“Are you okay?” I asked as Brandon slowed down to a jog. He was still injured from before and wasn’t looking good. He was staggering and leaving a trail of blood.
At least the snow had melted so it wasn’t too obvious as to where we were going.
“Fine.” He dismissed but held his hand to his shoulder, which was wrapped up in gauze.
“Let me look,” I tried to touch his shoulder but he jumped away from me like I had struck him.
“Don’t touch me.” Brandon growled and my wolf whimpered.
He saw the hurt in my eyes and his eyes softened a little.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean that. Let’s keep moving.” Brandon said, running ahead of me.
Why did he push me away? I knew we were from different packs but we were mates. There was nothing wrong with being together.
We ran for a long time, so long that I felt like I was running through the woods my whole life. But as soon as my body was about ready to fall, Brandon slowed down.
“We’re here.” Brandon announced, coming to an abrupt stop. I didn’t see anything to mark a boundary line but I smelled the different scents. In our territory, I recognized all of the scents of our wolves. But a few feet across were all different, exotic scents. I longed to cross to his pack so we could be united.
I started to follow Brandon over to his land but he whipped around and stared at me. His body was tense and his fists clenched.
“Don’t follow me.” He snarled and I furrowed my eyebrows.
“Why? I’m coming with you.” I reminded him and he shook his head.
“I told you I would try to make a truce with Albert, not that you could come with me.” Brandon snapped. “You can’t come with me, you can’t ever cross this line. If I see you here again, I’ll have to kill you. It doesn’t matter that you’re my mate.”
But that would mean. . . we’ll never see each other again. That would make us enemies. And I couldn’t bare to be enemies with my mate.
“Please, I don’t want to be enemies.” I pleaded. I just wanted to be loved by my mate. To be by his side.
“Sorry, Amy, but we’re on different sides.” Brandon stepped back across the boundary line, into his own territory.
I was rooted to my territory. I couldn’t cross to enemy land.
“What if I-” I cut myself off, thinking about what I wanted to say, “What if I joined your pack?”
“Albert would never allow that, you know,” Brandon shook his head, “Face it, the moon goddess made a mistake. We can’t be together.”
The moon goddess never makes mistakes, I wanted to say but the words were stuck in my throat.
I cleared my throat and my wolf whimpered.
“Are you rejecting me?” I asked tearfully. The only way to reject a mate is to say the vow and the mate bond will eventually fade away. We only get one mate.
I didn’t want to hear his answer but I needed to know it wasn’t true.
It couldn’t be.
“Yes.”
And my heart shattered into a million pieces.
*****
“I don’t know what’s wrong with her.” Albert’ voice woke me up. It was the first time I woke up in a long time and I felt like I had just woken from a year-long coma.
I remember Brandon leaving me heartbroken. The sly, underlying regret in his eyes but he never showed that he wanted me as his. He faded back into the woods and didn’t look back.
“She’s been asleep for two days. Is she sick?” I heard a very familiar voice and I wanted to speak but I couldn’t open my mouth, I couldn’t even open my eyes.
“No,” Albert replied, “We should let her rest.”
I breathed in slowly, trying to clear my mind. I just wanted to rest so I could wake up again.
“Alpha, what happened to Brandon?” Hunk, Albert’ third-in-command asked. I was happy he changed topics, because I hated when Albert talked about me, but my heart hurt at the sound of mate’s name. It was like a sharp, piercing throb that never went away.
Usually, my wolf howled joyfully at his name but this time there was only silence. I hadn’t heard from my wolf at all, which was strange and concerning. I hoped she was okay.
“He got away.” Albert growled. “Someone let him escape. And when I find them, I’m going to kill them.”
Ohmygod, what if they can smell my scent mingled with Brandon’s? Oh no, I have to go back and cover it up.
Albert would disown me if he found out and the pack would kick me out for betraying them.
“Another spy?” Hunk asked and I heard him punch the wall. They were angry about what I’d done and now I finally see what a huge mistake I’d made. Brandon tricked me into helping him escape and now my pack would suffer.
What had I done? I sided with the enemy over my own pack. What kind of wolf was I?
“Wow, you guys have spies?” I finally placed the voice as Keith. I was grateful he was still here, he was a good friend. I wondered what he thought of all this werewolf business, he was human after all.
I still found it strange that he knew about werewolves all along. Where did he learn our heritage from?
“Brandon sent a spy to us and nearly got Harper killed.” Albert explained. I keep making excuses for all the bad things Brandon has done but I couldn’t find anymore left. I kept telling myself he was an Alpha and that sometimes he had to do what was best for his pack but now I wasn’t so sure.
He was a selfish, arrogant jerk who took advantage of others. A sinister, villainous liar.
“So you think there’s still another spy here?” Keith asked curiously.
“Yes.”
“We need to end this war between our packs.” said Hunk. He had a point, this struggle between Alpha’s needed to stop.
“It will end soon,” Albert promised and I wondered what he meant by that. I felt someone’s hand brush my hair out of my face but I had no idea who it was.
I was halfway gone, sleep pulling me back under it’s heavy spell. But I was still half awake and I caught the deadly words from my brother’s mouth.
“Because the next time I see Brandon, I’m going to rip his heart out of his body.” Albert said viciously and I heard Hunk cheer.
It was funny, really, because Brandon had no heart.
And he already broke mine.