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Broken Bond 14
VANESSAThe ride home is tortuously void of conversation. As soon as we get in the truck, Cal cranks the stereo so loud that I can barely hear myself think. I elect to give him time to cool down, nibbling my lip nervously while I try to think of something, anything to say to alleviate the tension hanging thick in the cab of the truck. I come up empty, so I just stare out the windshield, sliding him occasional side-eyed glances.His clenched jaw twitches. His fingers flex and tighten around the steering wheel, his knuckles going white. His throat bobs with every hard swallow, and his posture is so rigid that his muscles must be aching. Still, he says nothing.My mind wanders, images of the gruesome scene in the band’s dressing room flashing through my brain.Was it my fault?Violence is never the answer, but then again, I was the first one to throw an elbow into someone’s gut. Maybe if I hadn’t, things wouldn’t have escalated the way they did. Maybe we could’ve laughed it off as a misu
Broken Bond 15
Callum“Do you have any coffee?” Nessa asks, her sweet voice pulling me from sleep.I peel my forearm away from my eyes, squinting them open to look up at her. She’s bouncing on the bed on her knees beside me, clad only in those little red panties and one of my old t-shirts. She looks sexy as sin with her bedraggled hair and sleepy eyes, the hem of my shirt sweeping the tops of her bronze thighs. How the fuck is it possible that she looks this good first thing in the morning?“Top shelf of the cabinet next to the fridge,” I grumble, licking my lips as my hungry gaze traverses her body.“Thanks!” she chirps, leaning in to give me a peck on the cheek before shuffling off the bed and padding out of the room. My eyes linger on her bare legs until she disappears through the doorway, heading down the hall and to the kitchen.I blow out a breath and tuck my arms behind my head, my mind conjuring up memories of last night as I hear the coffee start to brew. The little cries of pleasure that
Broken Bond 16
VANESSA“Just like that,” Callum murmurs, running his tongue over his teeth.“Like this?” I breathe.“Yeah.” His gaze is so intense that it feels like it’s searing my skin.My heart pounds.The corner of his mouth ticks up. “Fucking gorgeous.”My cheeks burn as Cal’s eyes drop back down to the page of his sketchbook, his pencil scratching against the page. A crease forms between his brows as he works, his gaze constantly flickering between me and the page in front of him.I can’t complain about the view. He’s seated in a chair at the end of the bed, clad only in his boxers with all that mouthwatering lean muscle on display. I drink him in, mapping out the tattoos on his thighs and forearms, wondering if I’ll inspire the next work of art he inks on his skin.“So am I your muse now?” I joke, still diligently holding my pose.His lips draw into another smile, his eyes returning to mine. “What makes you think you haven’t been for weeks?”My heart stutters in my chest, skipping a beat.He
Broken Bond 17
CALLUMMiles wasn’t kidding about holding up his end of our bargain. Even though I repeatedly told him the stupid bet over Nessa was off, I get an unexpected call from the garage in Goldenleaf on Monday morning. The owner, Brady, has been kind enough to allow me to store my Corvette there for the past several months in exchange for helping him out with simple mechanic jobs when I’ve got time. He doesn’t hold me to a schedule or anything, so when I see the incoming call from him on my screen, it catches me off guard- even more so when he tells me to come down because my car’s ready to be picked up.I catch a ride to the garage with Alec, not disclosing why I’m going. He doesn’t ask, either, because it’s not unusual for me to get a ride to the garage to work for an afternoon, either on my own car or on something for Brady. He pulls up to the garage, idling as I hop out of his truck and toss him a wave over my shoulder. Gravel crunches underneath his tires as he drives away, and I shove
Broken Bond 18
VANESSA“Where do you think you’re going?” Cal growls, rolling to his side and reaching out to grab for me.His fingertips brush my waist as I dart away, giggling as I scramble off his bed. I can feel his heavy stare burning into me as I search for my underwear on the floor, stepping into them once I find them and pulling them up my thighs. “I’m thirsty,” I explain, reaching down to scoop up his discarded t-shirt and pulling it on over my head. “Gonna grab a glass of water.”His shirt smells like him. I inhale deeply, breathing in the subtle notes of juniper, leather, smoke, and spice before tugging my long hair out of the collar, darting him a glance over my shoulder. “Think you’ll survive without me for two minutes?” I tease.Callum smirks, his eyes dropping to my bare legs and raking up my form slowly before meeting mine again. “I’ll try,” he rasps, running his tongue over his teeth with a devious grin.Christ, the man’s insatiable. He just had me naked and screaming beneath him, b
Broken Bond 19
CALLUM“Remind me how we let Chase talk us into this?” Miles grumbles as we slide boxes full of Vienna’s belongings into the bed of Chase’s truck.“Because he’s our alpha,” I say, turning around and leaning back against the tailgate. I retrieve a joint and lighter out of my hoodie pocket, sparking it up.Miles heaves a sigh and hops up to sit on the tailgate. “Technically, he’s not yet.”I blow out a plume of smoke, rolling my eyes and passing him the joint. “Okay, because he’s our friend, then.” I side-eye Miles as he takes a puff. “Honestly, I’m more pissed that we’re stuck on moving duty while Chase gets to have all the fun beating the fuck out of that dude.”Miles coughs out the smoke, chuckling as he hands the J back to me. “You’re sick, you know that?”I smirk, shrugging, and raise the joint to my lips again.Chase called us all together this morning to help him out with an issue concerning his girl. He just found out that she’s been avoiding her house because her mom’s loser bo
