Bound Trilogy: Bound: A Supernatural Story (WLW)

Chapter Nineteen

Bast watched from afar as Xenia danced with her mate. They both looked so alive and wrapped up in each other as they swayed to the Devil's Fiddle, pedal accordion and Burczybas music that traveled throughout the ceremony grounds. Jules looked more vigorous after the ceremony. They all did, each and every member of the pack. However, in the days prior, Jules had appeared more like a wounded animal, and now it was like she was sharing in the strength of their First Vixen.

Our First Vixen... Bast shook her head and glanced down at her feet with wide eyes. Our? The hell is the matter with you? She lifted her head. You don't belong here. Never have, and never...

Xenia nuzzled against Jules neck and held her closely as they both giggled, spinning around to the rhythm of the music. Before she registered it, Bast felt her foot tapping to the beat. She had never gotten to dance, never really touched a woman much in her life, and found herself craving to touch Penelope, no matter how odd the yearning may have still felt. Yet, she didn't know where...

There!

Penelope stood next to one of the twins, Bast wasn't sure which. They both scented the same and she still wasn't sure what exactly was different between the two. They even dressed similarly, not that there was much to their attire. Just t-shirts and jeans.

Penelope was gathering some food on two plates and it sent a wave of panic over Bast's back in a cold sweat. Whose plate is she holding? Bast suddenly found herself jealous of whoever's plate Penelope was fixing alongside her own. How could she be fixing anyone else's plate? Giving them food? It could have been for her, but Bast already told her she didn't need any food. She only ate when necessary, of course. So, what was the intention behind the extra plate?

There were plenty of fish and berries on it. Was it one of the twins she was planning to feed? That wasn't right. If they accepted her food... If she was willing to give one of the twins her plate, then did that mean their bond wasn't...?

Bast began walking toward her briskly, but skidded to a stop when the twin touched Penelope's shoulder. A low growl began to rumble in her chest. She clapped her hand over her mouth and spun back around, astounded at herself. Something in her told her to go and protect her mate, told her to lay claim to her just as Xenia and Jules had to one another, but she fought against it.

How could she tell Penelope what to do with a clear conscience? It was wrong. Those hunters, the ones who had taken her after her mother's demise had dominated her every move and she vowed to never do that to anyone else. The way it felt -- being told what to do and how to act while still being held in their captivity -- she never wanted anyone to feel ever again. If she went to Penelope now, she was sure that was exactly what she would feel.

How could she do that to someone she actually cared for so dearly already? Not only a few moments ago, Bast had even thought poorly of Penelope getting a plate for anyone else other than herself because she felt she was her mate. She rationalized that if she were to actually address it, put it to words, it wouldn't be her place. Why the hell did she think they were even a mated pair? She knew next to nothing about Penelope and...

No, that was wrong. She'd spent the last week a few days with almost no one but Penelope. Pen... Bast knew about her past, what she wanted in life...and what life had handed her during the lowest points in her existence. She knew the way Penelope's own tribe acted around her, her family and those who simply didn't take the time to understand her. She knew her true siren song and the beauty it held.

Even the smaller things. Penelope's favorite food, her love of swimming long and far for no reason at all other than to feel alive. Yet, she also knew of the love and tenderness she held for solid ground. For the feel of the grass between her toes and the scent of the woods around her. Woods that had always spoken to Bast much like the way every little thing Penelope did spoke to her as well.

So gentle and...hers. However, how could Bast call someone hers when it felt so wrong? Felt like a dictation of what someone should do with their lives?

It went against absolutely everything she believed in and she felt torn apart.

On the other hand, Penelope was an Aquatic after all, not even a land dwelling shifter. Did the Aquatic even lay claim to their mates? Did they even have the same mating rituals the land dwellers held? What were all the rituals anyway?

Bast hung her head and retreated backward into the woods with one last look in Penelope's direction. All the sense of belonging she'd felt during the ceremony was a farce. She knew it somewhere in her mind back when she participated. She knew it back in the alley when she opened herself up to Penelope. She didn't belong here. Not anywhere. Not when she could lose it all in a blink of an eye just like before. Like always.

How could she have kidded herself into thinking she belonged anywhere, with anyone? She knew better.

Bast scented the night, the animals that frolicked in the forest, and the call of a wolf in the distance. All so foreign, yet so familiar. It reminded her of where she belonged. On her own, far and away from everyone and everything that could ever harm her... Or, that she could ever harm in turn.