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CHAPTER EIGHT: Hazel Ellis
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2025-02-25 06:59:17
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Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER NINE : Hazel Ellis
I really needed to learn his name; Merrick’s nicknames for him were degrading. It was understandable, given their history, but I wasn’t a part of that history and would see for myself before making a judgment.I stood, stepping away from the table and up beside Merrick. “Why don’t you guys pull up chairs and we can all talk over lunch,” I smoothed the conflict easily.“Sounds lovely,” the prince purred.I didn’t think I’d ever admit it, but I liked Merrick’s engine-idling sound a hell of a lot more than the cat’s soft purr. There was just something more honest about the grizzly, and I preferred honest to conniving a million times over.Merrick sat stiffly in his chair while the cat guys dragged another round table over. The lion took the chair at the head of the table, opposite Merrick instead of beside me. Clearly, his pride in his position outweighed his interest in me.When the grizzly’s hands didn’t move back to his food, falling to his thighs in tight fists, my mind went back to
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER TEN:Hazel Ellis
I told Merrick I was going to take a nap. It was a lie he didn’t seem to believe, but he sat down with his back against my door once again when I closed it.Turning on the shower, I dragged Liv into the bathroom with me.“His hearing is better than ours,” I whispered, gesturing toward the front of the motel room. Liv nodded her understanding, and I closed the door before dropping to my ass on the ground and shoving my fingers into my hair. “I don’t know what to do,” I told her, honestly.Liv closed the toilet seat and sat down on it. “You’ve landed in a pretty shitty situation,” she agreed, “But it’s a hell of a lot better than the one you were in before you got here.”That… was a good point.“What would you do?” I asked her. “Easy. I’d fuck the falcon.”I snorted. “He’s a griffon.”“Either way, he’s damn gorgeous. I’d pick him hands-down.” She grinned, then her grin faded to a sincere, sad expression. “I wish you had time to fall in love, here, Haze. But we both know real love isn’t
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER ELEVEN: Hazel Ellis
The pull of his scent on me grew stronger the longer we rode in the truck. By the time we pulled onto the dirt road, my entire left side was pressed against his right, my head on his shoulder. I was dizzy with desire. His right arm was slung over the back of my seat, though I noticed he put effort into keeping it from draping over my shoulders the way we both wanted it.And him putting in effort to give me space, like I’d asked for, mattered to me.It mattered a lot.We passed dozens of houses, all occupied by different types of shifters. They weren’t fancy, but they weren’t in bad shape, like the motel and bar had been.“Damn, you look comfy.” Liv remarked as Merrick finally pulled up in front of a little cottage. The walls were painted a dark green color that nearly blended into the trees around it, and there was something charming about it.I shot Liv a warning stare, and she winked in response. It was mid- afternoon at that point, and I heard kids playing somewhere not too far awa
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER TWELVE:Hazel Ellis
As we walked back to Merrick’s house, he said, “I’d like to shift too, after I see you in your wolf form. We could wander a bit, maybe run a little.”“You want to chase me?” I lifted an eyebrow. “What male doesn’t want to chase a female?”I guessed that was valid. “We have to be back for dinner with Liv.”“You’ll definitely be the one who has to remember that,” he said. “There’s no way I’ll go from chasing you to leading you back here for human food.”Understandable, given his tendency to get lost in the way I smelled. I kind of liked that tendency. “Okay, I can do that.”We got back to his house, and he threw his shirt on the porch. I tugged mine over my head, tossing it up there too. His eyes met my boobs in my favorite pushup bra, and he idled like a damn motorcycle.“Turn around, grizzly,” I warned, spinning my finger. He obliged, and I stripped. Shifting came naturally, and it felt good to be in wolf form again.Shaking out my fur, I stretched a bit.Merrick turned to face me, h
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER THIRTEEN : Merrick Blake
