ONCE RIANA WARMED up to Fynn, the rest quickly followed. For what felt like the next half an hour, we were prodded, probed, and sniffed as the wolves got accustomed to us.

As Riana and I occupied the same body, what is formally referred to as a vessel, we shared the same physical aspects: skin, hair, eyes, ears, mouth, and more. That included our vessel's response to our surroundings, such as touch.

Because the wolves were poking every patch of Riana they could find, their touches reflected on my body. I could feel something slightly wet and rough poking at my butt when they sniffed Riana's behind. Ew, no thank you.

Can you tell them to stop it now? I'm feeling violated.

"Haha," Riana guffawed in laughter. "I forgot to tell you that you can feel what I feel and vice versa."

I frowned, that piece of information would've been useful had you told me earlier.

"That's why I purposely kept it from you, duh."

Riana barked at our pack, and they stepped back into their original positions around her.

Adrianne clapped her hands on the side. Riana and I had both forgotten about her presence, so we jumped at the surprise. "Now for the official bonding ceremony!"

I cocked my head in the passenger seat and stared at Riana who, metaphorically, sat beside me. Official bonding ceremony? Are they gonna make us do the three-legged race?

I knew that wasn't what Adrianne meant by 'bonding' but I wanted to annoy my wolf – over the last two days, every time I tried, she kept her emotions the same as the environment: cool like cucumbers.

"This is the first time I'm meeting Fynn, James, Jesse, Liam, and Blaze's wolves. Since we're packmates, it's time for us to secure the bond between us all. You couldn't do it before because I still hadn't graced you with my beautiful self."

And what happens once we do?

"You'll be able to communicate with them as a group or individually through our pack's mind-link, mentally transfer visual images and other senses, feel their emotions, and a whole bunch of other stuff which I didn't bother to remember."

Feel all their emotions?

"They can create a mental barricade to maintain an inkling of their privacy, but if in distress, pain, or super strong emotions, the barrier will always crumble and all packmates would be aware."

I tuned back into reality and heard the last of Adrianne's sentence. "Jesse, you go first."

Riana turned and looked at the dark rust-coloured wolf, who stepped towards them after hearing his name.

His 

"Grh," he huffed.

What does that mean?

"Use your wolf-shifter skills, silly!"

Just as I achieved concentrating my mind on understanding Dog, Riana barked, "Woof."

Why did you call me a mentally incapable shifter? I growled at her.

"Good. You heard that."

I huffed and growled at her but coughed when my throat started to tingle from my imitation.

"Grh," he repeated. Are you guys ready?

Riana snorted a 'yes' in response, but it was more like 'I was ready since tomorrow, dummy.'

I didn't know if Riana's interesting brand of humour would be taken lightly, accepted, or understood in the Wilde Radiance pack, but I was very much ready to reprimand her sassy behaviour.

Jesse's wolf stepped up close into our personal space and placed his forehead on mine. When our stares became too intense, I felt Riana close her eyes and began to focus on his body heat instead.

My eyes rolled to the back of my head as I felt a tether-like sensation wrapping around Riana's body.

Jesse's wolf sighed in contentment before delivering a quick lick to Riana's neck and stepping back to his original spot.

Katie, I heard his voice in my head.

Is this Jesse? Or your wolf?

It felt weird to communicate without speaking. I felt myself projecting my thoughts into his mind, but my lips still moved in time to the pronunciation of the word. I guessed it would take some time to get used to talking without speaking or moving my mouth.

Jesse's laugh twinkled in my brain, Jesse.

How? I thought when you're in wolf form, it's your wolf speaking.

Then are you Katie or Riana?

Katie!

See?

I sighed and wondered how to explain my confusion. Riana's the one making the movements. I'm just sitting next to her and passively watching. So isn't she controlling both of us?

There're different levels of control, Jesse thoughtfully explained, Riana's currently controlling all physical movements, but you're still able to watch on. The first time you shifted, Riana was in complete control of you. She was able to do whatever she wanted, and you wouldn't remember any of it.

What about you? Are you in complete control of your wolf right now?

No, Jesse replied, if I was, I'd be in my human form. It's impossible to shift into your wolf without giving some control to your wolf partner.

Is your wolf listening right now?

I am, a deeper voice replied. The voice still distinctly sounded like Jesse, but it felt rawer and stronger.

What's your name? My wolf is Riana.

I know, darlin'. It's Adrian, but you can call me whatever your heart desires.

Not knowing what to say in response to Adrian, I kept quiet. I strangely found myself at ease with him, even enjoying the use of a pet nickname!

You fine, darlin'.

Before I could respond, Riana cut in. Perfectly fine. Stunning, in fact.

Adrian physically grinned at Riana's response. Ah, Riana. Still feisty, aren't ya?

I feel like I'm missing something. Did you know Ace?

"In passing," she vaguely responded.

I could tell she was keeping something from me, but it wasn't my place to ask. Given time, our bond would hopefully strengthen to the point where she'd feel comfortable sharing her past; I knew she had decades of wisdom and experience which I didn't possess. Either she tells me, or I fish it out of her.

Do wolves even like fish?

***

A/N:

Jesse thoughtfully explained the topic of control to Katie without speaking. Thoughtfully. Aren't I just quirky?

I just very much realised that I very much will need to edit MVOWF after I finish writing this book. There're so many flaky descriptions of characters which I sometimes get mixed up with, characters who mysteriously disappear from the book (i.e. Ian), etc.

As such, if you happen to spot any discrepancies, do me a favour and tell me (comment or smth).

QOTC: What accents do you think the boys have?
For some reason, I'm imagining a Southern one for Jesse... (imagine him saying "darlin'" and start swooning if you aren't already).

Run, run, run,

- Hilda

Chapter 31 (and 32 if we get 20 votes): you know the drill! (15october2022)