The Prodigal Wolf (completed)

Thirteen

A big thank you to those who are reading this, my constant readers, commenters and voters. You don't know how much something as simple as a comment (even if it's a LOL) makes my day. It seriously makes my day when I see someone has commented, or voted, or that out of nowhere I have a hundred more reads. It's the best encouragement in the world to continue writing this, even when it would be easier to give up (once more) and lose courage.

You don't know how much you all mean to me,

Shy. B

Nervously, Natalia played with the hem of her dress, glancing at Adam from the corners of her eyes. Outside, the world flew by, a dizzying blur that only added to the fluttering tickle in her stomach. Wishing she was anywhere but here, right there in that moment, she bit her lip. Then, as if she had spoken her feelings aloud, Adam's hand snaked its way over the pick-up's front seat, and into hers. She glanced down at it surprised, she actually opened her mouth to ask how did he knew, but then it dawned on her. The mate bond.

She looked away, out the window, hiding her frown. But she forgot about the window's reflection. As they pulled to a stop sign, and she continued to glare out at the world beyond, she happened to glance up and see Adam's face in the reflection, watching hers. Like a child caught with it's hand in the cookie jar her face flushed and her eyes widened.

"What's wrong?" Adam asked immediately as their eyes locked.

Natalia swallowed the knot that formed in her throat, "N-nothing."

"Natalia, I know that's a lie. I can feel it through the bond. What's wrong? I only want to make it better."

Eyes flashing Natalia's head whipped around, turning her face away from the glass and towards his. "That's exactly what's wrong." She flung the words at him as if they were ammo, bullets that would rip through him.

Adam blinked, "What is?"

Growling Natalia nodded her head towards their still holding hands, she wanted to pull hers away, her mind was screaming for her to, but her heart, her body, it simply did not obey. The irrational part of her brain couldn't find a place more secure, comfortable and reasonable place to put her hand. "That."

He stared down at their joined hands questioningly, hurt and confusion etched onto his face. Again, the irrational part of her brain, the little bit of wolf she had in her was nagging her more dominant human brain, why was she hurting their mate like this? Couldn't she see he was hurting? She must comfort him.

"The mate bond, its-its an invasion of privacy! Can my feelings just be mine and mine alone? I can't feel nothing-nothing without you knowing."

Adam looked up at her, "But how else will I know that you need comforting? That you're scared? Worried? Happy? How will I know when to give you and hug and remind you that I'm here and nothing will hurt you while I'm here?"

"But that's only the mate bond making you feel like that. You don't actually feel like that. That's just the Moon Goddess fucking with your emotions. Its not real."

His eyes became steel as it was he who growled this time, "It's not real? My feelings aren't real? It's not because of the bond that I love you. Its because of who you are. You weren't picked for me randomly and the didn't bond force me to love you. It's who you are that made the Moon Goddess select you, because she knew I would love you. The bond makes my wolf recognize that I would love you. The bond allows for me to love you in the most effective way possible. The bond allows me to feel your emotions so I can know I'm doing my job as your lover properly. So If I ever make you feel sad, I'll know, so I can fix it and never ever lose you."