“I can’t smell that good,” I told him.“You can and do.” He cleared his throat. “At least you can see the floor, now.” He gestured to the ground, which I could see.“Have you ever had a girl in here before?” I asked, curiosity leaking into my voice.“No. A bear’s den is private; I’d go mad it if smelled like anyone else in here.”“You know I don’t have to stay here, Grizzly. If it makes you uncomfortable, it’s totally fine for me to stay—”“No.” He cut me off, stepping up so close to me that our bodies would touch if either of us breathed deeply enough. I put a hand on his chest, feeling his heart beating faster than usual. That and his scent told me I’d panicked him a little… was he worried I’d leave? “You belong here. Having you here feels right, I’m just really fucking bad at this, and this place is a wreck.”“I like the mess. It’s comfortable, and it smells good.” I hoped he could smell the honesty in my voice. “I’m just as new at this as you are. I never had a guy in my room grow
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Hazel Ellis
I woke up wrapped in the most comfortable blanket ever. A happy sigh escaped my throat, and I pulled the blanket further around me. When it idled in response, I frowned.Blanket?I tugged at the blanket again and then realized it wasn’t a blanket at all— it was arms.Arms that belonged on the grizzly I specifically remembered locking out of the room he’d loaned me. I fell asleep buried in blankets rich with his scent, not in his arms.Opening my eyes, I squinted out around me. Was it… the middle of the day?I sat up and swore as I dropped right off the edge of the couch I’d apparently moved to during the night. My arms were at my shoulders, ready to catch me. Before I could smash my face on the wood floor, giant arms dragged me back up on top of him. Merrick was snoring like a damn truck and didn’t even seem to have realized that he saved me from kissing the floor.His body rumbled, the idling sound making me bite back a grin. How could he not realize he sounded like a motorcycle?I g
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER FIFTEEN:Hazel Ellis
Merrick carried my large, neon-blue suitcase into the bedroom. I was sure my mom had packed it since she’d used my old suitcases from back when twelve-year-old Hazel was obsessed with neon colors. She loved neon- obsessed Hazel, and teased me with neon colors all the time now that I mainly wore black.“I didn’t know I had pheromones,” I said.“Probably because you’ve never used them.” He shot me a wry grin. “Because you’re a woman, yours won’t kick in until you want to attract me.”“Sounds like bullshit,” I remarked. I was pretty sure that if I had pheromones, they already would’ve been working on the guy—I was definitely attracted to him.“If you’re not willing to test it, you can’t call bullshit.” He unzipped my suitcase.“It’s bold to assume I’ll be staying here long enough to unpack my stuff in your bedroom.”“I’m not a cat. I don’t take prissy little steps, Hazel. You’re my True Mate and you’ll be living with me, because I won’t back down until we’ve both got ruby red hair.” He c
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER SIXTEEN : Hazel Ellis
I knew myself and Merrick well enough to know that if I was going to get worked up enough for whatever crazy shit needed to happen to make my pheromones attract him, He was going to need to be distracted. Otherwise, his would do all the work for me and I wouldn’t need to. “Grab your XBOX remote,” I told him, stripping out of my ripped fishnets so I didn’t rip them further. He watched me step out of them before grabbing his remote up off the ground, near the couch. “Turn on whichever game will keep you the most distracted,” I said, tugging my tangled hair out of its bun and letting it fall crazily around my shoulders. It fell to the middle of my back; any longer, and it drove me crazy. The scent of him brushing up against my cheeks and shoulders, coming out of my hair, smelled incredible. Settling on the couch, he watched me. He was dressed in basketball shorts and a t-shirt that fit snugly. “Lose the shirt,” I added as he turned the TV and game console on. Damn, I liked the way h
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-25
Bab terbaru
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND ONE:Merrick Blake
