Page 87 of Shattered Omega: Part Two

I frowned. “Name it, Shatter.”

She swallowed, that odd look lingering in her eyes as she regarded me.

“Today,” I added. “I’m going to show you everything, so you know I’m telling the truth?—”

“I believe you. You… and your pack. You are everything I wanted. I just didn’t see it.”

“We’re not leaving you.” That was a promise I wouldn’t break.

“Would…” Her breath caught. “Would you bond me?”

A chill slithered through my spine, setting my hairs on end, and my heart turned to stone. I leaned back, taking her in.

There was only one bond I could offer her.

What?

“Shatter—”

“You… you said anything. I thought… you wanted?—”

“I want you in our pack,” I breathed.God, I wanted that more than anything in the world. “But we’ll find another way.”

Not a dark bond.

Her expression fractured.

“There’s…” Her voice trembled. “There’s no princess bond. There’s nothing else but that, and I d-don’t want… I don’t want to be afraid anymore.”

“Because we can find another way—I told you Shatter. I don’t care who says it’s impossible?—”

“And if I get bitten while we wait?”

“I won’t let that happen,” I growled, chest tight.

Never.

But tonight…

That had shaken me, when Umbra had opened the door to Roxy and I realised she was gone…

I finally spoke out loud the thing that lurked at the corners of my mind every moment I was with her. “What if we were supposed to be your mates? What if…?” Could I tell her I had no intention of letting the Lincoln pack survive?

“Dusk…” Her eyes clouded and she shook her head. “If th-this is what mates mean. I don’t want them.”

I stared at her, believing that truly. And it didn’t matter. “I can’t.”

A dark bond?

“P-Please, you said…” Her breathing was short and sharp. “You told me you would bite me if I begged?—”

“Not like this.”

“You d-don’t want me?”

“I can’t—” I began, but she cut me off.

“I lost everything. You and Umbra and Ransom, I want… I want your pack to be my choice before that’s taken from me, too.”

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