match hers, making her feel as though his body was merely an extension of her own. She buried her face in his neck, overwhelmed by the all-consuming joy of being in his arms. His scent surrounded her, drawing out a low, needy moan that made her blush. Despite her embarrassment—despite everything that had happened tonight—she had to fight the urge to raise up on her tiptoes and kiss Rafe on the mouth.

Instead, she cried out in shock when sensation returned to her calves in the form of burning, throbbing pain. Rafe released her, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. “Your wounds?”

Katie nodded dumbly. Now that their embrace was over, the surreality of the entire situation hit her hard. Not only the existence of werewolves, but Rafe calling her his bond-mate and her body’s incredible reaction to his touch. Hell, her
soul’s
reaction to his mere presence. Trembling, she placed her hand on Rafe’s warm cheek and looked deep into his tender green eyes. “Rafe—“

He shook his head and took her hand. “Let’s go to the bathroom so I can clean your wounds. We’ll talk about it there.” His shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly as he led her down the hallway. “I’ll explain everything.”

Katie winced as Rafe guided her more gravely injured leg beneath a stream of warm water from the bathtub’s faucet. He poured some anti-bacterial soap into the wound and carefully but thoroughly washed it. The soap and water stung like a bitch, and despite his careful touch, she had to restrain herself from lashing out. “
Fuck
.”

Rafe raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry. I really am trying to be gentle.”

“I know you are.” She brought her other foot up onto the edge of the tub and rested her cheek on her knee, not caring that Rafe could see her panties. Maybe it was foolish, but she no longer feared him. On the contrary, an unexpected thrill crawled up her spine when his gaze slid to the space between her legs. Beyond a discreet flaring of his nostrils, he betrayed no reaction. She watched calmly as he turned his attention back to her leg, flushing out her wound with a tenderness she never would have expected from a man of Rafe’s size and strength.
 

“It’s good that you were wearing so many layers. This could’ve been much worse.”
 

“Believe me, I know.” She tried not to think about the way those two werewolves had talked about her—like she was a piece of meat to be violated and then eaten. A couple of bite wounds were nothing compared to what could have happened. If this was her worst souvenir from tonight, she considered herself lucky. The thought triggered a sudden, horrifying memory of werewolf lore drawn mostly from films and television. Nausea rolled over her. “He bit me. Does that mean…” She swallowed, certain she would be sick. “Am I a werewolf now?”

Rafe surprised her by laughing. He shot her an easygoing grin, so handsome it took the sting out of his amusement. “No, it doesn’t work like that. You have to be born this way.”

“Oh.” Katie considered that as her heart rate slowed. Then she realized how her disgust might have come across. “No offense intended. I’m sure it’s not like being a werewolf is the worst thing in the world.”

He snorted. “I appreciate you saying so.”

“It’s just that I—“

Rafe shook his head. “You don’t have to apologize. I understand.”

She joined in his examination of her deeper wound. Even if it didn’t turn her into a werewolf, the bite was going to leave a scar. The entire attack would no doubt linger within her subconscious mind forever. “Do you think I’ll need stitches?”

“No, we need to let the wound stay open to heal.” He stared at her leg as the water rinsed over it, then furrowed his brow. “It’ll lower the risk of infection.”

She nodded. The concern in his eyes made her belly flutter in the most pleasant way. There he went again, looking at her like she was his entire world. She knew they had to talk about whatever this bond was between them, but she was almost afraid to ask. Not ready to be direct, she said, “I’m lucky to have such a competent savior.”

“You’re lucky in more ways than you can imagine.” Stormy emotion tightened his features. “I could have
lost
you, Katie.”

“You barely know me.” Clearly this wasn’t exactly true, and she was pretty sure he already knew that she’d caught on. A surge of courage emboldened her to challenge him to be honest. “Why do you care?”

Rafe averted his eyes and held out his hand. “Let me see the other bite.”

She extended her bent leg, suppressing the urge to whimper when he cradled her ankle and guided it beneath the water. To hell with waiting for Rafe to come clean. If he wasn’t going to come out and address his big revelation, she would. “You told that—“ She paused, hesitant to offend him with her labeling of his brethren. “What do you call yourselves?”

“Just call him a wolf. That’s all he was. A mean-ass wolf.”

Beneath the cold judgment in Rafe’s eyes lurked a hint of shame—for his own kind, she assumed. He was obviously made of different stuff than those animals in the woods, or even his friend, Cooper, who’d urged him to let her die. But why did Rafe care about her seemingly worthless human life when none of the other wolves did? What set him apart? She sensed that it had everything to do with the answer to her next question. “You told that wolf that I was your bond-mate. What did you mean?”

Pain and sorrow radiated from his tense frame. “It’s…complicated.”

“Yes, it does sound complicated.” Katie waited a beat, then said, “Tell me. Please.”

Rafe rattled her with a look of genuine fear. “You were so cold, Katie.
So
cold. And unresponsive.” He continued to cradle her ankle as he spoke. “You were dying—and I had to do something. So I just…followed my instinct.”

