Bonds

Bonds
Paige
I walked down the stairs to the common room with Madi. Nyte had
loosened a bit on my confinement; so long as I had Madi with me if he
couldn’t join me. Although I still felt like I was being babysat, it was nice to
move around the house freely, especially since the pack had added more
patrols throughout the day and night. We would spend time with little Diego
while Nyte was on his shift. The little boy wanted a reading with some
poker cards, and while they weren’t exactly the same as using my cards, it
was possible to give someone a reading of sorts. I would just lack the Major
Arcana cards.
“How accurate is a reading without the Major Arcana?” Madi asked as we
stepped off the stairs and turned toward the common room filled with
children and the sound of the TV playing.
“Accurate. Just not as detailed as it could be. Mostly I can do yes or no
questions in this way. Red for no, black for yes. I could possibly pull off a
romance reading too, but I’m sure a ten-year-old boy isn’t interested in that
kind of reading.”
We laughed together, walking into the room to find Diego sitting at the
game table at the back. The other children were lounging across the chairs
and couches, a few laying on pillows on the floor, their eyes glued to the
new movie they had all waitedi impatiently to watch all week.
A cartoon wolf released a howl, followed by another with the joke of being
unable to control themselves. I laughed as each child began to howl with
the cartoon, their giggles over their shared joke more addictive the howls of the cartoon characters. We sat at the table with Deigo, his eyes
sparkling up at me as he held out the playing cards he had borrowed from
his uncle.
“Here, Paige! Can you tell me my future?” He wasted no time asking,
pushing the cards to me excitedly.
“You’ll have to ask a question,” I explained, shuffling the cards as I looked
at him. “What do you want to know?”
“Will I be as strong as Nyte someday? I wanna be an Alpha!”
Madi giggled behind her hand, watching the two of us as I cut the deck and
pulled a card. “Ace of Spades. You will be a strong leader when you are
older.”
His face lit up. “Will my mate be as pretty as you?”
I couldn’t help but smile, reshuffling the cards and drawing the queen of
clubs. “Yes, you will have a strong and beautiful mate when you grow up.”
“Will his mate interrupt the plans of the pack like you?” A snarky voice
asked from behind me.
I first looked up at Madi, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end
as her lips peeled back in a snarl. I knew who it was—I recognized the
delusional voice.
“Diego, go watch the movie,” I said, giving him back the playing cards and
shooing him off with the other children. He looked between me and Katya,
worry glistening in his little eyes. “It’s okay. Go to your friends.”
I waited until he reluctantly joined the pack of children, squeezing onto the
couch with his cousin, who eyed us suspiciously.
“You have got to stop with your false beliefs. Not only has Nyte told me
that he never intended to take you as a mate, but Madi and Chase have
backed his claim,” I said, now on my feet and facing the she-wolf.Her lips peeled back, stepping closer toward me with a growl. “It’s not false
beliefs! I was meant to be his Luna. Nyte was to be my mate. And then you
came along!”
“And who exactly told you that you were meant to be the Luna?” I
challenged, stepping closer to her.
I could see Madi move to my side from the corner of my eye. Her body was
tightly wound, her eyes shifting between Katya and her sister.
“I was promised the position,” she growled. “It’s my destiny to be Luna!”
“Then take it up with the fates,” Madi growled at my side. “Because they
chose Paige to be Nyte’s mate, not you.”
A rock dropped into the pit of my stomach. Madi had no idea how wrong
she was. Fate didn’t choose me for Nyte. I was running from the one they
had chosen for me while trying to figure out how to break the ties woven by
fate. What if Katya was right? What if she and Nyte were truly fated mates?
What if he, like me, was looking for a way to break the bond between
them?
If that was the case, I could understand her anger, but if Nyte wanted her as
his mate, he wouldn’t have agreed to help me.
“If Nyte had ever wanted you, he would have made certain to have you,” I
finally said, turning away from the angry she-wolf, no longer feeling the
desire to continue this fight. “Nyte isn’t the kind of man not to take what he
wants.”
“She’s right,” I heard Madi chuckle from behind me. “Nyte always gets his
way. And he never wanted his way with you. Just get over yourself, Katya.
You aren’t ever going to be the Luna of this pack.”
Madi came to my side, leaving the commons with a farewell wave to Diego
and the other children. They had paused their movie, looking between usand the other two women with curious eyes. I could hear the two sisters
talking in their native language, with Katya snapping back at whatever her
sister had asked. I didn’t look back, however. I was done. I wasn’t going to
sit around and argue like some teenage girl over a boy. I didn’t even do that
as a teenager, so why would I stoop to that level now as an adult?
“You, okay?” Madi asked.
I smiled back at her, nodding my head. “Yeah, I think I just need a nap.
How much longer do you think Nyte will be on patrol?”
“Probably about another hour or so. Do you want me to hang out with you
till he gets back?”
I shook my head. “No, that’s fine. You should probably rest up before your
turn to go out. I’ll just lock the door and rest. I don’t know why I’m always
so tired here lately.”
Madi chuckled. “Katya could have something to do with it. Just being in the
same room with her exhausts me on a normal day.”
I smirked, slowly taking the stairs, a chill running down my spine. I looked
over the railing, feeling eyes on me, and found Chase watching me with a
smile. His gaze moved from Kataya to me, raising his brow before I turned
away.
“But seriously,” Madi said after the next step, pulling my gaze away from
Chase. “Don’t let her get to you. You were absolutely right about Nyte. If
he had wanted anything to do with her, he would have. I doubt even the
fates themselves have much sway over him. I can see it in his eyes. Fate or
not, you are his chosen mate.”
