Page 26 of Alpha Bond
“Sierra Barr. And it’s good to meet you too,” I say awkwardly.
She responds with another smile before turning to the doctor. “What can I help you with today?”
The doctor chuckles. “Do you really need to ask that?”
“I suppose not.” Raura runs an eye over me. “Let me guess; you need a whole new wardrobe.”
I press my lips together. My cheeks are flaming now. It’s just occurred to me that I have no way of paying for anything. “Just shoes…if you’ll let me work off the cost of them?”
Ugh. I hate feeling so helpless.
“Don’t be nuts! It’s on the house. All of this comes from thrift stores, so it’s hardly high-end fashion. Besides, we don’t often get newcomers, and I’d love to help out. Take a look through the racks and pick out what you want.”
“I- I couldn’t do that!!”
“Relax, honey,” Doctor Bea interrupts. “Greyson will see to it that Raura is reimbursed. And you can’t go around like that for much longer.”
I look down at myself. She’s right. Jagger’s shirt reaches my knees and although I’ve rolled up the hems of the pants, they still keep catching under my feet.
“Good point,” I admit.
“Besides, you’ll need to be able to put on a turn of speed if you plan to outrun one of those males who hopes to claim you.”
“What?” I choke out. “What do you mean?”
Raura grins at me. “They didn’t tell you about the hunt?”
“What hunt?” My heart is in my throat.
“When an unclaimed female joins the pack, the males may ask our alpha for the right to hunt her.”
I spin to look at the doctor. “But…but… You never said anything about a hunt! You said you had rules in this place.”
“Relax.” The woman rests a hand on my shoulder. “It’s entirely voluntary and only if you’re struggling to pick one.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
“Either way, you’d have to take a mate,” Raura says, reminding me of the meeting we just came from. Staying here would come at a cost.
Taking my arm, Doctor Bea steers me toward a display of shoes. “No more of that. We have more important things to attend to. And I promised I’d get you back soon.”
Half an hour later, we leave the market with two full bags. I’m wearing a new pair of sneakers, and I have a pair of simple black pumps to match a flared black dress that Raura had insisted I take. ‘Because every girl needs a little black dress,’ she’d said. I also have a pair of jeans, a couple of T-shirts, and some sweatpants that actually fit. And I feel completely overwhelmed with gratitude. My heart is torn between the need to get back home and the sense of safety I’m starting to feel here.
“Come back if you need anything else,” Raura calls after us. I feel the warmth of female company, and it brings a wave of sorrow. How can I be thinking of getting comfortable here when I have no idea what happened to the others?
“Is something wrong, Sierra?” the doctor’s voice pulls me back to reality.
I give myself a slight shake. “All good. Just…” I change the subject abruptly, “Why did you say that earlier? That it takes Jagger a while to trust. Why is he like that?”
She hesitates for a moment as if deliberating on whether to answer. “I think that’s something for him to answer,” she eventually says. “But let’s just say that we all carry our own demons – as I suspect you do.” She looks pointedly at me as she says it. I don’t respond. I’m fighting the urge to put my hand to my throat. “Jagger’s demons hounded him here. He doesn’t like to talk about it.”
I consider this for a moment. “It’s that bad?” I say.
Doctor Bea turns her attention back to the road that leads back to the single quarters. “I think it’s time to get you back home,” she says.
Home…
I walk with her in silence; the weight of that word – home – is heavy on my shoulders. And I’m more intrigued than ever about the man who brought me here.