Chapter 25

Violet

I clung to consciousness, my head spinning as Theodore gripped my wrist where the mark of the unwanted was seared deep into my skin. An unfamiliar surge pulsed through me, the heat of the bond between Lucas and me seeming to plunge into icy, numbing depths, snuffing the agonizing fire that had overtaken me.

For a few moments, I felt nothing but terror. Was it gone? Was I dying? I felt my entire soul start to go still.

Then, the icy cold turned into something else. It was… foreign, growing colder than anything I’d felt, almost like drowning but somehow a relief. A wolf's howl echoed through my mind, reverberating with an uncanny familiarity.

I realized that the wolf was me. The surge of resistance, of refusal and desperation stole what little breath I had.

Bond.

He was trying to bond me.

I couldn’t. I fought it. I pushed and pulled, thrashing under the weight even as it grew heavier and heavier. I heard him speaking to me, trying to calm me down, but I couldn’t. Nothing in me felt like calming down was an answer.

I screamed and pushed. The bit of strength I had multiplied with my desperation. Somewhere deep in my soul, I was digging my fingers into the pieces of the bond I’d had with Lucas even as it slipped through my fingers.

The pain ebbed and flowed to a dull ache, the agony dissolved and I felt the last of it slip away into a deep, dark cold.

I slumped in Theodore’s arms, shivering uncontrollably. My body had nothing left to give, and the weakness was all-consuming. My eyes burned with more tears that I would have never let myself shed otherwise.

Gone.

Over.

The hollow feeling receded and slowly, I felt something else taking its place. It didn’t feel the same as it had when Lucas and I had bonded, not exactly, but it was unmistakable what was happening.

Yet, I had no fight left in me.

I felt him pull me closer, his warmth surrounding me, his chest steady and strong as he whispered, “It’s alright now. I’ve got you.”

His voice vibrated through me, warm and soothing. I hated it. I sniffled. My breath catching in my chest as I gasped and the days since the party crashed over me.

I felt adrift on this shifting emptiness in me, carried by a slowly rising warmth.

My vision was hazy, but the sensations in my body were becoming more distinguishable, like I was coming back from the edge of death.

Only the thin towel separated us, and even though my mind was a haze, the intensity of his closeness clawed through my fogged senses. The strength of his hand around my wrist was like a slowly growing weight, anchoring me in my body and pulling me back from wherever I had gone.

Then, I saw his eyes. The were glowing with concern and something else.

Concern. Awe. Terror… Emotions that weren’t mine.

Panic spiked through me. The sting of betrayal hit me hard. I could feel his relief growing the longer he stared down at me.

Bonded. He’d bonded me.

Yes it was to save my life. Yes, I had asked for help, but I had also asked him not to do this. I didn’t want this. I tried to focus on the good things this would mean. The fact that I had more time to free Darkmoon from Lucas, the fact that I could get this bond formally broken when this was all over.

I tried, yet all I could feel was hurt.

I had been too weak to deal with this on my own.

I had to wonder if I had been born to a regular werewolf rather than a breeder, if things would be different. If I had been born a man would any of this be different?

Would I even be thinking any of this if Lucas hadn’t done what he’d done?

Had I really let him destroy so much of who I was?

“Bastard…” I croaked. His eyes widened, and he drew me closer.

“Just breathe, Violet. I’ll get you into bed soon.”

I tried to stay awake and focus on the warmth of his skin, on his voice, on the heartbeat steadying beneath my cheek. But the weight was too heavy, and as I sank into darkness, the last thought flitted through me, bitter and afraid: what had I done to deserve this?

Theodore

Lying in bed, I tried to clear my mind, but all I could think about was Violet. I hadn’t expected her to occupy my thoughts like this, creeping into my mind when I’d resolved to keep her at a distance.

I scoffed at that. Who the hell was I kidding? From the moment I’d realized that she was the perfect candidate for my luna, temporary or not, keeping her at a distance wasn’t an option. Even if we hadn’t slept together before I’d proposed my plan, our relationship was doomed to be closer than I could have ever anticipated.

But I had never thought we’d end up here.

The fact that her pain had affected me so much that I had done the one thing I swore I would never do was baffling to me.

I hadn’t meant to reveal so much. I had never intended, even if I were to find my real fated mate, to reveal the truth. I sat up, gritting my teeth.

It was dumb and overly sentimental.

Bonding her would have turned my stomach, but it wouldn’t have put me in danger like this either. At this point, I was wondering if it wouldn’t have been easier to just take another route to establish Shelter than the one I had chosen.

Contrary to Violet’s thoughts, I did have other options. Most of them involved a coup of some sort.

I sighed, shaking my head. It was done already, and until this thing with Lucas was squared away, there was no getting out of it.

The real problem was that I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to get out of it.

This was exactly why I never slept with a woman twice and didn’t bother to get to know them more than what it took to make them come.

It was easier and safer that way. My fated mate was supposed to be the only exception to that rule and even she was not going to be an exception to every rule.

What the hell had Violet done to me?

A noise broke my thoughts, a crash from next door. I got out of bed, cursing. She’d probably woken up and had been too proud to ask for help. I opened the door and found her exactly where I thought she would be: on the floor, her skin ashen, clutching the sheets around her and still weak from earlier.

I could feel the lingering ache from the fall and the episode rushing through her. For a moment, my heart started to race and in her place was my mother, lying beside her bed growing colder, her life ebbing aya.

I clenched my hand, digging my nails into my palm and crossed the room.

That wasn’t a worry any longer. Not for Violet, at least.

“You should have called,” I whispered, reaching her and crouching down. “The bathroom?”

“Water,” she croaked. I scoffed, wondering how she expected to get all the way to the kitchen in her state.

I put her back in bed. “Stay here.”

I went to my room, grabbed the clean glass and pitcher I kept by my bed and cast a cooling spell on it before pouring her a glass.

I sat beside her in bed and helped her sit up to drink. She drank slowly, but as I held her, I felt more and more certain that I had done the right thing, and whether I like it or not, she was no longer just a business partner anymore.

Our fates were entwined forever now.

I could feel the magic I’d cast on her surging with my presence, stabilizing her more because I was so near. It mimicked a mating bond in every way, so I wasn’t surprised when I felt her mind start to ease.

What was surprising was this other, reaching and desperately hopeful feeling coming from her. Something inside me stirred in response, almost as if I was reaching back. It was weak, almost unnoticeable, but enough to make me pause.

How likely was it that Violet… could be my fated mate? Lucas wasn’t a strong enough werewolf, even without my magic, to have enough of a hold on her to suppress it, but her bond with Lucas was only half broken, and had seven years of being fed by their relationship. Her grief and instincts were still protecting what was left of it, but that would end soon.

I pressed a kiss to her cheek. It was time to start the lawsuit and cut him out of her life for good.

“What’s the name of Lucas’ lawyer?”