Forbidden Mate, Fated Sin

Chapter 8: What A Bond Cannot Change

Wren's POV

Elder Thane brought his cane down on the floor a second time. Silence filled the hall so complete that my own pulse was the only sound I heard.

"Step forward," he ordered. "I will not say it again."

At last my legs worked. All the eyes in the room tracked me as I left my spot in the corner and crossed to the stage. That short distance stretched out longer than any walk of my life. Celeste stayed frozen in the place Kade had left her. Her hand still hung in the air from when she had seized his arm. The white and gold dress she wore suddenly looked like clothing for a part she could no longer play.

"Give me an answer," Thane said. He stared at me the way a man stares at something that just crawled up from the earth.

"There is no answer needed," Kade spoke before I found words. He came down from the stage and placed himself partly in front of me. "Wren did none of this."

"The bond never lies, Alpha. This thing started somewhere." Thanes gaze shifted from him to me. "Did you share a bed with this woman?"

The whole hall held its breath. Every look in the room pressed on my skin like open flame.

"Yes," Kade answered.

Noise burst from the crowd. Vivian let out a cry I had never heard leave her mouth, half broken sob and half bitter curse. Edwin made no noise. He only stood there with a gray face and empty eyes.

"It happened last night," Kade continued. "Before the ceremony began. The fault is mine alone."

"The fault is yours," Thane echoed, his voice climbing higher. "You broke a vow spoken before every member of this pack only hours before you were to claim your rightful match by our laws."

"The bond selected her," Kade said. "You felt it exactly as I did. Exactly as every person here felt it."

"Bonds can fail," Thane shot back. "They have failed in packs much older than ours and each of those packs suffered for choosing feeling over the law."

"Kade." Celestes words broke through the fight. Her voice had gone thin and small, nothing like the confident woman who entered earlier. "You took my sister to bed the night before you were meant to claim me."

"Celeste."

"Stop," she said. "Do not speak my name in that tone. As if regret lives in you. It does not. Relief does."

No one spoke against her. That silence cut deepest of all. I stood there and watched the truth settle over the hall because some quiet part of every person present already knew she was right.

Thane lifted one hand and the low talk died once more. "This council will not decide anything tonight while tempers burn. Alpha Calloway. Wren Ashby. Both of you will stand before us tomorrow when clear minds can judge what this bond means for the future of Ashwood." His eyes locked on me, sharp and without warmth. "Until that moment girl you will remember what you are. A woman without a wolf. No rank. No right to any choice this pack makes."

"The bond marks her," Kade answered, quiet and firm. "That mark is a claim."

"A bond is not the law," Thane replied. "Not until this council declares it so." He looked past Kade and straight at me. "Return home. Tomorrow settles your fate."

Kade faced me before I could take a step. His hand closed around mine for the briefest moment then he remembered the watching crowd and released me at once.

"I will make this right," he said in a low voice. "You have my word."

"You cannot give that word."

"Wren."

"Leave now, Kade. Please. Before the damage grows for us both."

He seemed ready to fight the point but Grier stepped to his side and spoke words too soft for me to catch. Kade allowed himself to be drawn back toward the stage toward the council toward the life that still held him and shut me out.

I left the hall by myself. I passed faces I had known since childhood and none of them offered even a hint of kindness. Priyas gaze stayed on me longest, closed and impossible to read, more frightening than open hate. Near the door Maribel reached for my arm but I pulled free and kept moving. Air mattered more than any comfort she could give.

The cold outside struck me full force and only then did I draw a full breath.

"That ended as poorly as possible."

I turned fast. Grier stood by the entrance, arms folded, studying me with a look I could not name.

"You came after me just to say that?"

"I came after you so someone would see you reach home whole." He examined my face. "Thane wanted blood tonight. He failed to take it. That failure will not stop him from seeking another path tomorrow."

"What are you telling me?"

"I am telling you to stay alert." He looked back at the hall and lowered his voice. "I am also telling you that someone inside already knew of the tie between you and Kade before this night. Celestes reaction was not the reaction of a woman hearing the news for the first time."

My stomach twisted. "What does that mean?"

"It means Celeste either knew or strongly guessed long before she cried it out before the whole pack." His eyes stayed level and careful. "Someone spoke to her or she watched far more closely than any of us saw."

Before I could reply a form slid quick through the shadows near the trees behind him. It stayed low and fast and vanished the instant I turned toward it.

Grier whirled. Every sense in him went sharp at once.

"Get back inside," he ordered, voice gone hard.

"Grier, what is happening?"

"Right now, Wren."

I moved too slow. A second form burst from the trees nearer than the first. Close enough that I saw the flash of eyes in the dark before Grier pushed me hard behind his body. He was already changing into the space between man and wolf. A snarl ripped from his throat that belonged to no human sound.

"Run," he said. "Find Kade. Go now."

I ran. My heart pounded against my ribs. Behind me the dark split open with snarls and the crash of a large body tearing through the trees straight for the pack house.