The Ties that Bind

Chapter 5 | Oh, it's you...

FOUR HOURS EARLIER...

It was three in the afternoon when Theo walked into Frank's.

Teddy saw him from his spot at the bar, wearing jeans and white shirt. He still wore his apron and had clearly just finished cleaning the bar down and was closing the till. He lifted his glasses onto his head pushing back the mop of curls on his head and put his pen down, staring, "What the fuck happened to you?"

The pain the break in his leg caused was enough to make him wince with every step. The bone healed overnight but the deep purple bruising all over his body and on the right side of his face, had been nasty enough to stay for two extremely long days. "You should see the other guy," he cracked and then sighed when pain stabbed through his gut, "It's a long story. Where's Frank?"

"Out back. Careful, he's especially shitty this morning."

This was going to be good. Theo knocked on the office door first and heard a disgruntled, "What now?" Frank was sitting behind his desk on a vintage lime green office chair smoking a heavy cigar. He rolled his eyes, "What, I forget to pay my taxes now? What do you want?" and then after an assessing moment said, "What the fuck happened to your face?"

"It's a long story," Theo said.

Frank lifted a brow and stared at him. A sign that told Theo Frank wasn't going to let it go without an explanation. The office door clicked closed and Theo cleared his throat.

"I got hit by a car."

"Whose car?"

"I don't know."

That night flashed in his eyes. The woman. God he'd been haunted by her for two days, barely able to sleep, his chest felt heavy and full as if gravity were a heavy force on his shoulders and his appetite to hunt had dwindled enough to cause suspicion.

He didn't know how he got to the clinic or why Kaiser was standing over him the morning after. But he remembered with absolute certainty that there had been a moment of blinding clarity.

The moment he laid eyes on that woman, a bond, a searing flash of electricity hummed through every crevice of his body and shook him to the core of his being. "What, they leave you on the side of the road like chopped liver?"

He was started to get agitated thinking about it. "I don't know, I woke up in Kaiser's clinic, I keep picking up little bits of scent, but I think they were only passing through. I have no idea where she is now."

Frank's body jumped with a single hefty chuckle, "She, huh?"

"Ah, it's not like that."

"Please, I know the look when I see it. Your pupils turn into dinner plates, and you start to get antsy. That ain't the look of puppy love, my boy, you bonded with this female."

Theo bared his teeth in warning. Frank raised in hands, feigning surrender. "Relax, boss, my lips are sealed. But they're gonna start to smell it on you and as for you, it'll make you wanna claw your fuckin' skin off."

It was a mere moment but one that imprinted on his soul. A wolf mating was common but for an Alpha to mate was a huge deal. Not only did it mean new Alpha pups in the works, but it meant that the pack potentially had a new leader. After the horror and slaughter the wolves endured ten years ago, Theo wasn't sure how they'd adapt to a new authority especially if that someone turned out to be human.

Fuck. Fuck. Theo had lost hope at ever finding a true mate. Many Alpha's mated with other Alpha's just to produce strong shifter children, despite being unmated to each other. Some got into arranged matings, and then found their true mate later, causing them to abandon their partners - the cause of many pack feuds.