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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:Merrick Blake
Last Updated:
2025-02-25 07:24:17
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Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:Hazel Ellis
“What do you think they’re talking about?” Liv whispered.“Sex.” I rolled my eyes. “Why else would they need to walk away?”“Because they’re not telling you the whole story about this place,” Noah said bluntly.I wanted to strangle him.Mostly because I knew he was probably right…and I didn’t want him to be right. Some part of me had decided that I liked the idea of being True Mates with the grizzly, that I wanted to trust him.And maybe that I wanted him to be mine.“Everyone has secrets.” Liv brushed it off. “I don’t want my future mate to know that I had a breast reduction last year, or that I ate a rabbit when we were out hunting that one time.I grinned at the memory of our attempt to eat like wild wolves. I had vomited my rabbit, but she and Noah had managed to keep theirs down.“That’s not the kind of secret a guy takes his friend into the other room to talk about,” Noah said.“What do you think it’s about, then?” Liv countered.“I’d bet my bank account that he’s got a secret t
Last Updated : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER NINETEEN:Hazel Ellis
“What was that?” I lifted an eyebrow at him.“I wanted you next to me, and you wanted to be next to me.” He shot me an amused glance. “There’s no point in dancing around it, Ellis.”“Ellis?”“Sure. I go by my last name; why not call you by yours?”“I’m a hell of a lot more than my last name, Merrick.” I said, though I wasn’t really offended. Any time someone tried to call me “Ellis,” when I played sports in high school, I shot them down immediately for the same reason I wore fishnets, miniskirts, and sexy bras. Because I liked who I was, and because I hated being reduced to “an Ellis” or “a ruby wolf”. “Why does everyone call you Blake?”His lips quirked upward. “There was a cat named Derek in my class when I was in third grade. He didn’t like that our names were so similar and told his friends to call me Blake. I embraced it just to bug him, and it stuck.”“I think Merrick fits you better, so that’s what I’m going to call you,” I informed him.“You can call me whatever the hell you w
Last Updated : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER TWENTY:Merrick Blake
Lenard the mosquito aside, Hazel gave me the key to winning her over without even seeming to realize it.She wanted to be the most important thing in someone’s world. The most important thing in my world.And I wasn’t insane enough to think that the mating call or pheromones were enough to make her into the most important thing in my world. But I did know that we could get there—and it wouldn’t take long.I was a simple guy. I liked things that made sense, and what Hazel wanted… it made sense. A lot of sense. When it came down to it, that was exactly what I wanted too. And I was pretty sure that was why I’d gotten as far with her as I had.“Why do people keep mentioning rejection? Is rejecting your True Mate a thing?” She asked, the moment the door was shut on Lenard the fucking mosquito.“Yup.” I nodded. I’d been putting off that conversation, but knew it would come up eventually.“What is it?”“One of the True Mates tells the other that they reject their advances. It ends the male’s
Last Updated : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:Hazel Ellis
My Grandma Ellis made me take dance lessons when I was a kid.She and I were never close, but that was the one thing we always did together that I had enjoyed. I’d been good—really good—because of all my fight training, and I’d enjoyed it.I hadn’t attended a lesson or class since she passed away when I was sixteen, but riding on the back of Merrick’s bike, I missed it. Not because of my Grandma, though I did miss her. But because riding with him felt like dancing.Merrick started at an easy pace, and the song began on the winding road. He leaned into a turn, and I moved with him. My body had to adjust to follow his, paying attention to his movement so I could mirror it without knocking us off balance or making steering more difficult for him. After a while, I figured out his pace. That was when the movements became more natural.It was different from riding my own bike. There was a certain thrill and comfort that accompanied being the passenger instead of the driver. My body was cudd
Last Updated : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:Hazel Ellis
And knowing that he didn’t have any kind of a plan made me feel better too.But Noah’s suspicion that Merrick had a secret had stuck with me. “What did Jay want to talk about during lunch?” I asked, so I could get the doubt out of my mind.“Don’t tell anyone this, but he met his True Mate.” Merrick looked at me, his expression growing Grim. “She’s not a ruby, so he isn’t going to tell her, but after meeting your mate, it’s difficult to prevent your beast from taking over entirely and hunting her.”My eyebrows lifted. “Damn.”“Yeah. Even if you’ve got feelings for someone else, it’s pretty difficult to ignore the True Mate pull. The animal in me wants to drag you back to my den and lay on top of you until you decide to end my misery by being my mate.”An abrupt laugh escaped me. “I’d have to be a much less stubborn woman for that to work.”“That’s the only reason I’ve ignored my instincts,” he agreed.A breeze blew past, catching my hair and tugging it into the air toward Merrick. He i
Last Updated : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE:Hazel Ellis
When we got back to Merrick’s place, he took a quick shower while I grabbed clothes from the closet. Then, he dressed while I showered. When I came out of the bathroom dressed in a tight white tank and a pair of comfortable lazy-day shorts, his eyes left the video game on the TV screen to follow me across the room.I sat down on the other side of the couch from him, propping my feet up on the cushion and resting my head on the armrest Shooting noises came from the TV—the game. I’d never really played video games, only trying them out a few times with Noah and his brothers. For the most part, I was too busy to bother.Staring up at the ceiling, my mind swept over what had happened on the mountain. Really, I hadn’t stopped reliving it since we left. The riding, the sightseeing, the making out…“Ellis,” Merrick warned from where he sat, his thumbs flying over the controller as he played. “I smell grapefruit.”He’d said grapefruit intertwined with my scent when I was hot and bothered—damm
Last Updated : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:Merrick Blake
I pushed the cart behind Hazel, watching her ass and hair sway with every step she took. Damn, she was beautiful.Her fingers rubbed the blanket, checking for quality or thread count or some other shit I didn’t understand or care about. She’d been over everything in the home décor aisles of both stores that sold that stuff, but had yet to put anything in our cart.She finally stopped in front of a thing of sheets, grabbing it and setting it in the cart. I’d expected her just to grab the priciest ones, but the ones she picked weren’t the most expensive.I didn’t understand the logic behind that, but didn’t give a shit about sheets either, so I didn’t ask. Instead, I just watched her ass as we walked back to the pillow section.She piled pillows in the cart.One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven pillows.Who the fuck needed seven pillows? I had two, and that was plenty. Wait, maybe I only had one.I couldn’t remember, but it wasn’t like I’d ever looked around my den and thought
Last Updated : 2025-02-25Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:Hazel Ellis
After an awkward evening filled with more Call of Duty and absolutely zero touching, we went to bed.The soft tone of my alarm woke me up at 2 AM. I expected Merrick would sleep through it, and I was right. The man slept like the dead. What I didn’t expect was that I’d wake up in his arms again.When I’d gone to bed in his room, I’d locked the door—and blocked it off with my suitcase, so the clattering would wake me up if his pheromones drew me out or something.But the pheromones hadn’t been needed. I woke up twenty minutes after falling asleep and with absolutely zero common sense, I’d gotten up, carefully moved the suitcase off to the side of the door, and slid onto the couch with Merrick. And of course, he wrapped his arms around me without a damn question.With my alarm’s quiet music getting louder by the minute, I had to wriggle and buck and flop like a fish to get out of the Grizzly’s arms.Crashing to the floor, I landed in what resembled push-up position and blinked down at
Last Updated : 2025-02-25
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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
