Bonded to the Pack (Born to be Were)

  The Pack: Bonded

  A Born to be Were Novel

  By

  Donna Flynn

  Copyright 2013 © by Donna Flynn

  Cover art by Paul Flynn

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law

  All characters in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to any person living or deceased is a coincidence.

  Big thanks to all of my fans who have embraced the Born Were Series and inspire me to keep on writing. I also want to thank my family who encourage me, and put up with the crazy hours I keep. I love you all!

  Prologue

  The dark forest cocooned Mercy in its comforting embrace, shrouding her presence as she hid amongst its rich green foliage. Her heart beat wildly inside of her chest as she scanned the area around her looking for any sign of trouble. She breathed a sigh of relief when Alec stepped out of the wood line, his wolf’s amber eyes finding her instantly. Without thinking, she rushed towards him, wanting to be close to the man she loved no matter what form he had taken, but as she got within a few feet, a torpedo of gray fur tore past her, tackling Alec’s wolf to the ground.

  “No!” Mercy screamed, as the wolf and her mate began viciously tearing into one another, their loud snarls and growls filling the air around her.

  The gray wolf looked her way, its blood-red eyes meeting hers. “Mine,” he called inside of her head. She stifled the cry that came to her throat with the back of her hand.

  “Never!” Alec yelled, racing for the wolf that dared to try to claim what was his. The wolf, though, was ready as Alec launched himself at him. He raised his massive paw, his claws fully extended and sliced clean across the expanse of Alec’s belly, tearing deeply into the flesh there. Alec howled in pain, his body twisting away and landing on all fours, blood dripping from the gouges the wolf’s claws had made, soaking his chestnut fur with crimson. He stumbled and somehow managed to regain his footing, but it was too late. The gray wolf took advantage of his injuries and attacked. He tore into Alec’s flesh with his long canines, ripping into his jugular with deadly accuracy. When Alec lay unmoving, the wolf lifted his head and howled in victory before turning to Mercy, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction.

  “No!” she screamed, backing away in terror.

  “Mercy, wake up,” Lucan said, shaking her shoulders, trying to pull her from her nightmare. “It’s all right, now wake up,” he murmured. Mercy fought against his hold in her sleep, her fists slamming his body repeatedly, but he continued his efforts.

  “What’s going on?” Cade asked from the doorway, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

  Mercy whimpered and cried out, her pitiful moans filling the room. Lucan looked to his brother with a frown. “Another nightmare,” he said tiredly.

  “She’s done this every night for the last week. We need to figure out what is bothering her,” Cade answered, looking as tired as his brother did.

  “You think I don’t…” Lucan’s reply was cut short, when Alec burst into the room, shoving him out of the way and folding Mercy in his arms, murmuring soft words of love to ease her bad dreams and calm her. Lucan watched as Mercy woke, clinging to Alec as if he was the only one who could offer the support she needed, and turned to his brother with a sad smile. “And so it begins.”

  “It is only natural she should turn to her mate in times of distress,” Cade reminded him. He knew Lucan was dreading Mercy and Alec’s bonding. Their union meant the little girl he had raised was now a grownup who no longer needed him the same way she had when she was a child. What Lucan didn’t understand was that although she was now confident and ready to take on the world, he would always be her safe harbor. He was the man who had given up everything to raise her, loved her as if she were his own, and instilled the values that made her the wonderful human being she was. He was her father in every sense of the word and nothing could ever make her forget that, not even Alec.

  Lucan looked at the couple and nodded, following his brother out of the room, confident Alec would follow behind once he calmed Mercy down. He knew Lucan’s rule about being in her room too long unattended, and wouldn’t dare to break it.

  “What’s going on, Angel?” Alec asked after her brothers left the room, pulling Mercy across his lap and settling her in his arms.

  Mercy looked into Alec’s chocolate-brown eyes and felt her heart skip a beat. With his shoulder-length chestnut hair and muscular body that made all the girls at her high school drool, he was simply the most gorgeous male she had ever laid eyes on, and somehow, unbelievably, he was all hers. Fate had decreed it, time had proved it, and she was now more than ready to embrace it. “It was just a bad dream, nothing important.” She didn’t want to burden him with her odd nightmares about their Bonding Ceremony being interrupted and him being killed.

  “Want to tell me about it?” he asked, his lips nuzzling the base of her neck, making her sigh and lean closer into him.

  “It wasn’t anything important,” she told him, lifting his chin and brushing her lips across his warm, firm ones. “Besides, in case you haven’t noticed, we are all alone and I can think of better things to do than talk about my nightmares.”

  “Incorrigible,” he said, sweeping her up in a kiss that left her toes curled and her body heated for far more of his touch.

  Mercy pulled away and ran her hand over his bare chest with a devilish glint in her eye. “I know what would make me feel better,” she said, biting her bottom lip.