“I don’t know if I can do it.” Hazel stared at the gorgeous machine.“You don’t have to. We can always call your parents and invite them into our sex-den, and ask them to take her,” I offered with a grin.Hazel’s nose wrinkled. “That’s off the table.”“I’m sure we can think of another way around it. I can always go, drop her off, and come back.” I didn’t want Hazel to feel like she had no other choice. Feeling trapped would do nothing to help her become comfortable on the bike again.Shooting me an exasperated look, Hazel slung her leg over the seat and sat down. She made no move to turn the bike on, and instead, simply sat there.Our bond was wide open, the way it had been since she took down her walls in the truck on our way to the cabin, and I felt her surprise.“I don’t feel any panic.” She said, her voice a bit amazed.“Good. That’s a good thing.” I slid my hands in my pockets. We’d be riding our own bikes back to Shifter City, which was a bummer. I loved riding with my woman.“I
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED:Hazel Ellis
The days began to blur into each other, and before we knew it, a month had passed. My body was growing stronger, my mind sharper, and my heart happier.A knock on the door interrupted our morning though, and ended our honeymoon.“Hazel!” Liv hollered from the front of my house. She knocked again, harder. “Haze! I can smell you in there; I know you’re here.”Merrick and I exchanged uh-oh glances across the table. We’d been keeping in contact with our friends and family, but an unplanned Liv visit wasn’t usually a good sign.We were working at the kitchen table, so I got up and crossed through the living room to open the front door. Pushing it open, my eyes landed on a dirty, determined-smelling Liv.“I need your keys.” She held her hands out. “Why?” I put a hand on my hip.“I told Jay I’d mate with him if he could catch me, and then took off. I’m fast, but he’s no couch potato.” She jiggled her hand, glancing over her shoulder. “Hurry. He’s going to be here any minute.”“He won’t be ab
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER NINETY NINE:Hazel Ellis
I drummed my fingers on my knee. “I've never ran away from my problems before.”“We’re running away to deal with shit, not to pretend it doesn’t exist,” Merrick countered.“Still, it feels selfish.”“Sometimes you need to put yourself first, Ellis. You may not have noticed, but you’re not in a great place mentally right now.” Merrick squeezed my thigh, where his fingers were already wrapped around a good chunk of my leg.“Thanks,” I drawled.“Hey, you’re the one who locked me out of your mind. If that’s not a warning sign, what else is? We’ve been completely open for weeks.”“I’m f—”He interrupted. “You’re fucking beautiful, but you’re not fine, so quit saying that.”“You’re infuriating.” I sighed, leaning my head up against the window. I’d texted my parents to let them know we were taking off. They’d ended up calling, of course, and then had insisted on talking to Merrick. When I tried to hang up, he grabbed the phone and talked them down. He’d explained that we needed time to figu
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER NINETY EIGHT:Merrick Blake
“Alright, get furry.” I ran my hand down Hazel’s dark hair. She was beautiful—so damn beautiful.And by some miracle, she was mine.After a few more rounds of our distraction game, all of which ended in far more than one climax, I’d finally lost one without taking Hazel over the edge with me. It was a low blow, but I more than made it up to her with my mouth and fingers afterward.She hadn’t stopped grinning since she won, and I was glad I could give her that win. Even if it meant a bare-back ride through the forest at lunch time.“Don’t pet me while I’m in human form,” she complained, still grinning.I petted her boob, and she smacked my hand away. “You like it,” I told her.“And you like to bug me.” She shifted forms, shaking out her fur as she landed on four paws. It was odd to see her as a dark-haired wolf now that she wasn’t a ruby shifter, but in a good way.“You’re fun to bug.” I scratched her head. She leaned into my hands, and I scratched harder. “If I’m too heavy, you drop m
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER NINETY SEVEN:Hazel Ellis
Merrick scooped me up and carried both me and my plate to our couch. He somehow grabbed a blanket too on the way. Sitting down, he settled me on his lap and wrapped his arms around my middle after settling the fuzzy blanket over our lower halves.His erection pressed into my ass, but he turned the TV on like his dick wasn’t hard and aching. One of his hands wrapped around my front, his fingers slowly stroking my stomach as we waited for the TVs and consoles to turn on.“Maybe we should play a different game,” he murmured, his teeth catching my earlobe and dragging over it gently. I bit back a groan, and when I moved against his erection, he pressed me against him to trap me. “For the sake of distraction, of course.”“Of course,” I agreed.“You try to focus on the round.” He hit a few buttons, setting the game up. “And I’ll try to get you off before it ends.”Shit.That sounded like hellish heaven. It was the game we’d played the night we mated, and it sounded like the perfect way to w