Broken Bond 20
CALLUMMy throat tightens as I step over the threshold into the house. I can’t stand this place, the people that live here, or the memories it harbors. I hate that I’m dragging Nessa into this mess, but I wasn’t about to fuck up everything I’ve built with her by shutting her out. She’d assume that I didn’t find her important enough to introduce to my family, while the truth is the complete opposite; she’s too important. I’d rather shield her from these people because she’s sweet and pure and good, and they’re fucking poison.“Perfect timing, Abby’s just getting dinner on the table,” Troy drawls as we shrug out of our jackets. I take Nessa’s from her and hang them both on the coat tree beside the door, keeping close to her because my protective instincts are on overdrive in my stepdad’s presence.“Thanks for having us,” Nessa says politely, slipping her hand into mine again.Fuckface’s eyes dart down to our intertwined hands, then snap back up to meet mine. “So glad you both could make
Broken Bond 21
VANESSAI spent all night tossing and turning, obsessing over how cold and dismissive Callum was on the way home last night. Something happened when I left the room with his mother; something that made him shut down completely. He didn’t tell me what it was, so my mind was clouded with speculation over what occurred. I’m sure I would’ve continued to obsess over it all day, too, if it wasn’t for the news I woke up to.If I thought I had a rough night, it was nothing compared to the hellish ordeal my best friend endured yesterday at the hands of the rogue who has been haunting the six-pack territory for the past few weeks. He shot her with silver bullets, kidnapped her, and held her hostage- all part of some twisted revenge plot to take out Chase. I didn’t get all the details, but it was something to do with Chase’s estranged mom and the shadow pack war. Given how close Vienna is with my family, Alpha Brock called my dad this morning to tell him what happened, and as soon as he woke me
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Broken Bond Epilogue
VANESSA***Four and a Half Years Later***My knee jumps nervously as I sit rigidly on the edge of the bed, my mind turning over anxious thoughts while I stare at the red glow of the numbers on the bedside clock. He should be home any minute now. It isn’t unusual for Callum to take short trips to Denver these days since he’s apprenticing with a tattoo artist there, but the wait for him to return this time has been particularly brutal. The past two days have felt like the longest of my life.Even before the bedroom door opens, I know he’s back. It’s just like in those early days when I could feel him before I saw him. Our souls are magnetized to one another’s, and through the bond they’ve become even more fused and interwoven. There was a time when I’d given up hope that I’d ever feel this with him again; when I woke up alone in the cabin after he left, when I felt the bond being torn from my skin under the next full moon. But then fate saw fit to give us a second chance. I’m still not
Broken Bond 42
CALLUM “Okay, Levi has really stepped up his jungle juice game,” Nessa comments, plucking a cherry from her red plastic cup and bringing it to her lips. She sinks her teeth into the fruit, tugging off the stem and smiling in satisfaction as she chews. If by ‘stepping it up’ she means adding actual fruit to the concoction as a garnish, then sure. Though Levi’s jungle juice recipe is still basically jet fuel disguised as fruit punch. Tastes great, but has a nasty kick that you don’t feel sneaking up on you until it’s too late. Still, the people here can’t seem to get enough of the stuff. I sling an arm over Nessa’s shoulders and lean back on the sofa, taking in the familiar scene at the packhouse tonight: a bar set up in one corner, large speakers in the other, and a sea of bodies crowded in between. The flow of liquor is seemingly endless and the pungent aroma of marijuana smoke lingers in the air. Girls are dancing throughout the room while guys vie for their attention, but I’ve onl
Broken Bond 41
VANESSA My hands tremble as I wait for Callum to arrive at the cabin. It’s the same place I waited during each of the full moons when he was gone, blindly hoping he’d walk through that door and everything would be okay again. He never did, and it never was, but tonight’s different. Tonight, we planned to forgo the full moon run with our respective packs and meet here instead. Tonight, I know he’s actually coming, but even that knowledge does little to calm my frantic heart. We could’ve picked somewhere else to meet, but this felt right, almost poetic. This place is full of cruel memories, but they’re ours. We can’t pretend that part of our story never happened or gloss over the hard times. They all make up the patchwork of our messy, imperfect path of coming together, of finding our way back to one another. It hasn’t been easy, but can you ever fully appreciate the happy ending if you didn’t claw tooth and nail to get it? I wait in the dark, surrounded by the ghosts of our past, th
Broken Bond 40
