Bonded to the Pack (Born to be Were) Read Online Free Page A

hers, and only weeks away from graduation. She should
be over the moon with happiness but a niggling feeling in the back of her mind
kept her from rejoicing. If there was one thing she had learned in the last
year, it was that life could change on a dime and could take a course very
different from the one she had been expecting.
     
    *****
     
     
    “No!” Alec bellowed after hearing the
news Cade brought.  “Mercy is mine. I won’t turn her over to the Elders.”  
    Cade looked upon him with apathy,
knowing if anyone told him his mate was free game for any male who could fight
for her that he, too, would lose his cool. “Look, I completely agree, but their
word is law and since they have heard about the rogue’s interest in Mercy, they
want her protected until she is well and truly bonded to a male they deem
capable of protecting her for the rest of her existence.”
    The Elders were the supreme ruling body
of werewolf society. They handled any disputes amongst the packs and were the
keepers of all werewolf laws and history. They were the oldest of their kind
and possessed powers that were beyond comprehension. Their word was law and
their decisions final. If they decided to allow a challenge for the right to
bond with Mercy, he would have to go along with it and beat everyone else to
claim her for his own.
     Lucan sat still, shocked and unable to
believe that the Elders were willing to evoke a law no one had ever even knew
existed.  That law stated that a Born Were, because of how rare a treasure they
were to all packs, was to be offered up in a challenge that would pit males of
all packs against one another for the honor of becoming her mate. The law had
apparently been created to test the prospective mate’s ability to protect her
and keep her safe, but if anything, it only succeeded in making the Born Were a
prize for any who sought her for their mate. Since they still didn’t know to
what extent the rogues had infiltrated other packs it would give them a chance
to claim one of the werewolf society’s greatest treasures. “How long before
they come for her?”
    “She has until her eighteenth birthday
before they can enforce the law,” Cade said, barely containing his own anger at
the idea of his sister being treated like a possession, not a person.   
    Lucan thought about his brother’s words
and came up with only one answer that would save his sister from becoming a prized
possession. “You need to bond with her right after graduation,” Lucan said to
Alec. “Her birthday is two days later and I have no doubt they will be here to
retrieve her.”
    “You wanted her to wait,” Alec whispered,
unable to believe Lucan was now on board with their bonding so quickly.
    “I want her to be happy and with you she
will be, with another that might not be the case.” Lucan looked to his brother,
who nodded in agreement. “She was always meant to be yours anyway, now it will
just be a little sooner.”
    “Lucan, I…” Alec didn’t know what to
say, but it didn’t matter because Lucan raised his hand and stopped him from
saying anything.
     “You’re her mate and she needs you more
than ever to take care of her, now. It might be sooner than I would have liked,
but this is how it will have to be.”
    “What do we tell Mercy?” Cade asked.
“She isn’t going to believe you just suddenly changed your mind when you have
been so adamant about them waiting.
    “We need to tell her the truth,” Alec
said. Mercy was no longer a child and she wouldn’t be pleased if they lied to
her again. After keeping the secret, she was werewolf from her for most of her
life he was lucky she spoke to him now. He would not risk their relationship
again for something she would soon find out about anyway.
    “I agree,” Lucan replied. “If we don’t
tell her and she finds out, I don’t think she would ever forgive us.”
    “You think she can handle this?” Cade
asked worriedly. With everything that was going on, he