The Ties that Bind

Chapter 6 | Strangers in the Night

damn it's been a while since i've updated, i'll try and get onto this story more but life really be hitting at the moment so gotta sort me before i can sort this, but look at us, this is a good start. if you're not already refreshed, i'd suggest to read the last little bit of chapter 5

lo and behold

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Four hours earlier:

It was half 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 bar 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?"

He was still slightly limping, the pain in his leg was enough to make him wince with every step. 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. "It's a long story," He was tired trying to explain himself, "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?" He walked in and 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.

"I got hit by a car."

"Whose car?"

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 remember how he got to the clinic or why Kaiser was standing over him with a disgruntled expression the morning after. But he remembered with absolute certainty that the moment he laid eyes on her a bond, a searing flash of blinding white light, shot between them. Electricity hummed through every crevice of his body, shook him to the core of his being and an unexplainable hot rush of euphoria and oxytocin had flooded his brain.

He was started to get agitated thinking about it. "No clue, I keep picking up little bits of scent but I think they were only passing through. I have no idea where she is now, I didn't even get a good look at her face."

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 eyes turn into dinner plates and you start to stink of anguish. That ain't the look of puppy love, my boy, you bonded with this female."

Theo bared his teeth. Frank knew what it meant. 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 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.

"Relax, chief, my lips are sealed. But they're gonna start to smell it on you. It's gonna make you wanna claw your fuckin' skin off."

Fuck. Fuck. Theo had been ready years ago to find his mate but now, at the worst possible time no less. The Pack wasn't safe, there had been breaches in the protected forests by Hunters and scouts, more than they'd had in the last ten years. Too many. "At the moment there's nothing I can do about it. Wherever she is she's long gone. Anyway, what's the matter with you? Smoking again?"