Broken Mate, Unbroken Bond

CHAPTER 7 - DOM

The look in her eyes revealed just how much faith she put in my word. My chest felt tight when I realised the amount of damage that had been done, but I didn’t regret it. Not for a second. And I would explain why to Aislinn, at length, as soon as she stopped fighting me.

My usual confidence threatened to crack the tiniest bit as I wondered if this was fixable. Normally, due to my standing in my pack, there was very little I couldn’t talk myself out of. But this girl did not seem to be reacting to me in the way others did. With the exception of my father, I’d never had this experience before. Even when I was a child, others had responded to me quickly and favourably.

This girl didn’t even have access to her wolf. How was she resisting so strongly?

It was maddening. Even now, she stood with a stiff spine, her chest and chin raised, shoulders back. Those green eyes were narrowed at me, but that didn’t detract from their impossible colour or the clear depths of her anger. If the circumstances were different, I would have to respond to this as though it was a challenge, because that’s exactly what it looked like.

A growl built in my throat, and before I could stop myself, I was reacting to her.

“Your choices are limited, Aislinn.” My Voice came out like a snarl - a far cry from the cajoling tone I’d been using before. “You will come with us, either way. But if you take me at my word, you’ll at least get your aunt somewhere safe.”

“Oh yeah! Sure! Safe. With a group of people who just invaded my home and put my Aunt in a coma, while putting telepathic words in my head and talking about magic! Yes. Of course. I’ll just follow you all to this mysterious 'Estate' of yours, where you’ll probably chain me up in some s*x dungeon and make me reenact your National Geographic fantasy du jour.”

In the loaded silence that followed, my d**k twitched to life. It seems like I wasn’t totally against the last part of her rant…

Dante barked a loud laugh, breaking the tension in the room. Without even realising it, I’d managed several steps closer to Aislinn, the fists at my side clenching of their own accord.

“Wolf…” Came the quiet warning from the witch.

I tried and failed to tear my eyes away from Aislinn and attempted to stow the immediate need to grab her and claim her. To have her beneath me, breathless but for my name on her lips, submitting and…

“Wolf.”

There was a weight of magic to the more insistent words. Another growl was rolling low in my chest - a warning, but I turned my attention to Orisa.

“We don’t have time," she said. "If my circle are to help, then we need to move the woman.”

I nodded, then slipped back into business mode. “Colin, Dante, Sully, help with Aislinn’s aunt. The first car. Orisa, you’ll go with her.”

“And me,” Aislinn spoke up, some of her earlier anger gone and replaced by concern. She stepped closer to her aunt’s body again, hovering with some nervous energy as Dante and Colin approached.

I was about to intervene and tell her she would come with me - and only me - when Orisa spoke first.

“You should sort an overnight bag for yourself,” the witch said, her earnest face seeming to get through to Aislinn more than my approach had. “I can’t say how long this will take, but it won’t hurt to have a change, some toiletries, your phone charger… The essentials.”

For a second, I thought Aislinn was going to refuse, but there was something about Orisa that seemed to calm her. She nodded and some of the tension in the room lifted. I watched her as she directed my brothers; issuing orders and observing them with her hands on her hips. They didn’t need it, this wasn’t something that required a lot of brain power, but they seemed to humour her. Dante in particular was very responsive to her, which hadn’t passed my notice.

I watched everything from the middle of the room, my arms crossed against my chest. When it looked like Aislinn was going to hover along with them right out the door, I reminded her of Orisa’s suggestion.

“You may be with us for a while,” I told her, my voice low as I moved to stand next to her, my hand reaching out to wrap around her arm and still her. “Get that bag, quickly. We need to get out of here.”

Her eyes flashed up toward me, and for a moment I thought she was going to wrench her arm away from my grasp, but she stepped right up to me. I looked down at her, my gaze drawn to her mouth once she started speaking.

“As soon as Dee is okay, we’ll be gone. This is not normal, Dominic. And this is all on you.” She poked her finger into my chest.

I smirked at her, enjoying her anger suddenly. Without breaking her stare, I used my Voice to speak to her through our odd connection.

You can punish me later.

She made a face that said as if.

My grip on her arm tightened. I’ll explain everything I can on the ride to the Estate.

“I’m riding with my Aunt,” she said aloud, forcefully.

“No, Aislinn, you are not.”

Colin and Dante were waiting outside my Land Rover by the time I got outside. Even though Dante was known for his laid-back cool, he looked just as ready as the others to get out of there. I was feeling that pressure myself, along with the weight of many eyes from neighbours and passersby.

“The aunt is the Volkswagen. Orisa is in the back with her,” Dante said.

I nodded. “You two go with them. I’ll follow behind with Aislinn.”

Dante raised a doubtful brow, and Colin’s sharp eyes slid toward the front door of the house. “And if she refuses?”

“If there’s no room, she won’t have a choice,” I said, not in the slightest bit sorry for what I was pulling.

Dante still looked thoughtful. “We have to speak, hermano. About what happened in the house.”

“I know.” There were a few things going on that I couldn’t understand myself… But there were also things my instincts were sending me hurtling toward.

Aislinn appeared in the doorway of the house, cutting any further discussion short. Both Dante and Colin moved off together and had managed to slide into the driver and passenger seats before she’d made it to the end of the garden.

“No room at the inn!” Colin called as he lowered the window.

“If you think for one second I’m not going with my Aunt, then…”

Colin just shrugged. Aislinn looked like she was about to blow another gasket when Orisa leaned forward between the two front seats and spoke to her.

“I will watch over her. I swear it.”

I waited, breath sucked in, for her reaction. After a few moments, she nodded and stood back. Before she could change her mind again, the Volkswagen took off down the road; the tires screeching.

Her intense gaze found mine. I moved around to the passenger side of the Land Rover and opened the door. With a flourish, I gestured inside. Her eyes rolled, but she stomped her way over anyway, backpack bouncing against her.

She ignored me completely, opened up the door to the back seat herself, and flopped inside.