Broken Bond

Chapter 22

CALLUM

There’s an infectious energy coursing through the pack tonight, the air crackling like a livewire as the light of the full moon bathes the yard of the packhouse in a silvery glow. We look forward to every full moon. run, but this one is special. We’ve been without a leader since Alpha Vaughn passed three months ago, and tonight, Chase is finally assuming his rightful position as his heir, stepping up to be officially inducted as Alpha.

Everyone looks on in eager anticipation as Chase takes his vows, spilling drops of blood from a cut in his palm to seal his oath to the pack. Then Beta Rob raises Chase’s bloodied hand into the air, announcing him as our new alpha, and the entire crowd ignites in frenzied celebration. I should be elated. I should be celebrating with everyone else. Instead, I’m… empty.

I don’t even have the energy to fake it tonight. I’ve been drifting around soullessly for the past two days, haunted by the memories of my past and the shadow they cast on my future. I thought I could get past all that, become someone else, but the risk of history repeating itself is too high. If I truly care for Nessa, I won’t put her in harm’s way. I have to let her go.

The trouble is, I don’t know how to. Something inside me broke yesterday at the packhouse when she looked at me with that pleading gaze and I just walked away. I hid out in Chase’s room like a fucking coward until she left, then turned off my phone so I wouldn’t have to see her name appear on the screen only to ignore her attempts at communication. I can’t face hurting her, so I’ve just been avoiding her. Real fuckin’ mature.

Chase shifts to his wolf and lets out a howl, and my fellow pack members tear their clothes from their bodies and shift to their wolf forms, following him into the forest for the run. Jubilant howls echo all

around me, enticing my wolf to join in the revelry, but I’m not in a celebrating mood. Not when I currently feel like I’m being torn apart from the inside out.

My wolf claws at my insides, nagging me to let him out to run. I finally give into my instincts, my movements jerky and robotic as I undress and leave my clothes in a heap on the packhouse lawn, tucking back into the recesses of my mind and calling my wolf forward. My bones begin to snap and rearrange, the air around me shimmering with my shift. This process was painful the first few times, but after a while, it became as easy as breathing. My wolf and I are fully integrated; completely in tune with one another.

The crisp night air whips through my fur as I spring forward on four paws, taking off in the direction of the treeline to fall in with the rest of my pack. Not even my wolf’s delight in the full moon can quiet my inner turmoil tonight, though. I don’t make it far before veering away from the others, loping off to suffer in solitude. I run mindlessly for a

while, then the old hunting cabin at the edge of the territory comes into view, shrouded in shadows and calling to me like an old friend.

I first found this cabin several years ago, after Troy let me out of the dark room in the basement following a particularly long time. out’. Days in the dark left me craving fresh air and room to roam, and when I came out to the forest to scratch that itch, my first shift came on unexpectedly. I ran and ran, not yet versed on how to control my wolf or shift back to my human form, and I stumbled upon this place, long since abandoned by hunters in a past life. In my mind, I claimed it as my own right then, and as I returned time and time again, it became like a sanctuary for me. A place to escape to where I could be alone with my thoughts.

Twigs crunch under my paws as I circle the cabin, sniffing around for any signs of disturbance. It’s exactly how I left it; there’s no indication that anyone else has stumbled upon this place in my absence. No strange scents linger around the perimeter, except…

I lift my nose to the air, my hair standing on end when I pick up the faintest hint of something different; something strange and alluring floating on the wintry breeze.

Suddenly, I feel an odd tugging sensation in my chest, my instincts to follow the scent kicking into overdrive. My wolf and I become locked in a battle of wills; he’s thrashing against my control, becoming crazed as the scent grows stronger, while I refuse to move, confusion and suspicion circling in my mind.

Snapping branches draw my attention to the dense brush across from the cabin, and my head whips around, my hackles raising. There’s a war waging inside of me- my wolf wants to run straight into the brush, delirious from the now overpowering scent emanating from that direction. It’s sweet and saccharine, like spring florals and fresh linen and… cherries.

