Broken Bond (Claimed by Wolves 2)

Something in her posture shifts as her wide blue gaze finds mine.

“Where’s Dare?”

3

Sable

None of the men answer my question right away. They grow silent, tossing secret glances around at each other as if hoping someone else will take the lead.

Ridge’s handsome face settles into a look of quiet resignation, while Archer’s lips turn down into something that looks like pity. Or maybe even disgust? Trystan just looks angry, his blue-green eyes churning with agitation.

“Where is Dare?” I ask again, catching Ridge’s gaze and putting as much strength behind my voice as I can.

I need to know. Whatever the answer is, I need to know. I’m not a child who needs to be protected from the horrors of reality. In fact, I’m really freaking tired of them trying to hide the tough stuff from me. The reality of my life before I met them was horror enough on its own, and watching those scenes play out again and again in my head over the past few days has driven that truth home.

Nothing they say can break me at this point.

“He left,” Trystan says shortly. “He cut out right after you began your transition.”

My heart cracks open, and I reel at his blunt declaration. I realize with a shock of pain that I was wrong to assume they couldn’t break me. Because the fact that Dare is gone feels like a knife to my stomach.

“He… left?”

“He’ll be back,” Archer replies gently.

“Maybe.” Trystan’s jaw tightens. “Maybe not. He’s not the most stable of us, and he couldn’t even stick around for a fucking hour before he was gone. If he’s that quick to run, I don’t see why the fuck he’d come back.”

Archer’s green-eyed gaze hardens, but before he can reprimand Trystan for his harsh words, Ridge speaks up.

“We can’t be sure what Dare’s motivations are at this point. He could have just needed some space to think. What happened wasn’t…” He scrubs a hand through his ash-brown hair, shaking his head. “Fuck. None of us were prepared for that. There’s a possibility he might change his mind and return when he’s had time to work it all out in his head.”

I’m not sure who he’s trying to convince—me or himself. I twist my fingers into the blanket and avoid their gazes as I work through the emotions weighing heavily on my heart. It’s obvious none of them think Dare will return. Hell, Trystan’s probably hoping he won’t. Less “competition” to be my mate. More than likely, they’ve already assumed he might never come back and, to them, it’s no big deal.

To me, it is. I can’t explain the connections that link me to each of these men. There’s no easy why or how. All I know is that I need them and want them with me, and I’m mostly certain they all feel that same deep link and urge to be with me.

So I can’t believe Dare just left. Without a goodbye, without even making sure I would be okay, apparently. He claimed I’m his mate, but then abandoned me when things got difficult. And that’s shitty.

I’m torn between being angry and hurt at his betrayal… but I also feel strangely guilty.

None of us could ever have imagined this would happen. From the beginning of this, the shifters were all certain there was a wolf inside me. Elder Jihoon even waved his weird metal sticks around me, doing whatever strange magic that ritual entailed. And when it was over, he declared me a shifter.

But apparently, that’s not true. I’m something so much worse.

I’m a witch.

My kind killed Dare’s entire pack, leaving him all alone in the world with a burning need for vengeance. Can I really blame him for cutting out on me?

Tears prick my eyes, and a tidal wave of hurt rolls through me. Dark smudges begin to appear on the backs of my hands, forming a network like cracks in a windshield. They’re the same marks that were there when I woke up. Are they reacting to my emotions?

I shove my hands beneath the covers before anybody can see them. God knows I want to pretend I didn’t.

“How about breakfast?” Ridge asks, pasting on a smile. It doesn’t quite reach his eyes, but it still calms me a little. As usual, he tends to know when I’m spiraling, and the change of subject is very welcome.

“I’m really thirsty,” I agree with a thankful smile. A little hungry too, though my stomach is unsettled enough that I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep food down. I don’t know if that’s from the transition or from the deep sense of betrayal left in Dare’s wake.

Maybe both.

“We did our best to get food and water in you while you were out,” Archer says, “in your semi-lucid moments. But it was difficult with the… magic everywhere.”