Page 6 of Alpha's Forbidden Bond

“If you think of anything I could do or say to speed that process along,” I joked, “I would be happy for some insider information.”

She laughed. “I’ll let you know if I think of anything. Speaking of brothers, I got a chance to speak to Mikeal a little more this evening. He’s very sweet and not at all what I expected.”

I frowned. “You had expectations of him?”

“Well, I—” She cut herself short and turned away from me. “I heard the story about the accident and was informed of your brother’s injury. I guess I just assumed that he would’ve become very bitter after all that. I know I would’ve.”

“Ah, yes. I see now. I didn’t know that you knew the details of the crash.”

I hadn’t realized word of my brother’s condition had reached the Moreno pack, but it was probably for the best that they knew the truth. It would save my brother the embarrassment of having to come out and reveal it himself.

“He was in a dark place for the first couple of years,” I went on. Sarafina ought to know the whole truth if she was going to join the family. Besides, even though I didn’t have feelings for her, I did get the sense that I could trust her. “We both lost our mom that day, but he lost something else as well. Of course, we didn’t find out until he was out of the hospital and back here on the compound.”

“And what exactly is the problem?” she asked. “If you don’t mind talking about it, that is. I know this is his business, and I would ask him myself, but I really don’t want to offend him or bring up bad memories.”

“It’s quite alright,” I said. “I don’t think Mikeal would have a problem with me telling you. The truth is, though, we don’t exactly know what happened. Both he and my mother shifted when the car went off the road, so his severe leg injuries happened when he was in wolf form. When they got to the hospital, they had changed back, obviously, and he was mostly treated for his head wound and some other cuts and bruises. They put a splint on his left knee, but other than that, they said there was really nothing wrong with him. I thought it was a miracle that he hadn’t been hurt worse. But he kept saying that he remembered feeling like his legs had been broken at the scene of the accident.”

I drew in a sharp breath, my lungs tightening a little as I recalled the day Mikeal first tried to shift after the accident.

“Maybe two weeks later, on a day he was feeling good but antsy, he decided to try and get some of that energy out by going for a run in the woods. I was upstairs in my room when all of a sudden I heard this horrible scream. I came downstairs to find my brother in wolf form but with his back legs bent at odd angles. He was yelping and crying out in pain and then shifted back and was… fine. Er, relatively so.”

Sarafina shook her head in disbelief. “That’s so crazy. I’ve never heard of anything like that happening.”

“Me neither. Nobody in the pack had. But we realized that somehow, because he had been injured while he was shifted, those wounds hadn’t healed right. He tried to shift back a couple more times after that, suffering through the pain long enough to have one of our own medics look at him, but there was nothing they could do for him. Eventually, he realized that he would never be able to shift again, and so he’s been living as a human ever since.”

She sighed. “That must be so hard on him, especially when the rest of the pack is shifting and going for runs and whatnot. I can’t even imagine.”

I shrugged. “He’s thrown himself into some other hobbies. He likes working on old cars. But you’re right. It isn’t easy for him. That’s why I try not to shift around him very often. If I get the urge to go for a run, I wait until the dead of night and only shift once I’m far enough from the house that I know he can’t see me.”

Sarafina looked at me for a few seconds and then nodded. “If that’s the case, then I will do the same.”

“You really don’t have to.”

“But I want to,” she said. “Mikeal is going to be my brother-in-law, and I would never want to add to his suffering just because I couldn’t be bothered to walk another hundred feet or so into the woods.”

I smiled. “That’s very thoughtful of you. Thank you.”

She looked back out at the stream. The only light around was coming from the moon, but it was enough for my heightened senses to pick up on her dismay. “Is everything okay?” I asked after a short while.

“Oh yes… Everything’s fine. I suppose I’m just a little homesick, that’s all.”

“Is there anything I can do? Something I could get for you that would help you feel more at home here?”

She laughed. “No, that’s okay. There’s only one thing that would really make me feel at home, and it’s something I can no longer have.”

I was about to ask her what she meant when she abruptly stepped back from the bridge’s ledge and turned to face me. “Thanks for such a warm welcome. I know my pack is thrilled to be here. I’m sorry to cut our conversation short, but I’m awfully tired, and I’d like to make a call before going to sleep.”

“Yes, of course.” I stepped out of her way. “Would you like me to walk you back to the guest house?”

“No, that’s alright,” she said. “I’ll be able to find it just fine.”

I watched her walk over the bridge, taking her phone out of her pocket as she went. I absently wondered who she would call this late at night but then pushed the thought from my mind. She may be my future wife, but she was entitled to her privacy—just like me.

Chapter 4

Diana

“Woah, this is a massive order!”

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