The brush rustles, more branches cracking as a sleek black wolf slinks out, its glossy fur bathed in moonlight and its eyes immediately locking with my own.

My heart pounds.

The air shimmers like gossamer threads around her, and in the same moment, I’m overtaken by my own shift, my wolf tucking back into the recesses of my mind as I retake my human form. And there, crouched across from me where the black wolf stood, is the girl who owns every fractured piece of my soul.

“Ness,” I rasp, rising on two legs as emotions rush in, battering me with their intensity.

She rises across from me, her eyes fixed on mine, and I feel something snap into place between us- an invisible tether connecting our souls, fusing them as one.

“Mate,” she gasps, her wide brown eyes flooding with tears. Her lips split into a radiant smile, an elated giggle bubbling up her throat as she launches herself forward, running toward me.

The skin of our chests slaps together when her body collides with mine, and then my mouth’s on hers, devouring her like a ravenous beast as I lift her in my arms. Her arms and legs wind around me and her tongue thrashes against mine, our desperation pouring into one another through the kiss. We only break it to come up for air, both panting breathlessly.

“You’re my mate,” Nessa giggles, pushing my hair back off my forehead with a hand and gazing adoringly into my eyes. “I knew fate would come through for us, I just knew it!”

She’s so fucking beautiful. The moonlight shines off her hair, her eyes sparkling and that cute as fuck dimple sinking into her left cheek. It almost feels wrong to hold something as perfect her in my arms, but I can’t let her go. Everything I felt for her before is amplified tenfold; that cold, dead thing in my chest feels like it’s flaring back to life, filled with warmth and light.

And love.

I fucking love her.

If I didn’t know it before, I’m certain now. I’m completely, ridiculously, irrevocably in love with Vanessa Diaz. Her soul calls to mine in recognition, like the missing piece I never knew existed.

All of the bad shit is still there- the fear, the doubt, the nagging uncertainty- but right now, it’s completely drowned out by the overload of serotonin, adrenaline, and endorphins coursing through my body, the biological response to the mate bond snapping into place between us.

I capture her lips again, drinking in her kisses like I’ll never get enough of them. My hands grip her thighs firmly as I blindly stride toward the cabin with Nessa in my arms, her naked body pressed tightly against mine so we’re fused together with every step. I fumble with the doorknob, pushing it open, and the old wooden door swings back and collides loudly with the wall, the old musty smell of the cabin wafting out to greet us.

Nessa pulls back and inhales a sharp breath, looking around as I carry her inside. “What is this place?” she asks, blinking through the darkness.

This cabin sits near the border of our territory- the border between Norbury and Riverton. She must’ve crossed the border from Riverton during her pack’s full moon run when she felt the pull of the mate bond.

It’s not much, but I’ve brought things here over the years to make it more comfortable for when I needed to hide out and get away. There’s a bed pushed up against the far wall, covered in soft blankets that I brought in after freezing my ass off one winter night. An old kitchenette is on the opposite side, the stove rusty from years of disuse and an abandoned teakettle resting on the counter. The only other furniture is a small table with a single chair, where I’ve sat to draw in my sketchbooks countless times, and a tattered, threadbare couch with sagging cushions that has undoubtedly seen better days.

“I used to come here a lot to get away,” I admit, a little embarrassed that this ramshackle cabin was once my sanctuary.

She slides her legs from around my hips, dropping her feet to the floor and taking a step backwards to survey the interior of the cabin.

“It’s been abandoned for years,” I add. “I’m the only one who comes here, as far as I know.”

Nessa’s lips quirk into a coy smile. “I like it,” she breathes, running a hand through her long tresses as she turns to step further inside. Then she whips back around, arching a brow. “So nobody can find us here?”

I cross the small room to her, drawn to her like a magnet. I grip her hips in both hands, pulling her body flush with mine and gazing down into her eyes. “Nope. We’re all alone here, babe.”

