Page 29 of Brody
“Wait!”she called, her voice breaking on the word.
Each step increased the physical pain tearing through my chest as the partially formed bond stretched and began to tear.
“At least tell me why!”she shouted after me.“You owe me that much!”
I kept walking, my body rigid with the effort of fighting my wolf’s desperate attempts to turn back.Ten paces away, I couldn’t resist anymore.I stopped, half turning to look at her one last time.
She stood framed against the acacia tree, beautiful and fierce even in her confusion and pain.For three heartbeats, I considered going back.Telling her everything.About my father.About my fears.About why I wasn’t worthy of a mate.
But pride and terror won out.I shifted forms before my resolve could weaken further, bones cracking and reforming as I dropped to all fours.My wolf form took over, and I ran into the tall grass, howling my grief to a sky that didn’t care.
I ran until my lungs burned and my paws bled, trying to outrun the terrible mistake I’d just made.The mate bond throbbed like an open wound, my wolf’s anguish a physical pain I couldn’t escape.
What have we done?my wolf moaned.We’ve lost her.We’ve lost everything.
“I would have destroyed us both slowly instead of quickly,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper as the memory faded.“And now I’m paying the price.In trying to avoid my father’s fate, I created a different kind of destruction for myself.”
“Fuck,” Rhett breathed, understanding dawning in his eyes.
“So when I met Rozi and recognized that she was my fated mate, all I could think about was my father’s broken face when he abandoned me,” I said.“All I could see was that same devastating bond forming between us, and I panicked.”
The pack exchanged glances, finally understanding the full scope of my guilt.
“I walked away from Rozi because I didn’t believe I deserved a mate,” I said.“Because I was terrified of becoming my father.Because I convinced myself I was protecting her from me.”
But now we know better,my inner wolf said.We understand what we were missing.What we need.What makes us whole.Rozi.Our fated mate.
The silence stretched between us, heavy with implications and unspoken accusations.
“Doesn’t matter now,” I said, downing another shot.“Rozi made it clear she wants nothing to do with me beyond professional necessity.She hates me.”
“She’s hurt because you rejected her,” Emmett said.
“There’s a difference between hatred and pain.What I saw tonight was pain,” Quinn replied.
“The pain I caused,” I replied.
We want to nuzzle her neck,my inner wolf said.To bring her fresh kills and curl around her while she sleeps, keep her safe and warm.
Heat pooled in my chest at the domestic images.Not just claiming or marking, but belonging.Building something together.
“She saved Logan tonight,” I said, changing the subject before they could push deeper.I reached for my sandwich, taking a large bite to cover the emotions threatening to overwhelm me.Turkey and mustard, simple and grounding.“Her neural stabilizer worked better than anything I’ve brewed.If her research succeeds…”
“It changes everything,” Quinn finished.“And makes her a target.”
The reminder sent ice through my veins.Pharmaceutical companies didn’t give up billion-dollar revenue streams without a fight.Rozi was gifted, fierce, but she was also alone.
“I won’t let anything happen to her,” I said.
“Good,” Mack said, his smile sharp as a blade, impatience evident in the way he tapped his fingers against the counter.“Because protecting her means staying close.And staying close means facing what you walked away from.No more running, no more excuses.Time to soldier up and complete the mission.”
“Twenty-five years, Brody,” Emmett added.“A lifetime of wondering what if.Do you really want to die wondering?”
Die.The word dropped into the kitchen like a stone, the ripples spreading outward in widening circles of silence.Quinn’s jaw muscle jumped beneath his skin.Rhett’s eyes lowered to the counter.Emmett’s knuckles whitened around his glass.We all knew what happened to unmated males when the progression became irreversible, the Walk into the Outer Ridge, the final shift, the slow fade of human consciousness never to return, because we all knew that’s exactly what was happening.My rejection of the mate bond was literally killing me.
“Three months,” I said quietly, my voice steady despite the death sentence it represented.“I’ve seen the progression pattern in dozens of unmated males over the years.Tracked their symptoms, supplied them with tonic, watched them fight it.”My left hand trembled as I reached for my glass.“And I’ve watched those same men eventually walk into the Outer Ridge when the symptoms became irreversible.”
A heavy silence fell over the kitchen.The Outer Ridge, the place where all unmated males with feral sickness went to die.A tradition as old as the pack itself.
