Redeeming the Lost (A Comforter's Tale)

Chapter 24

We all stared at the young woman.

"Uh, I'm not sure I heard that correctly," I told Anabel.

"I want to come with you," she repeated.

"Why? You already have a home here."

"Lots of people here have the same skills I do. And I wouldn't mind seeing different packs. Alpha Bennet said I can always come back."

"This isn't going to be a leisurely hike," Amber murmured kindly. "We plan on travelling fast with very little rest."

Anabel drew herself up, the very action making her lean frame look younger and smaller. "I was a rogue for five years. I'm faster than I look."

"Perhaps," Josh said, interlocking his hands and stretching them above his head as he limbered up for the run ahead, "but some of us were feral for longer than that. It won't be easy to keep up."

Her face went pale. "Feral?"

Conrad sent a light punch into Josh's side, causing him to gasp and step back. Perhaps it hadn't been as gentle as it seemed.

"What was that for?" Josh asked, rubbing his side.

"You know why."

"Look at her – she wouldn't give up even if we told her no. If she tries to keep up, which we all know she will, your big heart will slow down for her, and if she travels with us, she'll figure it out the moment she asks where we are going. Anyone who can survive in no man's land for five years isn't stupid."

Conrad sighed and regarded Anabel. "You aren't going to give up and stay here, are you?"

"He was feral?" She still seemed to be stuck on that detail, although her traces of fear were rapidly transforming into astonishment.

Josh rolled his eyes. "Why do you think you are subconsciously uneasy around us? Just like a fighter has a slightly different stance, those who were rogues behave a bit differently or notice more than the average wolf – and those who were feral are a bit different yet."

Anabel simply stared at him as she thought hard.

He chuckled and held out his hand. "Think you can travel with people as scary as us?"

A grin split across her face. "You bet."

Their hands met in a firm handshake – and the flare of a forming matebond slammed against my senses.

Conrad glanced between the two of them as they stared at each other.

"They're mates," I whispered through my shock. "But I thought that second chance mates just needed to make eye contact?"

Jenna slowly replied, "I once heard that sometimes contact is needed if both individuals are looking for their second chance mates."

"In that case," I said, "I think Anabel is older than she looks."

Conrad added, "I also think it's safe to say she's coming with us."

~

       Vera carried me in the basket, which allowed me to watch Anabel as she told her story. It had taken only seconds to give her access to the pack link, although Vera had frog-marched Josh out of the clearing so he didn't see the knife cutting into her skin while the matebond was so new.

"I'm actually twenty-three. I just look younger. My first mate was in the same pack as me, so we found each other as soon as we came of age. It was just weeks after my eighteenth birthday. Mere days later, unlawful rogues poisoned our well and wiped out most of our pack."