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CHAPTER SIXTEEN : Hazel Ellis
Last Updated:
2025-02-25 07:23:52
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Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:Merrick Blake
Hazel was fucking perfect.Watching her beat the shit out of a punching bag only made me more sure of that.After two hours at the gym, we showered and got dressed before meeting Hazel’s friends at Tommy’s bar for lunch.We were only a few minutes into what looked like it was going to be an awkward meal when Jay walked up to the table.He was the one pink ruby male I wasn’t threatened by, and that was only because I knew he had been in love with my sister since we were ten. She’d politely turned him down a dozen times, but he had yet to give up.Jay’s hands were in the pockets of his slacks, the sleeves of his white button-down rolled to the middle of his forearms. He led the large-species shifter pack, and they ran the city’s finance department, so he had the raw end of the deal and had to dress nicely.I saw both girls check him out, Liv leaning in closer to Hazel. “I was just thinking that more man-meat was what this day needed,” she whispered. Hazel’s lips tilted upward. The way s
Last Updated : 2025-02-25Bound 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 : 2025-02-25
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Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER FIFTY:Hazel Ellis
"Skunk." My dad grunted. "I thought they were using vinegar.""I'm sure the skunk was unintentional," mom said. "We have twenty minutes until we need to be at the house. Want to go for a run?"My dad agreed, and they rustled around, getting ready."Told you." Merrick's voice was teasing, but not cruel. I finally met his gaze again, and was surprised by what he saw.Lines under his eyes, dark and heavy.I inhaled a little deeper and found out he was tired. Really, really tired."Have you been sleeping?" I asked."My bed doesn't smell like you," he said."That's not an answer.""No, I haven't been sleeping." He finally told me the truth, and it sucked. Mostly because I knew my absence was the reason. And no, it wasn’t my fault, but I was the idiot who ran away instead of staying to talk to him that night.Which I wasn’t going to do again, I decided."You should've told me.""I was giving you space. That’s how I was trying for you, Ellis. I left that note telling you to come back to me w
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER FORTY-NINE:Hazel Ellis
I laughed at another of Liv's stupid jokes as I slid out of her car, glancing down at the backpack in my hand to adjust my grip on it."Good luck," Liv yelled after me as she pulled out.I waved over my shoulder, finally looking at the motel room door I was headed to. My eyebrows lifted when I saw Merrick sitting on his ass on the pavement in front of it, his back leaned up against the door like he'd been that first night we met. I braced myself for a fight and kept walking.He'd probably smell my excitement at seeing him, because dammit, I’d missed the big grizzly."Please tell me that's lingerie, and you're planning to use it to lure me into your bed," Merrick called out as I approached.I refused to let myself grin. "It's not." It wasn't even all that sexy, considering what I usually wore. Just a simple black bikini: high waisted bottoms, and a top with an under-wire."Nope." I stopped in front of him, putting a hand on my hip. "What are you doing here?"Merrick lazily lifted his h
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT:Hazel Ellis
I didn't hear from Merrick the next day, spending my time meeting tons of shifters, breaking up fights among the asshole werewolves who had already migrated to Shifter City, and talking with the city's council about boring shit.He was giving me space—the opposite of what I actually wanted—and I hated it. His apology note pissed me off. And the key to his house? We both knew he never locked the damn door. He should've followed me home to fight with me until we figured out a solution that made us both happy… and I shouldn't have left in the first place.But what had happened, happened, and it was too late to go back in time.So, after a day of radio silence, I decided to do something about it the next morning.Liv and I crept around the side of his house, wearing backpacks, bikinis, and nose plugs, while doused in enough vinegar to hide our scents from even Merrick. He'd know it was me when he read the note I was leaving him, but I didn't want to give him the privilege of smelling me i
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN:Merrick Blake
I slammed the door of my truck harder than necessary, the impact vibrating through my hand as I settled into the seat, letting out a long, frustrated sigh. The weight of the situation sat heavily in my chest, squeezing the air out of my lungs. My knuckles ached from gripping the steering wheel too tightly, but it didn't matter. I was used to that feeling—the constant pressure of wanting to fix everything, even when I had no idea how to.I reached into my pocket, yanking out my phone, and punched in the familiar number. Blake was my only real source of advice these days. Sure, I had other friends, but when it came to matters of the heart—well, Blake was the one who seemed to know how to make sense of my mess. The phone rang twice before she picked up."Hey, Blake. Is everything okay?" Her voice was clear and sharp, not muffled by sleep like I expected it to be. She was a schoolteacher, after all, and normally crashed before 10 PM to get up for her early morning classes."No," I replied
