Lycan's Second Mate

Chapter 2 – A Bond Broken

For a moment, Martha thought she was still dreaming.

Brian's arm was around her, lifting her, the rim of a bottle at her lips. Cool water slid down her throat. His scent—pine and smoke—cut through rust and stone.

“Brian…?" she whispered.

“It's me," he murmured. “Easy. Drink."

Relief crashed through her. Her fingers fumbled for him, chains clinking as she caught his shirt.

“I knew you'd come," she breathed. “I told my wolf you'd never leave me here."

He didn't smile.

“Slow down," he said quietly. “You passed out."

“I'm fine." Her head throbbed, but she forced a crooked smile. “Help me up. We should go to my father now. You'll stand beside me, tell him we're fated mates. Once he understands, he can't force Alpha Davis on me."

“Martha." His fingers tightened around the bottle. “Wait."

The tone stopped her. Careful. Heavy. Not the boy who used to grin and say they could outrun anything.

She stared at him.

“I understand the words," she said slowly. “But together they don't make sense. You're here. I'm here. So you take off the chains and we leave. That's the part where you say yes."

He looked away, jaw clenching.

“That's what we need to talk about," he answered.

Cold slid down her spine.

“Talk about what?" she asked. “There's nothing to talk about. My father is wrong. We go upstairs and tell him so. That's it."

“Martha, look at you," Brian said hoarsely. “He locked you down here without food or water. He did that because you refused the marriage."

“I'd refuse again," she shot back. “I'm not marrying Alpha Davis."

He drew a rough breath.

“I know what you want me to say," he murmured. “You want me to promise I'll carry you out of here and damn the consequences. I wish I could. But I can't."

For a heartbeat, the words slid off her.

“I must have misheard," she said faintly. “Say it again."

“I can't get you out," he repeated. “Not without making everything worse."

Her heart stumbled.

“That's not true," she insisted. “You're the beta's son. Warriors listen to you. If you tell them—"

“They listen to their alpha," Brian cut in. “Your father. Not me. If I tried to take you, they'd stop us. And then he'd break you worse than this."

“Then we run," Martha said. “We don't ask anyone. We take a car, head for the border, find another pack. I don't care where we sleep. I just want you with me."

His eyes closed briefly.

“I can't," he whispered.

The single word sliced through the thin fabric of her hope.

“Can't or won't?" she asked.

He didn't answer that.

“Your father came to my parents," he said instead. “He talked about the alliance. About what happens if Alpha Davis is offended. He said Snow Moon can't survive his anger. That we can't afford you defying him."

Her stomach twisted.

“What does that have to do with you?" she forced out.

“He offered another way to tie our families together," Brian said. “Linda."

The basement tilted.

“Linda," Martha repeated dully. “My sister."

For a heartbeat, the word didn't land. It floated there between them, light and harmless, the way it always had when they were children—Linda, the golden heir, the darling everyone adored. Then it hit, heavy and sharp.

Images flickered through her mind in quick, sickening flashes: Linda leaning too close to Brian at pack dinners, fingers brushing his arm as she laughed; Linda asking innocent questions about his training schedule, his patrol routes, the way his wolf looked when he shifted; Linda 'accidentally' finding her way to the warriors' field whenever Brian was on duty. Martha had noticed. Her wolf had noticed. A thin thread of unease had tugged at her more than once.

She had told herself it was nothing.

Linda is just friendly, she'd thought. She wouldn't cross a mate bond. She wouldn't do that to me.

Now Brian sat in front of her, chains rattling whenever she breathed too hard, and calmly said her sister's name as if the Moon Goddess herself hadn't already written a different one into both their bones. The realization punched the air from her lungs—Linda hadn't just wanted Brian. She had reached for him, and he hadn't stepped back. He had taken her hand.

Their mate bond, the thing she had clung to in the dark like a promise carved in stone, suddenly felt like a cruel joke everyone else had been in on but her.

“He said if Linda married into my family, the packs would still be joined," Brian went on, his voice flat. “Alpha Davis would still get his bride through you, your father would keep Linda here, and no one would dare touch Snow Moon."

“And you?" she whispered. “What did you say?"

He hesitated, and the hesitation told her enough.

“I argued at first," he said. “I told them about us. About the mate bond. They said bonds don't stop rogues or keep warriors fed. They said wanting you more than peace was selfish."

The word burned.

“So loving me is selfish," she said softly.

“They said loving you was," he replied, not meeting her eyes. “And I didn't know how to answer."

Silence pressed in.

“In the end," he finished quietly, “I agreed."

She stared at him, waiting for the laugh that would turn this back into a mistake.

It never came.

“You agreed to marry Linda," she said. Her voice didn't sound like her own. “While I was chained in the dark waiting for you."

“It's not like that," he said quickly. “It's for the pack. For our parents. On paper only. My heart—"

“Don't." Her voice shook. “Don't say your heart is mine while you promise yourself to her."

He flinched.

“I came here to save you," he insisted. “Your father won't stop. If you keep refusing, he'll kill you. If you accept Alpha Davis, he'll have what he wants and he'll let you live. You'll be far from him, far from this place. That's the only way I see where you survive."

“Survive as what?" she asked. “An old man's wife? The price my father paid?"

Tears stung, but she held his gaze.

“Brian, please," she whispered. “You say you love me. Then choose me. Take me away. We'll face whatever comes. I'd rather die with you than stand alone at another man's side wondering why you let me go."

He dragged a hand over his face.

“You think I'm not afraid?" he asked. “Every time I close my eyes I see you here. But if we run, my family pays. The pack pays. Your father will tear everything apart to drag you back. I can't ask them to suffer for us."

“Then you're asking me to suffer alone," she said.

“You're not saving me," she said quietly. “You're sending me away."

“Because I can't watch you die for me," he whispered. “I would rather lose you alive than see you broken in this basement."

“That isn't your choice," she snapped, a spark of anger cutting through the numbness. “My life is mine. If I say I won't go, then I won't. Stand with me or don't, but don't call your fear mercy."

He flinched again.

Something in his gaze hardened.

“I don't know how to do this," he said. “Every path feels wrong. But there's one thing I can do. If you have to marry him, I can at least make sure the bond doesn't drag you under."

Cold horror slid through her.

“Brian, no," she said, shaking her head so hard the chains rattled. “Whatever you're thinking—we can still look for another way. Talk to the elders, to the Lycan King, to anyone. Just don't say those words."

He pushed to his feet. The basement seemed to shrink around them.

“If we stay tied," he said softly, “the pain will tear you apart when you go to him. This is the only way I know to make it bearable."

“Don't," she begged. “Please. Please don't."

His voice trembled.

“Martha Taylor," he said, each syllable scraping his throat, “I, Brian Hale, reject you as my fated mate."

The world shattered.

Agony speared through her chest, ripping along a thread she hadn't known how to name until it broke. Her wolf screamed, the sound echoing through her bones. The scent of pine and smoke twisted into something sharp and wrong.

Her body arched against the chains. A strangled cry tore from her lips.

Brian staggered too, one hand slamming against his heart as the bond snapped inside him.

“I'm sorry," he choked, but she barely heard him.

The basement floor rushed up to meet her as her knees gave way. The gray stones blurred, then faded, swallowed by darkness.

The last thing she knew was the sudden, awful silence where Brian's presence had always been.

Then there was nothing at all.