Page 21 of Broken Bonds

Her tone is no nonsense, and the man, Bask she called him, looks thoroughly chastised and ashamed by the time she finally shoos him out the bar doors.She locks up behind them and then heads back behind the bar. Clutching a bottle of bourbon in one hand and shot glasses in the other, she gestures for us to follow her. We settle into one of the booths at the back of the room, where the tables are situated. Placing a shot glass before each of us, she proceeds to fill them up, her breath releasing in a long exhale once she’s done.

“Well, my name’s Maribel. Can’t say our Lake ever told us he had a brother, much less a twin, but it’s nice to meet you. Even if seeing you hurts more than I care to admit. It’s gonna hurt Ramsey the most, though, I think.”

She mutters out that last part under her breath, but I still hear it.

Maribel lifts her glass up into the air and we all follow, raising our glasses in unison before clinking them against the table and throwing the shots back. The bourbon burns its way down my throat, fire licking its way down my esophagus, but I barely flinch. It’s strong and smooth, so I know it’ll at least help to numb the pain.

“This is Rion. And that’s Forde beside you. They’re my pack brothers.”

She nods in acknowledgment, offering them each a kind smile before pouring us each another shot and downing hers without any preamble. I down mine as well, enjoying the warmth that takes up residence in my stomach.

“I can’t tell you much about before they moved here, and I met them.”

“I don’t care. I’ll hear anything you can tell me. I’ve missed so much since he ran off at eighteen.”

My hands clench on the tabletop and I grit my teeth, that old wound inside of me breaking open again.

Maribel sighs and stares into her shot glass after she refills it. Her brows crease as she considers what to say.

“The most important thing I can tell you is that they all put in a great deal of effort to make the most of the time they had together with Ramsey. That girl has been the center of their lives for the past ten years or so and there hasn’t been a day that’s gone by since I met them all that they haven’t talked about her.” She smiles slightly, shaking her head. “Lake didn’t talk much about his time before Ramsey. He said he preferred to live in the moment, that his past was just that, but that Ramsey was his future and his forever. Van as well. Oh, they loved each other more than any pack I’ve ever met. There were those two and Ramsey, and then Ollie and Rule. They all met at their AOA and have been together ever since. When they moved out here, Van and Lake found this old place here and took one look at it before saying they’d take it. Not sure what they saw in the old gal back then because she sure was in shambles, but they sure made it into a home away from home somehow. It might get a little rowdy from time to time, but for the most part it’s regulars that come in for a quiet sit down and to unleash their worries and troubles in a bottle or a glass that we see in here. Those boys would sit with anyone that came in that needed to unload their burdens, and just listen whenever they were in. They had a way about them that made even the most troublesome of souls comfortable around them.”

A tender smile adorns her lips as I listen intently while she answers some of the questions that have been lingering in my mind.

I spend hours listening to Maribel as she tells me stories of my twin, his family, and the vibrancy of his life. By the time she kicks us out, it’s nearly dawn, and I feel like I could sleep for a week straight with how tired I am. The guys follow me back to the truck drowsily, having fallen asleep in the booth somewhere around midnight.

I couldn’t stop listening, though. It was important for me to hear about it all. It fed my aching soul and made it hurt just a little bit less, knowing he was happy.

I can only hope his omega doesn’t lose it when she meets me because I’d really like to know more. And from what Maribel says, I’ve got some little nieces or nephews coming before long. I’d like to be in their lives as much as possible.

One thing at a time, Link.

I’ve got to get through meeting her and then Lake’s funeral first. Two really big moments in my life that I think are going to change everything for me. I don’t know why it feels that way, but it does.

As I lay down and close my eyes, I could swear I hear Lake’s laughter echo around the room just once before all is silent again aside from Rion’s snores.

Just an echo of a memory, I’m sure.

ChapterFour

RAMSEY

Each day bleedsinto the next. When I’m finished making arrangements for my alphas, I seclude myself in the guest room that I’ve made my own for now.

There’s a madness seeping into my fractured soul the longer I’m without them. A poison infecting me, surging through my veins and leaving me feeling ripped apart with nothing to soothe the pain. Just my tattered pieces left out in the open to fester and rot the longer I’m left here to suffer without them.

Death would be so sweet compared to this eternal void of misery consuming me, wrapping it’s cold, inky claws into my psyche and refusing to let me go until I justgive in.

Other than going to the bathroom, I don’t exit the tiny nest I’ve created for myself, and Jillian is none too pleased. My hair is an absolute mess from not brushing it and my face is swollen from all my sobbing before the tears finally dried up. I can’t recall the last time I changed my clothing or did anything but just lay here unmoving.

Jilly supplies me with food and water, and I force it down for her, but there’s no flavor. Everything is just sand that I have to choke down to keep from starving myself to death. My appetite is nonexistent, the sight of food making me want to vomit the moment it’s put in front of me. Even so, I eat, because if I don’t Jillian has threatened to have me admitted to the hospital so they can force feed me.

I shudder at the thought of being atthathospital again so soon after everything, hooked up to IVs and monitors with no way of escape.

That’s the last thing I want, so forcing everything down is my only option. I don’t doubt that Jilly will follow through on her threat otherwise.

But other than getting me to eat, she’s unable to coax me out of bed to do anything else. Instead, I just lay here, my body facing the big bay window on the opposite side. The sun is out, but everything is blurred in a hazy wash of gray that only serves to make it gloomier the longer I watch.

When my alphas departed this world, it felt like all the surrounding colors had drained away. The sounds, the scents, the flavors. They took everything with them and left me alone in this new, dull, gray world.

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