Bonded to the Pack (Born to be Were) Read Free Page B

sunk her fingers into his thick hair.
He turned toward the forest with a growl and took one-step forward, when the sound
of the screen door slammed behind him alerting him to Lucan’s presence.
Immediately Mercy stiffened, dropped her legs, and pulled out of his arms. He
tugged his shirt back down just seconds before Lucan stepped to the end of the
porch and looked to where they stood with easy-to-read censure.
    Alec looked to Mercy, who was flushed
and breathing heavily, and sighed. “Is he still upset about you wearing my
ring?”
    Mercy fingered the ring that hung around
her neck and took a deep, calming breath, hoping to ease the trembling of her
body. “You know he’s not upset about the ring. It’s the idea that I am no
longer a little girl that bothers him.”
    “That is for sure,” he said leering at
her playfully, before pulling her against his side with a chuckle and walking
her to the porch where her brother waited.
    “Letch,” she said, slapping his arm
playfully, her face filled with concern when he flinched. “Alec, what is going
on?” She pulled his arm into the light the porch offered, gasping when she saw
three deep lacerations on the back of it that looked fresh and raw. “I want to
know right now what is going on!” she demanded.
    “Will you just trust me? This is nothing
I can’t handle,” he snapped, looking away unable to bear the look of hurt in
her eyes.  
     “Welcome back, Alec. I made brownies,
come on inside and have some,” Lucan said, aware of the tension between them
and hoping to avoid a fight.    
    “Alec,” Mercy said, clearly upset about
his injuries and the fact he had obviously intended to hide them from her.
    “Let it go, Mercy,” he warned, his aggressive
Alpha side coming through.
    She bristled at the arrogance of his
tone, but said nothing more as he escorted up the stairs and into the house.
    “How’s your dad doing?” Lucan asked Alec
as they took their seats at the table.  
    “He’s fine,” Alec answered looking
nervously toward Mercy. He had yet to discuss the fact his father was stepping
down with her or her brothers. Gregory wanted to make a smooth transition,
which was why he had been going home on weekends. He needed to reacquaint
himself with pack dealings and deal with those members of the pack who had in
his absence tried to assert themselves as possible candidates to succeed his
father. Some of them thought they had what it took to usurp him and had
challenged him to rank fights, which he had to accept and win if he wanted to
take his father’s place. That was the reason why he had been gone so much. It
seemed in his absence many of the young males had forgotten just how fierce he was
in a fight. As the challenges progressed more and more of them had learned the
hard way why he was going to be the next Alpha of their pack, and he was proud
of every scrape and bruise because it showed he was earning his place, not
having it handed to him.  
     Presently, though, his worries were not
about fighting for his place in the pack. His worries were for Mercy and how
she was going to react when he told her that his father was stepping down right
after graduation and handing him the reins of the pack. It would definitely
complicate the dynamics of their relationship. As Alpha, he could not continue
to live in the mountains full time. He would have to move back to the small
town where the pack lived, in the central part of the state, and until they
were fully bonded, she couldn’t join him there. It would just be too dangerous.
The obvious solution was for her to bond with him as soon as he took over as Alpha,
but he had the feeling Lucan was not going to be happy about that option.
    “Alec, are you alright?” Mercy asked,
noting his distraction.
    “What?” He looked down at her frowning
face and forced himself to smile. “I’m fine, just thinking about how much I
missed you this weekend.”
    “I missed you too,” she told him, laying
her head