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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
Broken Bond 22
CALLUMThere’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.
Broken Bond 23
VANESSA** Four Months Later **“Let’s go, Ness!” Vienna calls out, her voice echoing down the hallway of the guest wing of the packhouse.“Just a minute!” I yell back. I’ve been searching for my little gold clutch for the past ten minutes in vain; it’s like it somehow grew legs and walked away. I’m almost certain that I packed it when I moved into the Norbury packhouse a few months ago at Vienna’s invitation, but for some reason, it’s not where it should be among my other purses in the closet.I blow out a frustrated breath, spinning around and strutting over to the dresser to pull open the top drawer. I rummage through the random assortment of things I’ve shoved in there in search of the clutch, hoping I might’ve tossed it in here after the bar one night or something. As I push through the mess of hair accessories and odds and ends, a piece of paper falls out, fluttering to the floor and landing at my feet. I bend to pick it up with an annoyed groan, straightening with the paper clu
Broken Bond 24
MILESIt’s so fucking hot. Sweat drips down my back as I stand around shooting the shit with the guys, lifting my beer can to press the cold aluminum to the back of my neck. This summer has been oppressively hot, and while the vibe of this parking lot party is great and all, I’d kill for some AC right about now.My gaze drifts to Levi, who has been chatting up beer tub girl for the past fifteen minutes. He’s trying to win our little wager, but what he doesn’t know is that I hit on that same waitress on Serena’s birthday a while back and was shot down because she said she was already taken. Hey, it’s not my fault he took me up on the bet before getting all the facts.I take a swig of my beer as I watch Levi turn around and skulk back in our direction, dragging his feet. That’s not the look of a guy who’s about to seal the deal, and from the sheepish expression on his face, I already know I’ve won.“Struck out?” I ask as he approaches, hiding my knowing smirk behind my beer can.He blow
Broken Bond 25
VANESSA I have a feeling Miles was expecting more than a movie night when I took him up on his offer to come back to his apartment. He’s been visibly agitated since the moment I suggested it, his knee bouncing and his posture tense from his seat beside me on the couch. It’s Italian leather, by the way- everything in his place is super nice, and he goes out of his way to brag about the finery of his furnishings whenever he has the chance, like he wants me to know how much money he has. I think it’s his way of showing that he could provide for me, but I tend to find his boasting in poor taste. And if he thinks I’m after money, he doesn’t know me at all. I nearly breathe a sigh of relief when the credits roll, anxious for an excuse to head back home. I’ve set clear boundaries with Miles, but he’s been pushing them tonight, no doubt fueled by the beers that he’s been downing like it’s his job. There’s a cluster of empty bottles on the marble coffee table in front of us, only one of which
Broken Bond 26
CALLUMI stuff my keys into the pocket of my jeans as I climb out of my Corvette in front of the Norbury packhouse, staring up at the familiar building for the first time in months. The last time I was here, the trees out front were skeletal branches and there was a dusting of snow on the roof. Now, summer is at its peak. The trees are lush with foliage, the lawn a vibrant green. Even in my absence, time has continued to march forward, relentless in its pursuit of the next season.I take a steadying breath, digging the heels of my hands into my eyes. I haven’t slept. After last night, I couldn’t. I smoked enough weed to put a lesser man into a coma, but my racing mind wouldn’t give me enough of a reprieve for sleep to take over. Every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was her.That pained look on her face when she said I broke her will haunt me for the rest of my days. When I met Nessa, she didn’t have any damage. That was what was so damn rare and beautiful about her. She didn’t see t
Broken Bond 27
MILES“Knock, knock,” I call, gently rapping my fist against the wood of Nessa’s bedroom door as I push it open.She’s curled up on her bed in the fetal position, her knees tucked tightly into her chest and a pillow clutched in her arms, hiding her face. She picks up her head when she hears me come in, frowning when our eyes meet and burying her face back in the pillow. “Go away, Miles,” she grumbles, her words muffled.I blow out a breath, taking a tentative step into the room despite her protest. She’s been holed up in here for hours following that ugly scene in the kitchen this morning. Chase kicked Cal out right away, but I stuck around, figuring Nessa would come out eventually and need a shoulder to cry on. I iced my face and explained to Chase what went down between Cal and me, but then Vee woke up and called him back upstairs. So I sat in the living room by myself for what felt like forever, bored as shit, waiting and waiting until I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to come
Broken Bond 28
VANESSAI’m a summer girl. While I appreciate that we get the full range of seasons here in Colorado, summer is my absolute favorite; long days filled with soaking up the heat of the sun, deepening my tan, and spending as much time outdoors as possible.Not even my favorite season can lift me out of this funk, though. Summer is at its peak, and I haven’t set foot outside of the packhouse in days. I’ve been avoiding the outside world, drowning myself in my own sorrow and Vienna’s experimental cocktails, always delivered with a kind word and a smile.You’d think she’d be a decent mixologist since she worked at the lodge bar for months. She’s not. She dumps grenadine into everything she makes for me since she knows I like cherries, but completely fails to consider how the flavor will blend with the other ingredients. Gin and grenadine? Absolutely foul. Tequila and grenadine? Even worse. I don’t have the heart to tell her, though, so I’ve either choked them down or secretly dumped them ou
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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