  It was enticing the way she nibbled her lip, and the feel of her warm fingers as they moved over his skin near drove him insane. Somehow he managed to keep calm. That was until she leaned into his neck and began to nuzzle him there, playfully biting and nipping his skin as her hand moved down his torso. He growled, and flipped her onto the bed covering her with his own body as he stared down at her, desire shining in his eyes. “You are not playing fair,” he murmured, kissing her neck, then her collarbone, before sliding lower to brush his lips across the swell of one of her breasts.

  “Alec, don’t stop,” she whispered desperately, tired of waiting for their union when she was confident he was the one she would be with for the rest of her life. “I’m going to be eighteen in a few weeks, and we are going to bond this fall. What are you waiting for?” It was a dumb question and she knew full well it was the stupid promise he made to her brothers not to compromise her until they were bonded, a commitment more binding than human marriage to werewolf society.

  “No,” he answered gruffly. “I promised your brothers and I won’t break that promise even if what I feel for you is driving me insane.” She pressed herself against him and he realized quickly she wore nothing under her tank top. He groaned and pulled back. Her brothers trusted him, and there was no way to back out of the promise he had made to them, so he had to keep denying his need for her.

  “Alec,” she murmured, pressing closer, knowing he was as hot for her as she was him and using it to her advantage.

  “No!” he bit out in a strangled cry, pushing her off his lap and moving across the room to calm down.

  Mercy watched him pacing the room with impatience. They had planned to be bonded anyway during the first full moon of the fall season, so it didn’t seem like such a big deal to her if they anticipated their bonding. Besides that, the dreams she had been experiencing made her anxious that something was coming that might tear them apart. She couldn’t bear the thought of that happening and her never having known what it felt like to be his t
ruly. Not just in words, but in deed.

  “Alec!” Lucan yelled from the bottom of the stairs, letting them know he was growing impatient with their continued absence.

  “Alec, I am just asking you to consider my feelings,” Mercy pleaded. “I love you, and I want to belong to you in every way.”

  Alec sighed and crossed the room, pulling her into his arms. “I want that too. You have no idea how this is torturing me, but we have the rest of our lives to be together. Why are you rushing things?”

  Mercy bit her lip in frustration. “You’re right, I know, but I can’t help but think that something is going to happen and I am going to lose you.”

  Alec’s arms tightened around her and he lowered his head to hers. “Nothing and no one will ever make me leave you. You are my mate and I would die before I let you go.”

  “That’s what I am worried about,” she murmured as he pressed his lips to hers, ending their debate.

  Chapter One

  Mercy stood on the steps of her family’s log cabin buried deep in the mountains of North Carolina, watching the driveway for any sign of Alec’s return. After another long weekend apart, she looked forward to spending some time alone with him before they had to go back to the school the next morning. He was late, though, and she was growing more worried with each passing second.

  “He’ll be here,” Lucan said from the doorway, feeling her concern for her mate from across the porch. Mercy was new to being a werewolf and although she had learned so much in the last few months, she hadn’t learned to hide her emotions yet, and that made her easy for him to read.

  “I know, I just really miss him,” she answered, wringing her hands with worry. It seemed since she agreed to become Alec’s Bond Mate he was always distracted when he was with her or disappearing for trips back home on weekends. There always seemed to be a problem in his pack he had to see to, and his work trying to unite all of the packs against the rogues who sought to overtake them, kept him on the phone for long periods of time. It seemed he was always busy, and although she understood that as second and heir of his father’s pack, which meant he had to help his father, it seemed lately like he was doing everything. She had also begun to fear that maybe now that he got her to agree to bond with him, he didn’t think he had to spend time romancing her anymore.

  “I know you miss him, but he has responsibilities that he put on hold to live here close to you and now, he must get back to them,” Lucan told her. Selfishly he was glad he had been able to spend so much time alone with her now that Alec had been gone so often but he knew she didn’t see it that way. The time was fast approaching when she would no longer live in his home and he dreaded it. He had mixed emotions about his sister’s relationship with the future Alpha of their pack. On one hand, he loved Alec like a brother, but on the other hand, he despised him for being the one who would take her away. It was irrational and completely stupid, but Mercy was more like his daughter than a sister, and he couldn’t help but worry about her future as any good father would. He had raised Mercy from the age six, held her in his arms every night that first long year after her parents’ unfortunate death. He had cleaned her scraped knees, fixed all of her problems, and helped her grow into the stunning young woman that stood before him now. He was her world until her relationship with Alec took a turn none of them had seen coming.

  It turned out Mercy was Alec’s Bond Mate, which meant she was the one female created for him alone and he could do nothing other than to love and protect her for the rest of his existence. Lucan certainly hadn’t been excited by the idea of finding that out while Mercy was a teenager who had yet to taste life, but he had grown resigned to the fact he couldn’t keep them apart. Now, as their relationship matured, she turned to Alec for everything, and it hurt more than he could have imagined.

  “Luc, are you really okay about Alec and me,” she asked, interrupting his thoughts.

  He opened the door and walked outside to keep her company while she waited. “Would it matter?” he asked, taking a seat on the rattan chair closest to her, earning a frown. As always, he wanted only to ease her worries and rushed to explain. “Bond Mates are special, Mercy. I know that and I know Alec will be a good mate for you, but you are both so young. I wanted you to experience life and find your own path before some overprotective male werewolf swept you off your feet and took you away.

