Broken Bonds
Why are you hurt again?

“You are hurt again. Why are you hurt again?” Rey knew there was no way she would be able to avoid all the fussing around her that started right after she entered the house, but she really wished she could.

“Why is she hurt again?” S repeated his question. Aiming it at Brynn this time.

“How am I supposed to know that? I saw her at the exact same time you did.”

One look at Rey’s wounded shoulder made Brynn jump out of her bed. She went on to gather another bowl and fresh herbs to scramble up a fresh batch of one of her pain relievers.

“Is it true?” Lia rushed inside. She opened the door so abruptly, it clashed with a nearby wall and creaked in protest.

Thanks to the cross-examination lead by S, Rey didn’t have the chance to sit anywhere and Lia literally breathed down her neck.

“What is true?” Rey asked stupidly. She had a feeling, she already knew what Lia was talking about.

“Is it true,” Lia repeated patiently, “that the new alpha bit his lover for you?”

“What?” Lia’s question shocked Brynn so much, the bowl flew out of her hands and broke into pieces as it collided with the floor.

“I will clean it,” S offered, already bending down to collect the pieces.

Brynn nodded and whispered: “Please be careful.”

Then she walked around him and stood in front of Rey: “Is Lia telling the truth?”

“I don’t know,” Rey answered honestly, “I have no idea what just happened. There is something very wrong with his wolf. That’s for sure.”

“There is nothing wrong with his wolf,” Lia disagreed. “Don’t you see? It still recognises you as it’s mate. As it should. Because that’s who you are.”

“The bond was broken, need I remind you.” The words hurt a lot less than Rey expected. Maybe there was a little bit of truth behind the whole “time heals all wounds” crap. But a wave of nausea hit her anyway.

Rey looked around the room for the best place to sit down as she still stood in the entrance. S’s bed was on her left side, right under the huge window covered with a curtain. Lia wouldn’t be able to fall asleep otherwise.

Their beds were placed to the wall right opposite of the said window. A decent-sized carpet, Lia almost set fire to, was placed in the middle of the room, but it wasn’t enough to cover the entire floor. The only remaining piece of furniture was the nightstand put against the wall between S’s bed and the rest of the beds. The weapon of mass-destruction still stood on it.

There was a bathroom, kitchen and even one separate room for their belongings in the house, but most of their time was spent in the bedroom. Rey found it kind of strange that the entrance door led right into their bedroom, but at least they were really close to the village in case of an emergency.

Although S’s bed was the closest to her, Rey aimed for her own bed and sat on the corner of it. Lia and Brynn both sat down on the remaining beds.

“No. You don’t need to remind me. But I think we are forgetting something. We don’t know anyone in the near or far history that ever dared to do such a thing. Hence, we don’t know the consequences.” Lia continued.

“Oh, great. So, what? Am I to look forward to growing a set of horns? Or do I die at the ripe age of twenty-three?”

“No! Don’t you see?” Lia asked, her whole face sparkling with excitement. “I am saying that maybe, just maybe, the whole dark magic thing they did, didn’t work.”

“I beg to disagree.” If there was only one thing Rey was certain about, she would never forget the pain she felt that night. There was no way it could feel like that and it didn’t even work.

“Okay, then maybe it worked, but not entirely. Maybe it only weakened your bond, instead of destroying it completely. You could get back the spot that belongs to you!”

“Lia!” Brynn whined. “That’s not a very appropriate thing to say.”

“Why not? Because of that imposter, who hurt her shoulder? She sees it too. Why else would she attack her today? She is shaking because she is taking up a spot which belongs to another woman!”

“She is not taking up anything!” Rey said. Her voice rose a lot more than she anticipated and with it the food she ate during the day. This whole twist their conversation took wasn’t exactly helping her upset stomach.

If Lia would not stop with the crap, she was saying, there might be a serious accident occurring soon. So far, Rey was satisfied with words: “The bond was broken. He had every right to choose whomever he wanted to spend his life with, and he chose her. She is not an imposter, Lia. She is now the luna of this pack.”

“You should be the luna of this pack!” Lia yelled out again.

Rey wished to be S.

He tuned out of the semi-fight, semi-conversation right after Brynn dropped the bowl and got busy taking care of the damage. He collected the bigger pieces of the glass and put them on the nightstand next to the still standing strong candlestick.

He even noped out at some point and came back with a broom and a sachet, he got from one of the many admirers he gained. He used the broom to sweep up the smaller pieces and satisfied with the result left once again to get rid of the trash.

Yet Rey had to be the participant of this absurd conversation.

“Lia!” Brynn warned her. “Stop this now!”

“Why? It is not like I am lying. We all know, that’s how it should be.”

Brynn sighed: “Just because what you are saying is true, doesn’t mean you should say it. Sometimes it is better to keep your opinions to yourself. For your sake and for the sake of others.”

Rey couldn’t agree more.

Was it too much to want five peaceful minutes to herself? Ever since she came to this seedbed of evil, she felt like she was pulled into a constant whirlpool of bad news, and bad situations and it didn’t want to let go of her.

The rescue came in the form of her prince charming. S walked in, this time broom and bag free, and stood in front of Lia: “I know, I am still very young and 95% of the time no one takes me seriously, but I really think you should listen to me when I tell you to shut the hell up, Lia.”

“Language, young boy!” Brynn scolded him.

But he paid no attention to her: “I was there when you asked the alpha how could he be the leader of this pack after what happened. I was there even when you said you can’t even look at this pack without suppressing to urge to really hurt someone. So, how can you be here now, asking Rey to become the luna of the pack that betrayed her?”

Now that Rey thought about it, Lia did act out of character. And there was only one explanation Rey could think about.

Lia still refused to meet her mate, and it was taking a toll out on her.

With her human side severely weakened because of the bond rejection, her wolf had to take over and plant the idea of Rey becoming the luna in Lia’s mind as the best solution to their problem.

It was a good solution. Rey had to admit that. But it was never going to happen.

What however needed to happen was the persuasion of Lia to spend more time with her mate.

Rey planned to do so as soon as possible.

But first, she kicked off her shoes and fell on the bed completely, almost knocking Lia over in the process, she needed to take a nap.

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