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER NINETY SIX:Hazel Ellis
Hauling me to the bed, he pulled his boxers on and finally put me down on the edge of the bed. His knees knocked mine as he tugged my shirt over my head, and he groaned when he saw that I wasn’t wearing a bra.His hands cupped my breasts, and then I was flat on my back with his mouth on my nipple. His chest idled as he sucked me, and I arched upward, my legs wrapping around his hips so I could press myself into his hardness.He moved to the other nipple, and then his hands slid into my shorts His finger stroked the most sensitive part of me, and I gasped.Fuck, his fingers felt good.Merrick paused, stopping his movement on my nipple and clit. He groaned again. “Shit. I wasn’t supposed to do that.”“Says who?” I shot back, moving my hips so his fingers rubbed against me.“Says me,” he grunted, withdrawing his hand.“No.” I grabbed his arm, holding it in place. “You can’t start this and not finish it.” My eyes bore into his.“You’re hurting, Ellis.” His eyes darkened. “So much that you
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER NINETY FIVE:Hazel Ellis
I slept in, then stayed in bed replying to emails and trying to catch up on work I’d been slacking on for weeks. Hell, months. There were responses to emails I hadn’t sent in my inbox, and scrolling through, it looked like one of my parents had tried to take care of stuff for me.That meant a lot.My mom peeked in around noon, and I could smell food with her. I wasn’t hungry, but I also wasn’t in the mood to argue about food.“Hey, cutie.” My mom stepped inside, closing the door behind herself without asking if it was okay. I wasn’t going to turn her down anyway, so it didn’t matter.“Hey. Were you answering emails for me?” I asked.“Yeah. I tried, but you know how I am with business stuff.” She shrugged, and I smiled. My dad was the business mind out of the two of them.“Thanks.” I gave her the biggest smile I could muster—a tiny one.She sat on the edge of the bed, a plate of steak and mashed potatoes and veggies in her hands. She knew about my love affair with steak, and was trying
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER NINETY FOUR:Merrick Blake
I sat down at one of the picnic tables, legs sprawled in front of me as I turned my mind inward. The Alpha power in my chest had shrunk by a hell of a lot, but it was still there. Pulling it to the surface, I focused on those it connected me to, and pulled. The ruby itself had called all the wolves to the city, so I assumed it was something the power could do.I felt a pull against me, like the shifters were fighting my power, so I tugged harder. Their will gave out, and I felt the agreement flow from them to me.Then, it was just a matter of waiting.My arms rested on the table, my thoughts drifting back to the female who would always have a hold on me the way I had a hold on those shifters. There was still a wall between us, and the state of it said she was still sleeping.Hazel was hurting. She’d been ignoring her trauma since that time the teenage snake nearly killed her. But the thing about trauma was that you could only ignore it for so long.I’d been a damn idiot, taking her to
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER NINETY THREE:Merrick Blake
I followed Hazel to our room. Her parents asked her how the fight went as we passed them, and she answered with the same infuriating word she’d already repeated a dozen times or more.“Fine.”Shutting the bedroom door behind us, I locked it and followed her to the bathroom. She tried to shut that door in my face—to block me out. I caught it, and she spun to face me.“Talk to me, Ellis. Don’t shut me out,” I growled.“There’s nothing to say.” She let go of the door. “I need space.” “If there’s nothing to say, why do you need space?”“Back off, Grizzly.” She turned around, abandoning the door and walking into the shower in her bra and shorts.For the first time since I got her back, I let her go.Continuing to reach out to her, I tried to figure out how to help her.I wouldn’t walk away—I’d made that mistake once. The last time she’d asked for space, she hadn’t actually wanted it. But this time was different. This time, she was hurting. Not because of something I’d done, but because of