  “You know, you are an overprotective male werewolf too, or have you forgotten how you act when Nina doesn’t follow your wishes?”

  Lucan sighed. “Nina and I are adults. We have experienced life without one another before we met.”

  “So what, you want me to meet other men and do with them all the things with them I want to do with Alec?” she asked teasingly.

  “God, no,” Lucan groaned.

  Mercy decided to give him a break. She knew he only wanted was best for her, but she was confident Alec was it and didn’t have a single doubt about their future together. “I love him, Luc. I know you're having a hard time with that, but he is my mate, the one I am meant to be with, whether it be now, or later.” She took the seat next to him and smiled. “I know what I am doing. You have to trust me on this.”

  Lucan stared at the ring that hung from a thick chain around her neck and his jaw began to tic. Alec had given it to her just before a crazy she-wolf from his past had tried to kill Mercy so she could have Alec for herself. The ring was thousands of years old and had graced the finger of every Alpha in their pack since its creation. By accepting it from Alec, she had acknowledged to every werewolf who saw it that he was her mate. Although it didn’t tie them together permanently, it was another step in the bonding process Alec had unwittingly started when he had taken her hand in his when she was just a child. Another step she took further away from her family, and from him.

  “Earth to Luc,” Mercy said snapping her fingers in front of him. “You know that no matter how much I love Alec it could never diminish the love I have for you, right?”

  His heart melted instantly. Mercy always knew the right words to say to make him feel better. “I know, just as I know you two are a good pair. It is just so soon. I want you to consider how much the Bonding Ceremony will change your life. No longer will you be free to do what you want. As the mate of an Alpha you will have to look to him for confirmation on every decision you make.”

  “I know that, but Alec is a fair person and I know he will always try to do his best by me.”

  Lucan shook his head. “When Alec takes over the pack his word is final. I know he will be good to you, but there will be times you will resent the fact he has the final say in your life.”

  “Does Nina resent you?” she asked in response.

  “Of course not,” he said, looking insulted.

  “We are not going to agree on this, Luc, but I am aware how much I am giving up and I accept it because I know Alec is the one for me. I don’t need another month, or year, to see that. You have to trust me and allow me to make my own decisions.”

  Lucan sighed tiredly. “I know, but it is so hard to let you go. Especially now when you are so young.”

  Mercy knew Lucan had given up his entire life to raise her, but now that he had found his Bond Mate Nina, she hoped her presence would ease the pain her leaving his home would cause. Besides, once the Bonding Ceremony was complete, they were all moving back to the little town they had run from to protect her. In a place that small, she knew they would see each other all the time.

  Before Lucan could say another word, headlights illuminated the driveway and Mercy flew off the porch, racing towards the black Dodge Charger that carried her mate home to her. He watched as she ran, but instead of seeing the young woman she had become, he saw the little girl she had been and his heart ached. He would sorely miss having her in his home, but he knew that she would be well cared for by her future mate. Alec could do nothing other than love and cherish her for the rest of her existence; he was her Bond Mate and no other female could ever mean as much to him as
she did. The car slid to a halt and he sighed, resigned to the fact their conversation was over. With one last sad glance over his shoulder, he walked back into the house to give them time alone to say the hello to each other.

  *****

  Alec saw Mercy running from the porch and hit the brakes, stopping the car in the middle of the driveway, and parking it, barely getting out of his seat before Mercy launched herself into his arms. “Hey, Angel,” he said, hugging her close, his nose filling with her sweet fragrance, as he savored the feel of her in his arms once again.

  “I missed you,” she said tilting her face upwards so he could kiss her, frowning when she saw faint bruising across one of his cheeks. “What happened?”she asked, taking a step back and looking concerned.

  “Pack stuff, it’s not important,” he said, pulling her back into his arms, his lips finding hers instantly. He had missed her more than he could have thought possible while he had been gone. His time away only increased his determination to bond with her as soon as possible, so she would never again have to be left behind when he dealt with pack business back home.

  “Alec, you’re hurt, and I want to know why,” she insisted, breaking off their kiss and trying to pull out of his arms.

  Alec sighed tiredly. He had hoped the dark would hide the bruising until they at least had a proper greeting out of the way, but he should have known better. When it came to him, Mercy didn’t miss anything. “Mercy, it was a long, lonely weekend without you, can you at least greet me properly, before giving me a lecture?”

  “Of course,” she murmured, brushing her lips across his quickly to appease him.

  “I don’t think so,” he chuckled, his own lips melding to hers in a demanding kiss that left them both breathing heavily and Mercy clinging to him to keep herself upright. Her cheeks were flushed a pretty shade of pink, her mouth kiss swollen, and her eyes filled with desire as he pulled back to look down upon her with a satisfied grin. It did his heart good to know that only he could make her so flustered with just one kiss, and he couldn’t help but feel pride that she was well and truly his for eternity. “Now that we got that out of the way, how have you been?”