CALLUMI don’t typically get nervous. Agitated and pissed off, sure. Annoyed, definitely. But nervous? It’s not a frequent state for me, at least it wasn’t until recently.Since I returned from the mission, it’s like I’ve lived in a constant state of apprehension. Coming clean about my past and trying to win Nessa back came with a heavy dose of nerves, as did confronting Troy, but after successfully navigating all of that, I thought I was finally in the clear. Troy was exiled last week. Nessa has remained by my side, and we’re closer than ever. I can’t remember a time when I’ve been more at peace that I have been this week, but now here I am again, a fumbling, uneasy bundle of nervous energy as I walk with Nessa up to the front door of her family’s house.“You’ve already won me over, but now you have to win my parents.”That’s what Nessa said when she invited me to this dinner, and my anxiety has been on overdrive since. I’ve never been great with parents, and the thought of coming f
Broken Bond 39
VANESSA My fingertips ghost over the delicate lines of the drawing in my lap, in awe of the painstaking detail that went into every stroke of the pencil to create it. It’s a depiction of me- like every other sketch in this book- and in this one, my eyes are the main feature, crinkled at the edges, a giveaway that I’m smiling even though my fists are tucked in front of my mouth to hide it. My hair frames my face in loose waves, every strand etched with such precision that you can see the movement in the drawing like it’s captured a moment in time. Callum is so freaking talented, and something hot burns in my chest every time I look through these drawings, his love poured onto every page. It’s a heady feeling, being his muse. Being the subject of his art, the object of his affection. It’s immense and overwhelming. Nobody sees me like Callum Conway does. The sound of a key turning in the lock of his apartment door yanks me out of the trance I’m in, and I jerk my head up, looking toward
Broken Bond 38
CALLUM“I was beginning to think you were avoiding me,” Troy mutters dryly as he forces his way past me into my apartment.My muscles lock up as his shoulder knocks into mine. “Yeah, well I knew you wouldn’t stop calling until I picked up,” I grumble.I glare after my stepfather as he strides right into the living room like he owns the damn place, and all the effort I put into calming myself prior to this interaction is immediately wasted at the sight of him in my space. My jaw ticks in agitation, fingers twitching at my sides. I’m not fond of anybody intruding on my space, Nessa being the only exception.That’s who I’m really doing this for. My girl is an idealist; she can’t abide not seeing wrongs righted, so if there’s one to uncover here, I’ll try, for her. I finally picked up one of Troy’s calls this morning and told him he could come over for a chat, though I still have doubts about Chase’s plan actually working. It’s clever, but he doesn’t know Troy like I do. It’d take a sledg
Broken Bond 37
VANESSA“Callum,” I whine, squirming atop the soft cotton sheets. Bright sunlight pours in through the window across from my bed, illuminating him in all his naked glory.He only grunts in response.I bury my hands in his hair, tugging on the strands. “C’mon, we have to leave this room,” I pant, a little tremor wracking my body as he hits a particularly sensitive spot. “We at least have to eat…”He lifts his head with an arched brow, licking his lips and hitting me with a panty-melting smirk. “What do you think I’m trying to do down here?” He lowers his head between my thighs again before I can respond, his tongue lashing against my clit, earning a hoarse moan from my lips.“I… I… oh god, right there…” I babble, my back arching off the bed as he screws a finger into my tight hole again, curving it upwards to press against that same spot inside that has me falling to pieces against his face.I’ve lost count of how many orgasms he’s wrung out of me since we locked ourselves in here last
Broken Bond 36
CALLUMIt’s going to storm.I can smell it in the air even before I hear the faint echo of thunder in the distance, a warning of what’s coming.We need the rain. The blistering summer sun has made the grass brittle, the forest foliage withering with thirst. Even the river is lower than I’ve seen it in years, in desperate need of a top-up. Sitting outside on the patio behind the packhouse, there’s an unmistakable energy in the air, almost like the parched landscape is quivering in anticipation for the storm to roll in.Within myself, the storm is already raging. It has been for a long time, born in a dark room in a basement, fed by anger and resentment. Until I found the one person who could calm it: Vanessa Diaz, my muse, my light.“You good?” Chase asks, his eyes still bloodshot from the joint we smoked.I grunt in affirmation, nodding. My own high is already gone, but the weed calmed me down as it worked its way through my system, tempering my agitation. Pulling the skeletons out of
Broken Bond 35
VANESSAI glance over at Callum as he drives, the shadows dancing ominously across his profile.He really is beautiful. His face is seared into my memory, but I still get caught up in looking at him sometimes, admiring his sharp jawline and impeccable bone structure. The symmetry of his features is almost too perfect to be real- like he was cut from stone, some sculptor’s fantasy brought to life.It’s not his face that gets me, though. Or even his body, stacked with mouth-watering lean muscle that ripples with every movement. It’s the way he sets me ablaze with a single glance. The way he puts on a hard front with other people but softens all of his sharp edges for me. The way he lets me see the real him, and the way he really sees me.It’s the sweet words and the gentle touches and the all-consuming intensity of his presence. Every time I’m with him, I’m reminded why I fell for him in the first place- and why even after everything he put me through, I’m still hopelessly, crazily, irr
