  &quot;Oh, my God.&quot; I feel sick as bile rises in my throat, the levity of the situation finally coming through at me. I was an idiot to think that he d been sitting twiddling his thumbs at the packhouse while I ve been gone. Everything is in uproar, and he s been in the middle of an actual war.
  &quot;It s not the same size as the packhouse by a long shot, it s a homestead, but it has some land. It s isolated from humans, surrounded by forests, and for now, we re managing to defend it pretty well. I m more focused on keeping my people safe and giving them a place to rebuild before I go chasing vampires and starting fights like my father seems to be doing. It s all he cares about, and now knowing what you showed me ... it makes perfect fucking sense. The war was his glory days; he was a commander with an army who jumped to his orders, lording over a united race. I wouldn t put it p

  The warm sensation sliding around me and the sudden weightlessness I experience wakes me up before his voice does. A feeling of floating, as everything comes back to me, and my brain re-engages with my limbs as warm hands and body transfer heat to mine.
  &quot;Baby, we re here, wake up.&quot; Colton s honey tone slides over me as his scent submerges me in a cozy, firm hold, submerged in his delicious scent that makes me giddy, and I blink my eyes open to find myself in his arms while being scooped out of the truck as he stands by my door. The night is cloaking in around us, but the illumination from the front of me makes my eyes blurry as I try to adjust and screw them shut again quickly. Taking a moment to savor that in-between awake and dreaming state. He has me in his arms, pressing me to him, one under my legs and one around my back while my face is in against the crook of his thr

  He is all in wolf mode in his head and acting like a male hitting the haze. Possessively close, practically bearing down on me as the femme he clearly wants to bone. It s a little unnerving that he is being so weird, but I get it—I left him. I knew where I was and was in control of my being gone, so I never had that frantic pain of loss. I always knew where he was, and how to reach him, and could have if I needed, and wanted to, but he had none of that. 
  He just had silence. No idea where in the world I went and not knowing if I was okay, so I guess it s why he seems a little stirred up and wolf crazy. His bond instinct to protect me must have made him insane these past few weeks, and until now, I never really thought of it. How that must have made him feel and the powerless nature of it. Especially if he could feel my fear, my panic, my sadness, in everything I have been through. Hi

&quot;Oh, my God.&quot; I feel sick as bile rises in my throat, the levity of the situation finally coming through at me. I was an idiot to think that he d been sitting twiddling his thumbs at the packhouse while I ve been gone. Everything is in uproar, and he s been in the middle of an actual war.
  &quot;It s not the same size as the packhouse by a long shot, it s a homestead, but it has some land. It s isolated from humans, surrounded by forests, and for now, we re managing to defend it pretty well. I m more focused on keeping my people safe and giving them a place to rebuild before I go chasing vampires and starting fights like my father seems to be doing. It s all he cares about, and now knowing what you showed me ... it makes perfect fucking sense. The war was his glory days; he was a commander with an army who jumped to his orders, lording over a united race. I wouldn t put it past him to somehow deliver a means to the vampires to rile it up again.&quot; The anger simmers in hi

chapter 51