Broken Bond by C.J. Primer

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.

with a hand and gazing

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

And love.

fucking love

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.

nagging uncertainty- but right now, it’s completely drowned out by the overload of serotonin, adrenaline,

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

inhales a sharp breath, looking around as I carry her inside. “What is this place?” she asks, blinking

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

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

come here a lot to get away,” I admit,

slides her legs from around my hips, dropping her feet to the floor and taking a

years,” I add. “I’m the only one who comes here, as far

tresses as she turns to step further inside. Then she whips back around, arching a

to her like a magnet. I grip her hips in both hands, pulling her body flush with mine

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

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

shuddering breath as I start to move lower, kissing my way down the soft flesh of her belly, licking around her

I flatten my tongue and dive into the apex of her thighs, licking up her

tongue into her opening. She starts chanting my name like a prayer, pulling on my hair harder as I tongue

nearly sobbing for relief, and when I push up on

sitting up on my knees and fisting my painfully hard cock, unable to tear my eyes away from her.

roars from the recesses

of my dick through her slick folds.” Who’s pussy is this, baby?” I growl, her body shuddering with an aftershock

“Yours,” she pants.

sinking my teeth into my lower lip as I continue to tease her.

“Yes,” Nessa whines needily as I press the head of my cock to her opening, then drag it up her slit

me to fuck you, Ness? Want me to own your body like you

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,

from claiming what’s mine. Fate saw

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

you,” I murmur against her lips, the words slipping out before

in another scorching kiss, the sensation of her mouth against mine

feel funny, like a strange tingling sensation, and I come slamming back down to reality

My canines.

seal the

I want to.

I should.