Bonded

LAKE

My face is buried in Derrick’s neck as he carries me to camp. I’ve calmed down enough to know I’m not in immediate danger, but the fear still lingers.

I can feel all eyes on the two of us as we go through camp. Derrick simply walks into the medical tent.

I grab him even harder when he starts to lay me down on a cot. Derrick slowly slides me out of his arms and sits beside the bed. His hand is wrapped in my arms as I hold onto it for dear life.

There’s a heat every time we touch. It begins as a sting and then goes straight to a spark that feels like my skin is burning.

“Hi, Dr. Remington.” Derrick smiles.

“Oh, my. What’s wrong with this little one?” Dr. Remington is a large male. I take in his light-red hair and light-green eyes. I squeeze my eyes shut as he gets closer.

“I believe she had a panic attack,” Derrick replies. I can tell from the tone in his voice that he’s worried.

“That definitely is what happened.” Dr. Remington rinses his hands in a bucket of water before sitting on the bed beside me. My back is toward him as the doctor lifts my shirt.

“Her heartbeat is irregular, and her breathing is very abnormal. Can you get her to lie on her back?”

I hold onto Derrick tighter. His eyes meet mine. Those black eyes of his have a gentleness about them.

“Lake, I’m not going anywhere.” Derrick gently pushes me to my back. My eyes never leave his gaze. “Dr. Remington just needs to examine you.”

I glance over at the doctor. He smiles gently at me and slowly lifts my shirt to my rib cage. I can tell by Dr. Remington’s expression that something is wrong.

“What’s that?” Derrick asks. His face turns angry as a growl rattles the ground.

“Lake.” Dr. Remington looks at me. His thin lips are in a line as his jaw clenches. “How long have you been cursed?”

The atmosphere is mixed with tension and silence. I fiddle with my fingers as Derrick paces back and forth in the tent. Dr. Remington is deep in thought.

I reluctantly tell them everything, from being rejected, finding Jake, and finding out about the curse.

My stomach is riddled with dark-purple veins. My rib cage shows through my skin, and I can barely touch Derrick without pain.

“Lake, it’s very important that you’ve told me everything you know,” Dr. Remington states. “This is a very deadly curse put upon you.”

“I’ve told you everything!” I say. “That witch in white was the one that knocked me out cold for three damn days!”

My anxiety has gone down substantially. I guess everything that I was bottling up needed to get out.

“This isn’t going to be easy…” Dr. Remington runs his hand through his hair and sighs.

“I don’t know who this witch is, but she’s a powerful one. If she really did fabricate a mate bond, Goddess knows what else she can do.”

“What curse is this?” Derrick growls.

“The Bonded,” Dr. Remington states. “It makes it so the female can’t escape the male who put the curse on her. The longer she’s away from the male, the more pain and suffering is instilled.”

My eyes widen. Is this why I’ve been having so many nightmares of Jake?

“How do we stop it?” Derrick asks almost immediately.

“She needs to find her real mate, or her wolf needs to kill the male attached,” Dr. Remington says simply. “The curse will be broken, and the fake bond will no longer exist.”

My heart jumps into my throat.

~You never found your mate, and you probably never will.~

~

“I probably never will.” I can feel my throat closing. “That’s what she said. The witch said something about my parents and how I’m an—”

Dr. Remington and Derrick study me after I cut myself off.

“You’re an Alignment, aren’t you?” I turn to see Lucy standing in the tent’s entrance.

“How did you know?” I ask her. Panic is building in my chest as I see the males looking astonished.

“You fell asleep on a tree branch, where you could see the night sky the best.” Lucy giggles. “It’s obvious.”

I raise an eyebrow. “How did you know about that spot?”

“My mate is one of the Fates.” Lucy comes and sits next to me. “It’s a long story. One for another time.”

“Alignments have a third of the chance of regular wolves at finding their mates.” Dr. Remington sighs. “The only thing to do now is find the male and have your wolf kill him, Lake.”

“I have no idea where to even start looking for him…,” I say. “He’s probably protected by the witch.”

“Then we find the witch and make her lead us to him.” Derrick crosses his arms. I can see a bit of red bleeding through his eyes again.

“Where do we even find her?” Lucy argues. “We have no leads.”

“Sure, we do.” Derrick smirks. “Someone’s parents know the witch fairly well from what we’ve been told.”