I smiled back at her, her words soothing my true anxiety about not being
chosen for him. As much as he loved me, and I loved him, the thought of
his true mate coming forward worried me.She wouldn’t know my fear about that. She would only think that I was
worried about Katya and her claim that I ruined her life. She wouldn’t know
that I was more worried that if Katya wasn’t his true mate, there would be
another to come, and that woman could be the one to steal him away. But
the thought of Nyte defying fate was, well, realistic. I chuckled to myself,
reaching the top of the staircase.
“What’s so funny?” Madi asked, smiling as we approached Nyte and my
room.
“Just picturing Nyte fighting the old ladies from the Disney movie.” Madi
snorted a laugh, no doubt now picturing the same thing.
“That is a great way of picturing him defying the fates. It’s a good thing that
he loves you. He doesn’t have to fight the inevitable then.”
My smile fell, my hand pausing on the doorknob. “What?”
“It’s fun to say, and I have no doubt he would absolutely try if he had to.
But you can’t fight the fates. You should know that better than anyone as a
seer. Once the fates weave their threads, only their golden sheers can cut the
bonds.” She giggled, turning to leave me in my room. “That sounded way
too poetic to be coming from me.”
Grimacing, I entered the bedroom, doing my best not to throw up as a wave
of nausea hit me. This time, I knew why I felt so sick. Only the fates could
sever a bond. There was no way to escape what they decided for you. So all
of this, all these feelings that have grown with Nyte, didn’t matter because
the fates had chosen a psychopath who chased me through the cliffs and
beach with a clear motive in mind.
My mateship didn’t hold the love that my relationship with Nyte had
forged. It was an obsession. He wanted to possess me more than love me. I
could sense it in his voice as he teased me with a display of a big bad wolfchasing little red riding hood through the woods. I had been trying for
weeks to find anything to help me break a mate bond to escape him. And
maybe, just maybe, offer Nyte the same choice to be with me no matter
what the costs. But there was no way around it. The golden sheers which
unbound one’s fate were as tangible as the fates themselves. My fate, and
Nyte’s, were sealed.
A sob bubbled from my lips; my back pressed against the door as I sank to
the floor. I never cried. I hated crying. Crying didn’t fix anything. It seemed
like I was doing more of it lately and even crying when Nyte brought me an
extra box of cereal yesterday morning.
“Why am I so emotional?” I sobbed, burying my face in my hands.
We know why.
I jerked my head up at the sound of the ethereal voice, recognizing it
immediately.
“Where are you?” I called out, wiping my face and pushing myself back to
my feet to look around.
Over here.
Let us help you.
We’re right here.
The voices were coming from the walls, my hand running along the surface,
following their sound as they called to me. My fingers traced over a small
indent, just below the mounted TV. From a glance, you couldn’t tell
anything was there. The compartment is perfectly flush with the rest of the
wall. I traced along the edge, finding each corner and the hinged end within
the wall itself.
“How do I open this?” I asked myself, trying to find a hidden nob of some
kind.Push.
The voices whispered. I followed their direction, pushing directly against
the hidden door. A soft click told me it had worked, releasing the door for it
to pop open. My cards sat in a small plastic bag, a colorful array of cords
from the TV surrounding them. I let out a squeal of joy, grabbing the cards
and ripping them from the plastic bag before pressing them to my chest.
“How did you get in there?” I gasped, turning to the bed and sitting on the
edge as I looked over each card, ensuring they were all there. “Why didn’t I
hear you call out before.”
Read us.
Let us tell you everything. It’s time for you to know.
I felt my face pinch into a frown. “Time for me to know what?”
Everything.
I began to shuffle the cards, curious as to what everything meant. What
secrets could my cards have been keeping from me? Was it about the
missing wolf packs? About my future mate and perhaps a way to escape my
fate? I cut the cards into to deck before reshuffling them once more. The
hierophant came up first. It made sense, the cards guiding me to a truth I
have yet to know. I tilted my head at the card, shuffling again before
drawing a second.
The two of cups stared back at me, my brow creasing more. A deep love
and strong connection. The kind that was meant to be between mates, but I
only felt this way with Nyte. My eyes widened, quickly drawing my third
card. The Empress faced up, her swollen belly grabbing my attention over
all the other details of the cards. My mind raced as I looked at the beautiful
hand-painted picture, my hand touching my belly. My emotions began tomake sense. My nausea and increased appetite had confused me for the last
two weeks, ever since I had lost my cards.
“No…” I gasped, drawing the fourth card to confirm my new suspicion,
though praying I would be proven wrong.
The high priestess smiled back at me, tears flooding my eyes as she
revealed the truth. Images of Nyte caressing my belly, the gentle smile on
his lips as he did so. He knew. He had known everything. I stared down at
the cards—a mixture of emotions overpowering me. I had been wrong. My
cards had told me before that Nyte was the answer to my desires…that he
would help me. I had been foolish before, not understanding what they had
met.
While I believed they were leading me to a path that would protect me from
my mate, they really led me directly into his arms. Tears flooded my eyes.
And he knew the truth: he let me beg for his help. He allowed me to tell
him my plans to dissolve the mate bond, and he never once said that he was
my mate. That I had nothing to fear of the stalker who claimed his title.
My vision began to tunnel, the room around me replaced with a vision of
me. Round bellied and smiling at myself in the mirror as my mother cooed
over me. I was in my bedroom at home—with no sign of Nyte. The vision
faded, the room returning through my tear-filled eyes. And the sound of the
door opening alerted me that I was no longer alone.