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I nod as Cade rubs my arm. He must also sense my emotional state through our bond. “They’ve been through so much. They need this.” I need to give them this. We’ve mended some bridges, but there are still a few that are broken. I hate it. Dove is my friend. Jackson is as close as blood to me. I want them to be happy.
“Right, I agree, but I can’t make it happen. I don’t know the first thing about pack magic, Halle. I’ve never been in a pack. And maybe I’m losing my mind, but don’t you have an alpha sitting at your side?” Callum glances at Cade, clearly confused about why I’m asking this of him.
“I don’t know the spell to do it,” Cade admits. “I never intended to be an alpha.”
“I’ll see what I can find out,” he promises, which makes me relax a little. “There are a few wolves here that lived in pack structures, but most were lower-ranking members.”
“I appreciate anything you can do.”
I can’t imagine how it feels to be so connected with someone and not have the bond. I feel Cade at every moment. He is part of me, as much as the beat of my heart and the air in my lungs. I want that for them. They deserve this happiness, and it’s clear to me that they adore each other with unbridled desire. It has been that way from the moment Dove came to us.
Jackson and Dove need an alpha, and I know one. I have zero desire to talk to Klaus. Dalton made my life hell. He hit me and hurt me, and when I didn’t shift on my first moon ceremony, he hunted me down like a dog. I would have died in those woods if it weren’t for Cade, and as if all that wasn’t bad enough, Dalton joined the hunters trying to kill me. I hated what that asshole did to me. He made me feel worthless, pathetic, broken, and Klaus, my alpha, the one who should have protected me, let it happen.
But if this can help my friends, I have to do it.
The air around me is suddenly thin. I rush toward the exit, ignoring Cade’s shouting after me and the concern that blasts through our bond. Stumbling through the door and into the open air, I bend over, feeling light-headed as I suck in ragged breaths. My past and present collide in my mind, leaving me fragile and vulnerable.
“Halle?” I flinch as a hand rests on my lower back before I realize it’s Cade, not Dalton.
“Sorry,” I gasp, throwing myself against his chest, needing his comfort. It’s as if I can feel every bruise and mark Dalton gave me burning on my skin.
“You’re scaring me,” Cade says, his cheek pressed into my hair as he holds me tight to his chest. “I can’t get a read on you beyond your fear. What happened back there?”
I cling to him. My life raft in the turbulent memories assaulting me. “I know how we can help Dove and Jackson.”
“If that’s why you’re freaking out, then no.”
I pull back a little so I can look into my mate’s eyes. “I’m fine.”
“Halle, your emotions are drowning me. That’s not fine.”
Damn. I try to control my fear. Dalton’s dead, and there is nothing he or my old pack can do to me. But there is something they can do for me.
“Okay, I’m not fine. I took a trip down memory lane, and clearly, I have some unresolved trauma, but that doesn’t matter, Cade. I know how we can help our friends.”
He stares at me, as if trying to read me, but I think my pages are not in a language he understands right now, and that’s frustrating my handsome mate. “Whatever it is, I don’t care. Not if it does this to you.”
“Cade, we can fix this for them. I just… I need you by my side while I do it.” I hate to admit that. I want to be strong and unaffected, but I’m not.
“When you do what?”
I nibble my bottom lip as I peer up at the wolf who changed everything for me, and I have to hope he can hold my broken pieces together again now.
“Speak to my aunt. She can put us in touch with my old alpha.”
Cade’s eyes narrow. “Klaus? The father of the asshole who abused you?”
I nod. “He’s made chosen bonds. He’ll know the magic.”
The wave of emotion from my mate doesn’t surprise me. Cade feels deeply, especially when it comes to me and the rest of his pack. His need to protect and keep everyone safe is more than anyone should have to handle.
“No,” he says, leaving no room to argue.
“No? Cade, didn’t you hear what I said? He can help Jackson and Dove.”
I watch as he closes his eyes, and I have no doubt he’s asking the universe to grant him patience. “You only thought about your past, and your fear was palpable, Halle. We’ll find another way to help them, but not like this.”
Grabbing his wrist in mine, I peer up at my mate, the other half of my soul, and I try to imagine how I would feel if I were not bonded to him. My heart squeezes, and my stomach rolls.
