Chapter 8: Bonds That Tie

 Kei rushed out the front door and ran next door.

   She pounded on Ethan's front door, but it was Ari that answered the door.

 


    "Where's Ethan?"

  Ari smirked.  "Out.  He'll be back shortly.  Won't you come in and wait for him?"

  Kei pushed past him and went into the house.  When she turned around, she found Ari right on her heels.  She gasped when she got a good look at him.  "What---what are you?"

  "A werewolf dearie." he grinned maliciously, showing off his grossly misshapen jaws and teeth.  "Do you like what you see?  Ethan's one, too, you know.  And so will you be, Ethan marked you last night."

  Kei glared at Ari.  "When will he be home?  I have a few things to say to him!"

  Ari sidled up closer to Kei.  "He'll be along, after his business is taken care of."  He let his eyes wander over her body.  "In the meantime, there is you, and there is me..."  Ari lunged at Kei, grabbing her arm and wrenching her close enough to him that she could smell his putrid breath.  He lowered his head to kiss her, when Kei made a well placed jab with her elbow and pushed him away from her.

  "Don't touch me!" she said furiously.

 

    Just then the front door opened and Ethan stalked in.  Ethan took one look at Kei and asked, "Is everything all right here?"

  

  Kei answered, "You're brother is a creep."

  Ari grinned at her.  "A beast, dearie, just like you."

  "I am not a beast!"

  "Not yet." he answered coolly.

 


  "Ari, would you shut up and leave us alone.  I need to talk to her."

  "As you wish brother."  and Ari silently left the room.

  Kei thought briefly about telling Ethan what his brother had attempted to do, but decided to tell him later.  She had more important questions on her mind.  "What did you do to me?"  Ethan pulled her in closer to him, Kei resisted, but not too hard.  "Ethan, talk."  She looked into his beloved face, at once familiar, and yet--not.  His golden eyes were still beautiful, if not a little more wolf like.

He asked a question, instead of answering her. "Do you find my appearance ugly?"

  "No, " she said honestly.  "I should, but I don't."

  "That is a good sign, then."

  "Good sign?  Good sign that I have gone stark raving mad.  I'm about to freak out here Ethan, start talking!"

  Ethan sighed.  "Well, where to begin."  Kei looked at him impatiently.  "Well, it is a good sign in that it means the bonding is working and..."

  Kei interrupted him.  "This bonding?  What is this bonding?  And why wouldn't it work?"

  "Bonding between mates, it's, well, the best I can explain it, it is a spiritual, physical, and emotional deep bond, that ties two mates together for life.  As to why it wouldn't work---well, sometimes the bonding doesn't take."

  "And what happens when it doesn't take?"

  Ethan hesitated a moment.  "If the bonding doesn't take, then it kills the person."

  Kei stared at him.  "Are you telling me, this, this, bonding bite thing you did to me, could have killed me?"  her voice rose in volume as she said the last few words.

  "It could have."  Kei hit him.  "Ouch!"  he grabbed her arms to keep her from slugging him again.  "Kei, I tried to warn you, remember?  I said stay home, remember?"

  Kei struggled vainly, Ethan's hold was too strong for her to break.  "You didn't say why Ethan!  I still don't understand why!"

  "If you would calm down a moment..."  Kei ceased struggling against him, and glared at him instead.  "It's the full moon.  During the full moon, we, we werewolves revert to more beast like behavior.  I could not fully control myself, and you, you Kei, let's just say you tempted me in many ways while in my human form.  I did not think I could resist making you mine, in my werewolf form, during a full moon.  And I was right." he concluded.  "You mess with my head, and distract me when I cannot afford to be distracted.  And now we are bonded, when I should not be bonded."

  Kei melted, a little.  "Aww, that's so sweet!  That is the nicest thing you have ever said to me!"   She seized on his last words.  "Why shouldn't you be bonded?"

  "I can tell you very little, right now Kei, for your own safety.  And don't give me that look!  Remember what happened last time you ignored my warning?  But I will tell you this.  We werewolves, we form packs.  Some small, some quite large.  My pack is the largest.  My father is pack leader, and someday I will be too.  Until then, I must follow the orders of the clan elders, Ari, who is my half brother, is my leader while we are here.  I am supposed to mate with an appropriate female from within my clan.  Not, not a human.   If I choose a mate that is not deemed, er, acceptable by my clan leader, then the clan leader has the right to kill her.  But I have the right to fight for her.  If I win, she lives as my mate, if I lose..."

  "She dies.  Again with the dying!"  But Kei said this with little heat.  "Ari doesn't like me.  That works, I don't like him either.  He's a creep."

  Ethan hugged Kei closely, breathing in her scent.  "Ari, I fear, likes you too much."  Kei would have told him, then. about Ari, but Ethan distracted her by kissing her.  "Am I forgiven?"

  

  "I shouldn't, but I can't seem to help it.  It is aggravating, this weakness..."

  Ethan laughed.  "Some would call it love, Kei."

  "Some maybe, but not me.  I don't do love.  Lust maybe.  Addicted, definitely..."

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  Generation 2 is moving right along!  This was a tricky chapter to write--say enough without saying too much!  Hopefully I got the balance right!

  Thanks for reading!  :)



Next: Chapter 9: Transformations