She licks her lips, running her hands up my chest and grinding her hips against mine. ” Good,” she whispers, a mischievous grin pulling at her lips. I dip my head down to crush my own against them, and then we’re both completely lost again, tongues and teeth clashing, hands grasping and roaming. I back her up until her calves meet the edge of the bed, urging her to lie back and crawling over her, palming her tits while kissing my way down her jaw, the column of her neck, along her collarbone.

I want to taste every inch of her skin beneath my tongue, consume every part of her like she’s my last meal. Her fingernails score the skin of my shoulders as I suck one of her nipples into my mouth, rolling the hardened bud between my teeth and tugging. Her back arches off the bed, her soft tits crushing against my face as I alternate between them, teasing them with my mouth and hands, then licking a path down the valley between her breasts.

She lets out a shuddering breath as I start to move lower, kissing my way down the soft flesh of her belly, licking around her navel and tracing my tongue over her hipbone.

Her thighs fall wider, inviting me in, and I flatten my tongue and dive into the apex of her thighs, licking up her slit and suctioning my lips over her hardened clit.

“Callum!” Nessa cries out, her hands flying to my hair, fisting the strands as I feast on her pussy. Her pants and moans of pleasure coax me on, her slick arousal painting my face as I kiss and suck my way lower, thrusting my tongue into her opening. She starts chanting my name like a prayer, pulling on my hair harder as I tongue fuck her. Then I lick my way back up to her clit, flicking the sensitive bud and screwing a finger into her tight hole.

The most beautiful scream tears from her throat as she comes undone, her body jerking and writhing with her climax, her inner walls pulsing and squeezing around my finger. I don’t let up until she’s nearly sobbing for relief, and when I push up on my arms to gaze down at her, I’m struck by how fucking gorgeous she looks, naked and bathed in moonlight, wild and uninhibited and completely sated.

I rock back, sitting up on my knees and fisting my painfully hard cock, unable to tear my eyes away from her. She’s perfection. She’s…

Mine! my wolf roars from the recesses of my mind.

I shift my knees to edge closer, hooking one of her thighs under an arm and rubbing the head of my dick through her slick folds.” Who’s pussy is this, baby?” I growl, her body shuddering with an aftershock of her orgasm when I tap her clit with the tip of my cock.

“Yours,” she pants.

I groan, sinking my teeth into my lower lip as I continue to tease her. “It was made for me, wasn’t it?”

She jerks her hips up, craving the contact that I’m depriving her of. “Yes,” Nessa whines needily as I press the head of my cock to her opening, then drag it up her slit to bump against her clit again. “Please, Callum, please…” Her fingers scrabble against my forearms, her hips grinding shamelessly.

“Please what?” I murmur, stilling my movements and arching a brow. “You want me to fuck you, Ness? Want me to own your body like you own every damn piece of me?”

“Yes!” she cries, and I surge forward, plunging into her wet heat in a single hard thrust. My hips slap against hers, her inner walls strangling my dick in a chokehold. I barely give her a moment to adjust to the intrusion before I’m pulling out, slamming back in, rutting into her like a wild animal.

This is all I need; all I could ever want. Fuck rational thought, fuck anything that keeps me from claiming what’s mine. Fate saw fit to give Nessa to me, so who am I to question that?

She reaches up to wrap a hand around the back of my neck, pulling me down until my lips are crashing against hers, our tongues. gliding together as our bodies join. My frantic thrusting ebbs into a slow grind as I kiss her deeply, my mind falling to the edge of oblivion.

“I love you,” I murmur against her lips, the words slipping out before my brain can catch up.

“I love you too,” she sighs, her words pouring into my mouth before our lips fuse together in another scorching kiss, the sensation of her mouth against mine and her pussy wrapped around me almost too much.

Something in my mouth starts to feel funny, like a strange tingling sensation, and I come slamming back down to reality with the realization of what it is.

My canines.

