Page 15 of Destined Mate

Every cell in my body buzzed. Why couldn’t his pack have been the one to find me all those years ago? If they had, my life would’ve been so different…better.

Focus, Callie. I bit the inside of my cheek, my teeth digging into the sore spots from last night, and the throbbing, comforting pain embraced me. I’d learned thatwhat-ifs didn’t solve the problem. In fact, they often left me spiraling and expending energy I didn’t have to spare. As a child, I’d learned to push them from my mind, but for some reason, this time, they were harder to push away. And there was no doubt why. It was because of the man standing in front of me. He represented the most powerful emotion of all.

Hope.

Hope that somewhere out there, things could be different for me.

But that wasn’t the case. Zeke wouldn’t let me walk away. He’d use my family against me.

“Callie, talk to me,” Bodey begged, pulling me back to the present. “What’s hurting you?”

If it weren’t for my ribs, I would’ve laughed. The easier question would’ve been whatwasn’thurting. “I’m fine. I need to get back to work.”

“See?” Charles said as he moved next to Bodey. “She’s fine. You can leave.”

He might as well not have said anything because Bodey gritted, “You arenotfine. You’re worse off than when we left you last night. Zeke promised he wouldn’t punish you.”

Needing a distraction from Bodey’s face, I glanced at the flowers to my right. “He promised I wouldn’t be punished for the attack. That’s not why I’m out here.”

His whole body tightened, including the hands on my shoulders, bringing my focus back to him. With his strong, masculine face and muscular body, he could easily pass as one of those statues of gods from back in Roman times.

“Son of a bitch,” he growled. “I shouldn’t have left. Iknewbetter. But this is his pack, and I’d already interfered enough. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Two sets of footsteps echoed in my earbudless ear. The lighter set was Theo’s. Zeke always clomped as if the harder he walked, the stronger he seemed.

Idiot.

Bodey turned in their direction and dropped his hands from my shoulders as he straightened.

He was getting ready to argue, and this would be a battle of wills in which I—and possibly my family—would lose. I had to try to salvage this one more time. “Bodey, please. I’ve got to do this. Just let it go.” I placed a hand on my side to support my ribs so I could move a little more easily, but I gasped instead.

“Hell no. I’m notletting this go. This is unacceptable.” He turned to me again, his face softening. “He can’t expect you to do this. Callie, this isn’t healthy in more ways than one.”

I opened my mouth, but Zeke interrupted, “Didshecall you?”

I scoffed and turned my attention to Zeke, confirming my worst fear. His face was flushed, and spittle pooled in the corner of his mouth. His hands were shaking.

He was livid and barely holding it together.

“What sort of question isthat?” Bodey asked as he marched the last five feet to meet Zeke. “Did you tell her not to?”

Theo moved to my other side and scowled. His face contorted as he removed my other earbud and whispered into my ear, “Do you realize what happened?”

I clenched my hands, my nails digging into my palms. For once, I was glad he couldn’t link with me. There was no telling what else he’d be saying if he could.

Zeke threw a sneer my way and said, “I’m just asking—did she call you?”

He didn’t want to answer the question, and I suspected Bodey knew why. Shifters could smell when someone lied, just like we could smell when someone was scared, aroused, or happy. Any heavy emotion released different chemicals in a person’s body, slightly altering their smell. A lie was the easiest to detect because of its foul odor.

“No, she didn’t. I wanted to check on her because of how bad off she was last night, and I drove up to find her in one of her attackers’ yards, shoveling dirt despite her injured ribs and the claw marks all down her arms and back.” Bodey rocked on his heels. “Now that I’ve answered your question, I want an answer to mine. Did you tell her not to call me or any of the royal advisers?”

My chest swelled. That right there proved what I’d already guessed. Bodey was smart and understood how people thought. He’d worded his question carefully to make sure Zeke would struggle to find a way to answer without outright lying.

“It doesn’t matter,” Zeke answered, leaning toward Bodey. “She’smine. I can punish who I want for what I want in whatever way I see fit. You have no say in the matter.”

“So sheisbeing punished. You promised last night that you wouldn’t punish her.”

“No, I did not.” Zeke snorted. “I said I wouldn’t punish her for theattack. This is for other things.”

---