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CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE:Hazel Ellis
Last Updated:
2025-02-28 10:29:31
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Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO:Merrick Blake
Mom laughed. "What about it? Sex is just a part of life. An awesome part of life, but only one part. The world is a lot bigger and a lot wider than the bedroom. It takes a while after you first become mates to really see that, but you'll get there. You've just got to give it time.""I wish I had a time machine." I grimaced."Me too. I'd give anything to relive those moments when your dad and I were still falling in love. The moments you were toddling around, your eyes bigger than the rest of you combined. Or when you were ten, and we took that ski-trip in the Swiss Alps. Do you remember that? You talked your dad into making so many snowmen, and he was such a good sport." She laughed, and then her laugh faded and I noticed her discreetly wiping her eyes.They'd been there every moment of my childhood, they'd been to every gymnastics meet and MMA match, asked me about boys when it embarrassed me, and caught me every damn time I fell.She'd always wanted another kid or two. I'd known th
Last Updated : 2025-02-28Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE:Hazel Ellis
I lifted my head off the steering wheel, smelling my blood and feeling it run down from my forehead at the same time. Raising my hand to my wound, I pulled it away and found less blood than I expected.That was good; blood loss could kill me.I glanced around the vehicle, eyes bleary as I tried to remember what had just happened. Something swerved in front of me—some kind of an animal? A red one; a ruby red one.I thought hard, so hard my head throbbed harder and felt like it started to bleed more. Trying to recall what animal had run in front of me, I finally remembered: It was a fox.A ruby fox.What kind of shifter group would a fox fit in? That mattered, because if it had been on purpose—which it probably was—if they were from the cat's side of the river, I needed to reach out to Merrick. I could fight, but there was a lot more to staying alive in Shifter City than fighting.A woman with ruby hair yanked open my door, and I glanced at her. My car was smoking—steaming? But my visio
Last Updated : 2025-02-28Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR:Hazel Ellis
I walked around the truck and kicked my pants off, tossing them into the back of the pickup before shifting and heading off into the woods."They must be moving her." Roman's voice was rough from lack of sleep. He paced his living room, and I rubbed at my tired eyes as I recalled Hazel doing the same. She must've learned it from him—the pacing.Three weeks had passed since we lost Hazel. The cats were trying to make a deal with us, to trade her back to us, but their requests were impossible.They wanted control of the city. They wanted the wolves to leave town. They wanted Hazel to give her Alpha wolf power to their new representative, the male ruby tiger. But they didn’t want just one of the options—they demanded all three, in that order.Most of the wolves were willing to leave, but Hazel wasn’t going to let just anyone lead the wolf pack. And giving the cats control of the city was out of the question, because it would lead to the deaths of so any of my people.So in three long wee
Last Updated : 2025-02-28Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE:Hazel Ellis
I was shaking my head before she even finished speaking. “We’re not abducting a damn ruby shifter. That will only make things worse.”“Not a ruby shifter. The ruby at the heart of the city. We take that, they’ll give her to us,” Henley’s eyes brightened by the minute, but I was still shaking my head.I countered, "Moving it is impossible. It feeds on the energy of any ruby who touches it, regardless of whether there's clothing separating you. And there's some sort of protection on it that keeps non-rubies out of the chamber.”Chandler interrupted. "But when Hazel was getting drained, when you charged the ruby, it focused on you and released her. Between the four of us, we might be able to keep it fed long enough to hook it up to some kind of crane to pull it out of the chamber." My sister's mouth flew a mile a minute. "It'll feed on us, but it'll be confused enough that it might work."She was right.They were right.And that was how we ended up sneaking into the ruby chamber the next
Last Updated : 2025-02-28Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX:Hazel Ellis
My eyes opened slowly, my senses working overtime as I tried to take in the scents and noises around me. Nothing was familiar, all of it strange. Everything hit me too fast, one after another, so much that I couldn’t separate any one thing from another.I knew time had passed, but didn't know how much, and felt… off. I'd felt Merrick reaching for me, but hadn't been able to respond. Hadn't been able to move, or reach, or see. Only the most basic of feelings had drifted into me.The words anesthesia and coma stood out in my memories, from moments when everything was still blurry.I blinked exhaustion from my eyes and looked around. The room was small and mostly empty—pretty much just a bed and a few machines. It could've passed for a closet; maybe it was a closet.My eyes landed on an IV pole, a few bags hanging from it. Tracing the path of the lines, I followed them to my hand and stared at the thin tube. coming out of my skin. From there, my eyes drifted down to more. Tubes, cords, a
Last Updated : 2025-02-28Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN:Hazel Ellis
Tentatively, I scooted one of my feet forward and tried to take a step. The shift in balance was too much for my tired muscles, and my knees buckled. I grabbed a handful of clothing on my way down, managing to crash to my knees instead of my face.My eyes stung again, this time in frustration. I'd worked my ass off since I was a kid so I wouldn't end up in a situation where I was too weak to take care of myself. Despite my hours in the gym and experience fighting in the ring, I was on my knees in someone's closet. Drugged and trapped.The door opened softly, and the nurse's sad eyes widened when she saw me on my knees. She hurried toward me, and my trembling fists clenched. I didn't know how I'd protect myself, but I'd damn sure go down fighting if I could."How did you make it to the floor?" The strangeness of her words had me hesitating without slugging her. The back of her hand landed on my forehead, like she was taking my temperature. That threw me even more off balance, which I h
Last Updated : 2025-02-28Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT:Merrick Blake
Hazel didn't say much of anything as her parents hugged her tightly. My fists clenched and unclenched without her in my arms, the loss of her body against mine already affecting me even though it was only a few minutes and her parents needed the confirmation only a hug could give as well. Chandler and Liv hugged her too, and I fought the instincts screaming at me to haul my mate to our den and hold her until we were both okay again.Hazel walked back to me the moment they released her, leaning against me. Our minds were still open to one another, though her side of the connection was tentative. I got the feeling that she wanted me to pick her up and hold her like I had in the forest. Happy to oblige, I scooped her up. She curled against me, her face against my shirt.I'd have rather stayed bare-chested so I could feel more of her, but with her parents there, getting dressed was the right call.Roman and Henley and the girls moved around the kitchen, forcing conversation all while glan
Last Updated : 2025-02-28Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE:Merrick Blake
Hazel slept most of the next few days, only waking up for food when someone (usually me, Liv, or her parents) didn't give her a choice. I slept most of that time too, holding her to my chest and trying to catch up on all the sleep I'd missed when I was searching for her.Roman and Henley barely left, cooking and cleaning more than the place needed to be cleaned. Chandler and Liv were in and out too, eating with us and peeking in to check on me and my mate. A few others, some I knew and some I didn’t, stopped by to check on my female. Hazel’s parents kept most of them out of our room, but the myriad of scents in the hallway told me that a lot of people had come by to make sure she was alright.I hated having our room open for them to peek in on us, but she had been missing for them too. So, I got over it.When Hazel woke up on the fourth day, it was to me running my fingers over her back in circles. My hands were over the top of her shirt, wanting to keep things non-sexual when her par
Last Updated : 2025-02-28
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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
