Unwanted Mates

Chapter 36: "First comes rage, later pain of loss"

Hannah POV

"You must do it!" Hayden keeps begging me while I keep pacing around our cell in every direction, trying to spot something, anything I can possibly use to find a way out of it.

"Hayden, shut up, please!" I finally snap and scream at him. "I won't hurt you; you're my friend; you are my family! I won't do it, do you fucking hear me!"

He grits his teeth hard; I see his anger but also his helplessness.

"How much time do we have?" I ask as I avert my eyes. I don't want to show him how scared I am.

"She gave me a lot, plus my legs are broken, so my wolf is pushing harder to heal me. I think maybe half an hour, but no more."

"Ok, Becca said that you could survive Red Venom if you didn't shift. I know it's difficult, but can you at least try? Your wolf isn't as strong as he was before, so maybe you can..."

"Hannah," he interrupts me, "I can try, but there is no point if Mikkeli won't find us quickly, there is no point. And your chances of killing me now are better.."

"No, they are not!" this time, I don't let him finish. "If I try to hurt you, your wolf will only push harder to shift to save you and himself. I've learned something about werewolves since I came here. You will go feral quicker, and we will lose our precious time!"

"What time? We don't have time. Mikkeli won't find us on time!"

"I can try to reach him..."

"He hasn't marked you. It's impossible for you, and I can't reach him through the pack link!"

I bite my lip, trying to stop tears from coming to my eyes. He's right, Mikkeli hasn't marked me, so I cannot communicate with him through mate bond and... but what if?

My eyes widened with a sudden realization. Becca said that mate bond is a funny thing, and she was right. 

 Since the forever mating bond is what binds werewolves, a force unable to resist, that can be both the greatest gift or the greatest tragedy in their life.  Since I found out I've been Mikkeli's mate, I've tried to learn about it as much as possible. I've talked about it with mated werewolves, omegas, trackers, and warriors in our pack. I've probably read everything about it from what we have in the library in our packhouse and learn one thing: the bond is a mystery. To this day, its understanding is far from being understood. There are no rules about how it works or how it binds two souls. Each bond is unique, each bond has different strength and influence on the mated pair, and each bond has different rules.

I can perfectly point out the moment I started to feel Mikkeli stronger and sensing his presence more and more every day. Our second time together in his wooden cottage. I remember that moment when I bit him perfectly into the junction between his neck and shoulder, giving him a wound that hasn't healed to this day. 

I remember, riding out my orgasm during our lovemaking,  I felt strongly not only his presence but also Byron's. He was luring me, tempting me; I could feel my teeth itching with the sudden desire to claim them both as mine. What if, fuck, what if that was enough? Mikkeli and I still had at that time silver and wolfsbane in our blood, respectively, so Byron couldn't mark me, but I didn't have such boundaries.

What if Byron just accepted my mark on Mikkeli at that time? What if that was it? What if I laid my claim on them that time without realizing it? What if the marking is already done?

"Hannah?" Hayden's voice brings me back to reality.

"There is a chance that Mikkeli and I are already marked," I say. "He didn't mark me, but I could've marked him."