My wolf wants to mark her; to seal the bond and bind her to us forever.

I want to.

I should.

I can’t.

I abruptly break the kiss, jolting back and pulling out, rocking back onto my heels in alarm.

“Wha…” Nessa starts to ask, but my canines are still elongated in my mouth, their sharp tips pricking my tongue.

I can’t let her see them.

I grab her hips roughly, flipping her over onto her stomach and yanking her back until she’s on her knees, her round ass lifted before me like an offering. She quivers as I run the head of my cock through her juices, then thrust inside, groaning as I bury myself to the hilt. She cries out, her inner walls fluttering around my throbbing dick as another orgasm overtakes her, and I fuck her through it, gripping her hip with one. hand and pressing the other to the center of her back to anchor her.

I’m startled when I catch my own reflection in the window across from the bed, my lips parted and my elongated canines glinting in the moonlight. I look like a demon, something dark and sinister, preying on the innocence of the angel beneath me. It’s enough to make me come fully back to my senses, my canines receding into my gums while my hips continue pumping hard against Nessa’s ass, skin slapping together in a steady rhythm.

“Don’t stop,” she pants, taking everything I’m giving her and even reveling in the brutality of my thrusts.

“You wanna come again, baby?” I taunt, leaning over her back and sliding a hand around her hip and between her legs, deft fingers teasing her clit.

She sucks in a gasp, her pussy clamping down on my dick. “Please,” she whines, and fuck, when she begs like that, I can’t deny her. I pound into her harder, rubbing her clit with my fingers until her moans become frantic and she starts to come undone. Her muscles seize as another orgasm rocks

through her, and my own climax sneaks up on me like a thief in the night, barely giving me time to pull out before painting her ass with hot ropes of cum.

“Fuck,” I groan, wrapping an arm around her waist and pressing my chest tightly against her back, struggling to catch my breath. We’re both slick with sweat, panting and breathless, sated and content.

When I finally come back down, I roll off of her, pulling her body over mine. She nuzzles into my chest, her warm breath fanning my skin as we lie there in blissful silence, our limbs tangled and our hearts beating in tandem.

“I’m so happy,” Nessa whispers, and her words cut through me like a dagger to the heart. She may be happy right now, but now that the endorphins and adrenaline have begun to taper off, the reality of our situation is crashing in all around me, threatening to destroy everything I hold dear.

I lift her chin with a finger, dipping down to meet her lips. I kiss her hard, like it’s the last time.

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I refuse to put her at risk for my own selfish desires. I love her, but I know I have to let her go. It’s the only way to keep her safe.

Breaking the kiss, she smiles up at me sleepily, resting her head against my chest again and cuddling in. I wrap my arms around her tightly, holding her close and memorizing what her body feels like in my arms; what her warmth feels like against mine.

I have to leave tomorrow and go on the mission with the squad. It’s the only way- she deserves a clean break. If I stay, I know I’ll cave when I see her. I won’t be able to stay away; to give her the space she needs to move on.

The thought of leaving her rips open something in my chest. I feel like I’m bleeding inside, fucking dying. Like leaving her might actually kill me.

But it’s the only way.

If you love something, let it go.

Nessa drifts off to sleep, and I lie there for what feels like hours, agonizing over what I have to do. She deserves an explanation, but I’m too much of a fucking coward to give her one. I can’t face her devastation while bleeding from my own.

Instead, I slip out of bed like a ghost, padding over to the door. I make the mistake of glancing back before I open it, and what was left of my heart fucking shatters when my eyes land on her peaceful, sleeping form.

She deserves so much better. I never should’ve gotten involved with her.

An abandoned sketchpad on the little table by the window catches my eye, and I silently creep over to it, flipping to a blank page and picking up the pencil beside it. I scrawl out a note, then quietly tear the paper from the pad, folding it and carrying it over to the bed. I set it on the pillow I just vacated, then turn and walk out of the cabin before I can change my mind.