Page 70 of Bonded

“It’s not your fault. And I’m always averse to new medics, never wanted anyone to replace Marco.”

“Is that why you brought me here? To see if he approved of me, as a medic I mean?”

“Yeah, maybe. Maybe lay a few ghosts to rest at the same time. So, tell me something about you now.”

“I thought you knew everything about me?” She laughs, her green eyes staring deep into his purple. “I thought you did your research? I’m sure I can’t tell you anything you don’t know already?”

“I’m sure you can. So, tell me about growing up. Your parents both died when you were a baby. Tell me that story.”

“I don’t know really only what my grand-momma tells me and those stories change with the moon.”

“She raised you? Your grand-momma? So, where is she?”

“She has dementia, so she’s in a care home in Brandon—Mississippi. I grew up around there. I don’t see her very often now. Dementia patients get triggers and I seem to be one of hers. I upset her and then she rants she can see a wolf and that it’s going to attack her and kill everyone in the home.” She laughs, taking another bite of pie. “She and Luna were really close. Growing up, she gave me loads of advice about being a wolf. Taught me Russian—never thought it would be much use but… ‘Katrina, you ever get taken by a Russian, you’ll know what they’re saying, very useful’. God, I can hear her voice saying it. Lucky for me that’s never happened, but with this job, it has come in handy a few times.”

“Yeah, I saw you spoke Russian. Was your grandmother Russian?”

“My grandfather. I never met him I think they separated long before I was born. I don’t know what happened to him, and she hardly ever spoke about him. Anyway, her monster stories frighten the other patients, so the care staff asked me not to visit too often, but I call all the time and check on her.”

“Monster stories?”

“Yeah, her old tales of wolves, hunters, even vampires… I know how crazy, right? She tells a good story—damn scary too. I never know what I’m going to get when we speak or which version. She has so many tales, it’s hard to keep up. She told me often the one about my mother—that she and her lover killed my father to break their bond so he could claim her for himself. I don’t know how you do that, but there was some pact between them. They would kill my father and then kill his wife. The dagger, the one I have in my office, it’s solid argent—silver. It’s what they were going to use. What my mother didn’t know was that his wife was pregnant, and she already knew about their plans. She did what an alpha mother does when threatened, she protected her pup. She killed my mother, or at least in one of my gran’s versions. He and his wife left, and no one ever saw them again. My father’s pack went looking for revenge, but even they never found them. With me being a Blood-Luna, they didn’t cast us out, they kept us under their protection.”

“And him? They didn’t find him, ever?”

“No, but they found her, his wife Sarah. It was some years later, and they killed her. Before she died, she told them a vamp took the child and killed her husband. Who knows? It was probably all a figment of my grandma’s imagination or some twisted version of it.” She laughs as Darius frowns looking at her. “I told you she’s bat-shit-crazy. Everything depends on the day to what version you’ll get. Sometimes my mother killed my father—but they were bonded, so as we both know, that’s not possible. And then some days… well, she ran away and became a wolf in the circus,” she laughs.

Darius sits looking at her, staring intently, and she frowns, watching him. “What? Darius, what is it?”

“You’re so beautiful.” He smiles, and she looks away coyly. “What happened with your commanding officer, that was in your file. I mean, I heard it was some pretty weird shit? Did you love him?”

“Seriously… you really want to know about that? God, that is so embarrassing. Yeah, I loved him, at the time—for a while or I thought I did. Now, I think it was just infatuation. I liked the power he had, and that he was in control,” she smiles. “He was confident, cocky, arrogant. Guess I must like that in a man… or wolf.” She sighs as she finishes her pie and sips the last of her coffee.

Darius sits forward and takes a hold of her hand. “So, what happened? Tell me.”

“I told you it’s embarrassing. I was so pathetic back then. I didn’t stand up for myself and I let him humiliate me so badly. That’s why what you did, with the money at the club. I can handle dominance but not humiliation.”

“Well, that’s not what dominance is about. Dominant sex needs to be consensual. It’s the only way for both parties to enjoy it. So, what did he do to you, this officer?”

He scowls, leaning back in his chair, away from the table as Marco is back to refill her cup. He looks at the pair of them, lost deep in conversation, and glares at Darius.

“Marco, this pie is so great!” Kat smiles. “Really, it’s delicious.”

“You know I have one more piece, so why don’t I bag it for you to take home—it’s on the house.”

“Oh, that would be great. Thank you.”

“I’ll get it for you now.”

Darius coughs—awkwardly nervous as she stares at him. His purple eyes glaze over as he sits in quiet contemplation, and she wonders what he’s thinking behind them. Then she laughs nervously and blushes. “You know he was married—Commander Sharpe. I didn’t know that, not when we started out. Not that it would have really made any difference, I wanted him so much, I was easily hooked. When I found out his secret, I thought I could trust him, that he had a lot to lose, so I thought my secret would be safe and I thought he could handle it, but boy was I wrong.”

“So, he wasn’t a wolf?”

“No… No, that was my mistake. That’s what worried me about telling Riley—but then he has a shifter brother so… maybe slightly different. Anyway, I told him, and he couldn’t handle it, especially when I showed him.”

“You showed him? Your wolf?”

“Yeah, we got drunk and smoked way too much weed and I showed him. Whoa… was he freaked out? Called me all sorts of shit, mostly ‘a freaky-weird-crazy-ass-bitch’. He couldn’t keep quiet after. He told anyone that would listen until they all thought he was crazy or drugged. When he realized it might end his career, he changed the story. Said we’d partied too hard, and that someone spiked his drinks. Said it was a sex game. A fetish we had and that he’d get me to dress up as a wolf. Like those ‘furries’? God, how embarrassing,” she sighs. “It sounds ridiculous, right? But people bought into it. Especially after he sent out pictures and a video we made of stuff, we did in the bedroom—me tied up and things. So why wouldn’t they believe it? “I was so angry, so hurt, he would do that. But… I made a mistake telling him. That’s why I’m more careful to hide it now.”

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