“What did you do?”
 

He exhaled slowly. “I warmed you just like I did a few minutes ago. I took off my shirt and got beneath the blankets with you, then held you while I focused all my energy on raising your body temperature with mine. And it worked.” Guilt tightened his features. “But something happened. Something I didn’t expect.”

Enough with the build-up. She needed to know. “Rafe—”

His next words came out in a rush. “We bonded. I had no idea it would happen—that it even
could
happen. It’s rare enough for two werewolves to bond, so I never imagined that it would be possible for me to do it with a human.”
 

“We
bonded
?” Katie wrestled with disbelief as he turned off the faucet and opened the drawer beneath the sink. She had no idea why it would be a struggle to accept the concept of bonding souls on a night when she’d seen men transform into wolves, but her logical mind rebelled at the idea. She wasn’t even sure what it meant. “Explain what that involves. Please.”

He avoided her eyes as he uncapped a tube of antibiotic ointment and began spreading it over her wounds. “It means our souls are connected.”

She waited for more. When he didn’t elaborate, she huffed in exasperation. “And?”

“When you hurt, I feel pain.” His fingers glided over her skin, so very careful. “When we’re together, I’m whole. And when we’re apart, we’ll both…feel that loss. Acutely.”
 

Katie couldn’t wrap her mind around what Rafe was telling her. When she hurt, he felt pain? Did that go both ways? “What do you mean, we’ll feel the loss? How?”

“It’s my understanding that separation will mean tremendous suffering for both of us. But I can’t say for certain…I’ve never experienced it before.” Rafe shook his head and closed his eyes, pausing in his movements. “I’m so sorry. If I’d known…”

“You would have let me die?” In saving her, he’d fundamentally altered the course of her life. Right now she wasn’t certain whether she was better off alive. “Why didn’t you? You could have easily left me in my car. As far as I can tell, the rest of your kind would’ve. Either that or made me into a meal.”

Rafe lifted his shoulder in a vague shrug. “I couldn’t.” He met her eyes, sending another shiver through her. Even if her brain wasn’t sure about the idea of souls bonding, her body obviously recognized him. More than that,
wanted
him. She was pretty sure she should be furious about this bonding thing, if only she could focus on the repercussions and not the strange-yet-familiar touch of his strong hands. “I…value life.”

“Even
human
life?” It was either laugh or cry, and luckily she still felt capable of the former. “I’m nothing more than a piece of meat out here.” Her levity quickly dissolved into tears. “Am I?”

“The full moon is tomorrow night. That’s why it’s so dangerous for you right now. More than it might normally be.”

Katie wiped away a tear, not wanting to look weak. She refused to fall apart over this, no matter how dire the situation seemed. “What’s so special about the full moon? It seems like you guys turn into wolves whenever you want.”

Rafe nodded. “We can, but the moon forces us to shift. And for a day or two before and after, its energy gets us hyper-aroused. Puts us into hunting mode. For some of us that means going on longer runs than normal. For others, it’s an excuse to engage in a little unchecked brutality.”

“Terrific.”

“As far as I know, I’ve never killed anyone on one of those nights.” His jaw tightened. “But the reality is, I’m not in my head when the moon is full. None of us are. That’s why Cooper was concerned that I could harm you.” He flexed his fingers on her ankle, a gentle squeeze. “But I won’t. I don’t honestly believe I could.”

“You don’t believe you could,” Katie echoed, stomach rolling. “And yet before you met me, you had no idea that this bonding thing could even happen the way it did. So what the hell do you know?”

“I know that I will die before I let anyone hurt you.” Rafe couldn’t even look at her, despite his heartfelt words. “And I know that tomorrow night, I’m locking you in this cabin with Shilah, a gun, and strict orders to shoot anything that comes inside.” He paused. “Including me.”

Great. She hadn’t held a gun in years, let alone shot at a living creature with the intention of killing it. While she wouldn’t hesitate to defend herself against the mouthy gray wolf who’d bitten her tonight and others like him, she was pretty sure there was no way she could ever knowingly hurt Rafe. The thought—errant, instinctive,
true
—pissed her off. “You said that if I hurt, you feel pain. If we’re apart, we’ll both feel the loss.” She pinned him with a hard look. “So how, exactly, am I supposed to shoot you?”

He gently dabbed the last of the ointment on her calf. “It won’t come to that.”

“No, of course not. Because I’m your goddamn
bond-mate
.”

His shoulders stiffened and he actively avoided making eye contact. “Yes.”

The enormity of that concept flooded her with fresh panic. What did this mean? She couldn’t exactly leave her life in San Francisco to be with a werewolf who lived in a cabin in the middle of scary, werewolf-infested woods. It wasn’t like she loved him—no matter what her heart and body kept telling her. “Okay, I can see the advantage of our connection if you think it’ll protect me from you tomorrow night. But after that, how do we undo it? How do we break the bond?”

“We don’t.” The words sounded hollow. “It’s done.”