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER FORTY-SIX:Hazel Ellis
Riding my bike without Merrick in front of me or behind me was fun, but it was a different kind of fun. There was more adrenaline, less comfort and thrill. That probably doesn't even make sense, but I don't know any other way to put it.When I rode on my own, it was more about the rush. The excitement of me and my bike leaning together, flying down the highway at ridiculous speeds.But when I rode with Merrick, it was different. When he drove, it was a chance to let our bodies move as one, riding together. When he sat behind me, it was more of a challenge. I had to work harder to keep the bike up and had to be more careful with every movement.And I liked that better.We rode side by side, but it just wasn't the same. The adrenaline felt cheap compared to the comforting thrill of riding with my body plastered to my grizzly's.When we headed back, neither of us reached out mentally to each other. We were both aware of the danger of driving distracted, and didn't want to crash.When we
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE:Merrick Blake
Hazel's mom, Henley, crossed to the small sink on the side of the little motel room. She and Roman were set up in one of the motel’s small suites, which had tiny kitchens in them."I need to do some dishes. Want to help?" she called over her shoulder.My natural response would be to pass and make a break for it before she could glare at me anymore. But I suppressed it and met her at the small sink. There weren't too many dishes, but there was no dishwasher.She washed two dishes in silence, handing them to me when they were clean. I dried them and put them away, having to rifle through the four cupboards dedicated to the kitchen to put them away.The moment felt like déjà vu. Up until she died, I'd helped my mom with the dishes almost every night when I was a kid. It had stopped when I moved out, but without fail, every time Chandler and I met at their place for family dinner, mom and I did the dishes together.The memories had my throat swelling a bit even as I accepted the third dis
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR:Hazel Ellis
My body flushed, and I pushed away the desire I could feel building in me to match his.But when he wiggled the taco toward me, I took another bite. Not just to hear him idle, but because it tasted good.Fine, because I wanted to hear him idle and smell him wanting me. I was a sucker for the grizzly."You like the way I smell too," he told me, before chomping into his taco and idling again, just like I'd wanted."Of course I do. I love steak, and you smell better than any steak I've ever had." I lifted my booted feet to his dashboard, reclining my seat just a little. I wanted to talk to my dad, to get advice, but I'd rather listen to Merrick idle a bit first. In the long run, ten or fifteen minutes wasn't going to make a big difference."Does that mean you want to eat me?" He unwrapped a new taco and held it out for me."Does your question mean you've already forgotten that I did eat you?" I countered, then bit into the taco."Fuck, no. If you knew how many times I've remembered the l
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER FORTY-THREE-Hazel Ellis
"Can you drive to the motel? I need to talk to my dad. He'll have advice… I hope." My fingers were clenched tightly with Merrick's as he buckled himself in with one hand—and then buckled me in with the same hand when I made no move to do it myself."Sure." He pulled away from the small dirt parking lot. We were the last to leave, and I wasn't positive my parents had gone back to the motel, but it was a safe assumption. Unless they had shit to do, they were often homebodies."What do you think I should do?" I asked Merrick a moment later. He knew the city—he led the place. It would take time for me to completely know and trust him, but he knew as much as anyone and would be a damn good source.Hell, he'd controlled the room when I couldn't. Maybe he was more than a source—maybe he was the answer. I wasn’t ready to jump on that yet, but it was a possibility."I don't know," he admitted. "This hasn't ever happened before. The fighting was normal, and to be expected, but the ruby… it's ne
Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER FORTY-TWO-Hazel Ellis
"What do you want me to do in there?" Merrick checked as we walked down a perfectly-packed dirt trail toward the heart of the city. There were flowers on either side of the path, surrounding trees that were well-trimmed without looking overly-manicured."I don't know. I haven't met everyone yet." I paused. "Do you know if Noah was invited, or if he doesn't count since he hasn't passed the trials yet?"Mine and Merrick's hands were connected, fingers laced and biceps brushing each other. I was itching to shift and had wanted to run there in wolf form, but didn't want to be naked in front of all the other ruby shifters the first time I met them all. Fishnets and biking boots were my first line of defense, after all."It's protocol for a shifter who's signed up for the trials to attend ruby meetings, even though they usually don't survive long." He glanced at me, apologetic. "For his sake, I hope he does, but…""I know he doesn't have much of a chance, but he says he wants to lead the wo
