All Chapters of Bound by Blood: Last Ruby Wolf and Her Fated Mate: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

The walk back to the party was the closest I’d ever get to a walk of shame. I sincerely hoped no one had followed me to Merrick’s truck. Luckily, I didn’t smell any fresh scents around until I was a good distance behind my parents’ place, nearly to the dancing crowds and pounding music."Did he leave?" my mom asked as she approached. She tilted her head toward the forest, away from the party. I understood that she wanted to walk and talk, so I turned that direction. She stepped into pace with me, walking by my side."Yeah. He’ll be back, though.” Our walk slowed, neither of us having anywhere we needed to be that instant."For the record, he was right." She slid her hands in the pockets of her jeans."About what?" I wondered. Though I agreed, I wanted to understand her thought process. My mom was someone who got to the point, didn't beat around the bush or anything, so I always knew I’d get the truth from her."If someone else kissed me after we mated, I think your dad would enjoy rip

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

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

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

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