Jayden's call to Katy had gone unanswered, the silent hum of his vibrating phone a subtle vibration against the nightstand, but the message was clear.
"She's fine," Jamie stated, his voice low, breaking the tense silence. He wasn't convinced by Katy's brief text, but he could feel the faint, steady pulse of her presence through the newly solidified mate bond. It was there, a comforting thrum beneath his own skin, confirming her safety.
Jayden, however, felt a prickle of unease. "She's 'fine,' but she ran, Jamie. Without a word. Did you see her face? The panic when she saw the blood." He turned , propping himself on an elbow to face his brother. "We pushed too hard. Too fast. We overwhelmed her."
Jamie sighed, running a hand over his face. "We waited six months, Jayden. Six months of the bond screaming at us. She was ready. She said she wanted us."
"She said that in the heat of the moment, brother," Jayden countered, his voice firm. "After we'd already taken her to our bed. She's human, Jamie. And she's never experienced anything like this. We just shattered her world without even telling her what we are. The bleeding... that was a jolt of reality for her, something she clearly didn't expect."
A heavy silence descended as the weight of Jayden's words settled. Jamie knew he was right. Their wolf instincts had overridden their human caution. The urge to claim, to possess, was too strong to deny.
"So what now?" Jamie finally asked, a rare note of uncertainty in his voice. "She won't answer our calls. She probably thinks we're monsters, or at the very least, completely insane."
Jayden stared at the ceiling, his golden eyes unseeing. "We give her space. For now. Let her process. She felt the bond, Jamie. Even if she didn't understand it, she felt something. "It's not a one-way street." He paused, a new resolve hardening his features. "But we don't let her go. She's ours. We just need to figure out how to bridge the gap. How to explain. How to keep her, without scaring her away for good."
The night stretched long, filled with the quiet hum of their bond to Katy, and the unsettling questions about their future with the human mate they had just claimed.
The silence stretched, filled with the hum of the mate bond, both comforting and frustrating in its intensity. Jayden's mind raced, replaying Katy's frightened face, her abrupt departure. The frustration was a hot, growing knot in his chest. His wolf was agitated, pacing, needing to run, to release the pent-up energy and anxiety.
With a growl of sheer frustration, Jayden abruptly got out of bed. "I need to run," he gritted out, the words almost an apology to Jamie for the sudden movement. Without another word, he headed for the door, the primal urge to shift and run through the night becoming overwhelming. A wolf run was the only thing that would calm the restless beast within him now.
Jamie just sighed. The restless energy, the unfulfilled need to protect and explain, resonated deep within him too. There was no point in trying to sleep now. He swung his legs over the side of the bed. "I'll join you, brother," he said, his voice quiet but firm, already moving to follow Jayden. A shared run through the forest was exactly what they both needed to clear their heads and, perhaps, to find some answers in the wild solitude of their true forms.