Unbound (Bound To You sequel)

FOUR - Songs of Madness

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I was surprised to see Trist, James' father at my door. Trist spent most of his time staring at a game of chess he was playing with himself or in the library reading books as ancient as he.

"The little girl should go with you too," he said, not looking at Lucy who was sitting in a corner on the floor. I had offered her a seat on the bed but she was very skittish at the moment. Tommy had said she had a bad dream, but I felt it must be more than that.

"We're going somewhere that might be dangerous," I told him. Just like I'd told Lucy when she'd pleaded to come. "She can't go."

"She annoys me. She grates at me. She sings too loudly," Trist said, turning and growling at Lucy. She curled up into a ball and hide her face.

"Stop that," I told him. I was working on my alpha voice. Only Trist was alpha too. So he just turned the growl on me.

We stared at each other for a few moments, then he broke eye contact, shrugged and walked over to the bag I was packing.

"You should stay. They'll know if you go. The others. They will. And time will run out," he said, suddenly calm again. I still had no idea who these others Trist often spoke of. "Time runs so fast. Never fast enough for them."

"No, James should be coming with me," I said, still upset about that. "That's what should be happening."

"James should learn his place. I should come with you. I am the leader- I am the alpha," he said. "I could kill him. Kill all of you little mutts. You're nothing."

He slapped the bag on the bed, making it thumble off the bed and onto the floor.

Like a rabbit Lucy jumped up and rushed out the door.

"Look what you did!" I said, picking the bag up. Most of the time just being calm seemed to chill Trist out, bring him back to himself. But now he was clearly upset. And it scared me a little, but mostly it made me sad.

I thought, maybe, if I'd lived with this man, and the knowledge that if I found my mate and lost her, it could become me. That madness awaited one day when one of us lost the other, maybe I would have been more unsure about the mate bond too.

Maybe.

Only James had accepted the mate bond. Taken the risk that he'd end up just like his father if I died.

I felt warm and happy realizing that. James might not be able to talk to me yet, but he had been willing to risk something huge for me. Something I could barely understand.

"Please don't leave," Trist said, throwing himself down on his knees right in front of me and wrapping his arms around my waist. It was so unexpected I began moving back and would have fallen if not for his grip on my body. "We'll be all alone."

"It's okay," I told him, testingly putting a gentle hand on his salt and pepper hair. It was rougher than James', a little dirty too, but the touch seemed to calm him and he rubbed against my belly.

That was a bit unnerving. The belly was a vulnerable place. A soft unprotected part of me, no bone to keep sharp fangs from ripping me open. The almost nuzzling gesture was almost sensual. Almost sexuall.

I didn't like it.

"Please, let go of me," I said to him, trying to shove at his large shoulders. But he was too big and strong.