Read Bound to the Alpha: Part Three for Free Online Page B

Caim are a package deal. If I’m going to be your mate—”
    “You are my mate,” he interjected.
    “Well, that also makes me Caim’s mother.” She felt silly adopting the title so brazenly, and immediately felt the need to explain herself. “Look, I know it’s strange and—”
    Cain cut her off again, this time with a kiss. Drawing back, he said, “It is not strange. I think a mother is exactly what Caim needs.”
----
    T he winter nights were far colder than the mornings, and it wasn’t long before Sarah regretted not changing into something warmer. Cain had wrapped her favorite rabbit-skin pelt around her shoulders before they left, but the frigid wind still seemed to find its way up her gown.
    Fortunately, Caim wasn’t very hard to track. No matter how sneaky the boy was, it was nearly impossible for him to disguise his trail in the snow. Cain and Sarah followed the small paw prints through the woods, to the hill that overlooked the river.
    They stopped when Caim came into view. To Sarah, he was just a black smudge silhouetted against the moon. Her heart sank at the sight of him sitting alone in the snow. He was too young to be so troubled.
    “Can I go?” she asked, nodding up at the hill where Caim sat.
    He raised a questioning brow.
    Sarah smiled reassuringly, and started up the hill. She walked slowly, careful to avoid any slippery rocks and hidden tree stumps. Halfway up, she glanced back to look for her mate, but he seemed to have faded into the shadowed rows of trees.
    As she neared Caim, Sarah thought she saw the pup’s ear twitch, but he gave no other indication that he was aware of her presence. Making sure to give him a little space, she crouched down a few paces beside him.
    “Hey, you,” she said. “Aren’t you cold out here?”
    The wolf pup spared her a glance. Big though he was, the snow was deep and came nearly up to his chest. Sarah had the urge to pick him up and bundle him under her fur cloak, but she knew that Caim wasn’t a fan of being coddled.
    Sensing that she might be there a little while, Sarah sat down, the snow crunching beneath her rear.
    “I used to run away a lot when I was younger,” she said, resting her chin on her knees. “I was really good at it, too. One time, my aunt had to call the police. It took them almost a day to find me.”
    Sarah stared off towards the river as she thought back to those days. Running away had been one of her many passive-aggressive means of coping with her lack of parents. Now she was beginning to understand how much stress she must have put on her aunt, an aunt who, despite Sarah’s best efforts to push her away, had loved her very much.
    She probably thinks I just ran off again , she thought, remembering the fight they’d had before Sarah left. Her aunt had tried to warn Sarah not to go visit her mother, that nothing good could come of dredging up the past. Sarah hadn’t been sure how to explain to her aunt that for her, none of it was in the past. The loss of a parent was a wound that stayed with you forever, never able to fully heal.
    Sarah hoped that someday soon, she’d be able to go back to town, if only just to send her aunt a postcard to let her know she was all right.
    “I have been gone for much longer than that.”
    Sarah was slightly startled to see Caim crouching next to her, but she recovered quickly. Surreptitiously, she removed her pelt and placed it over his small shoulders. He didn’t protest.
    “Really, now?” she asked, securing the pelt in a knot under his chin.
    Caim nodded his shaggy head. “Last summer, while my father was away, I left for almost three days.” His gaze shot up to hers. “But that is a secret between Hale and me.”
    Sarah’s cheeks hurt with her effort not to grin. “I won’t tell.”
    “My father is back,” he said, looking away again. “I can smell him on you.”
    “He’s waiting for you at the foot of the hill.”
    “Hn,” was his only reply.
    Absently, she combed her