All Chapters of Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Hazel's rules were torture.I had to leave the damn room while my mate got dressed because I was afraid I'd do something ridiculous like pin her to the wall and kiss her until she forgot every one of her reasons we shouldn't sleep together.As far as I was concerned, we should've been jumping in wholeheartedly and learning to swim as we went.But I respected her opinions and the future she wanted for us too much to break those damn rules of hers. So I stepped out instead of watching her get dressed. It wasn't like I hadn't seen enough while she was in the shower to be horny as hell.We took my truck back to my place, country music playing on the radio while I drove. Hazel sat in the middle seat, but kept her hands to herself during the ride. It was quiet, and for the first time since we met, awkward.I parked at my place, then got out and offered her a hand. She took it, and we walked into my den together. I wanted us to be walking in to our housetogether. But knowing she wasn't goin

"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

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

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

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