A Broken Bond Read Free Page A

“That is apparent, isn’t it now?”
    Her gaze snapped up and connected with his. “A few days ago, I was mated to a horrible, cruel wolf.”
    Fire burned in her eyes. It was a look that nearly had him laughing. She was such a little thing, but her look now said she would bury him if he got smart with her again. It was a trait he found amusing and one that appealed to his wolf. “And this is who you are running from¯your mate?”
    The burn in her eyes deepened and the air filled with the stench of hate. “I will not¯always refuse to¯ let him have me.”
    “And you believe you have a choice here?” Cash asked, disappointed that she had been claimed. As much as he wanted to wrap this luscious woman around his body, she was indeed mated and couldn’t be touched. His cock softened in defeat.
    She lifted her chin in defiance. “Damn right I do.”
    Cash snorted a laugh and shifted in his seat to face Rylie. To deny a mate bond was to speak of something impossible. Maybe she was just inexperienced and scared of being with a man. He suspected that was the case here. “What has he done that is so horrible?”
    “Killed my entire family.”
    Cash’s brow rose. He waited for her to retract her statement. She never did. There went his theory. He cleared his throat. “Run that by me again.”
    “When it was discovered that Layne was my mate, my parents were about as pleased as I was. He is a horrible man. My father tried to refuse the ceremony and Layne killed him.” She wiped a tear from her face. “Then, he killed my mother.”
    “And your Alpha allowed this?” For one thing, this ran against Alpha rules, and another, he couldn’t imagine an Alpha being so cruel as to allow such a thing to take place.
    She nodded. “He couldn’t stop it.”
    Cash gave his head a shake in an attempt to clear his thoughts and understand all this. An Alpha was lead by rules, rules that ran higher than that Alpha. Allowing anyone to come in and break those rules made no sense. Deaths were only¯and always¯decided by the Alpha. If Rylie’s parents had refused to allow the mate bond to take place, her mate had the right to challenge the father to claim her. That made sense. What didn’t ma ke sense was that her mother had been killed. Women were never brought into a challenge, nor were they ever killed. There had to be more here, more that Rylie wasn’t telling him. “This Layne did indeed claim you as mate then?”
    “He did. After their deaths, I was forced.”
    Cash tensed. A primal instinct to hunt and kill whoever forced Rylie into submission overtook him. “Forced,” he repeated through gritted teeth.
    “I wasn’t given a choice¯the ceremony was completed...and...” Her voice shook. “It was horr ible.”
    Cash shut his eyes for a moment, commanding himself to settle. It was unlike him to react on his emotions alone. Never had he felt the need to protect so intensely. His wolf growled and craved to kill within him. After a few more stabling breaths, he opened his eyes and met her gaze. “Are you telling me that he raped you?”
    “No, not rape exactly¯but it wasn’t like I had a choice. If I didn’t complete the bond, he would have killed me.” She lowered her head again. Shame wafted off her. “I didn’t wa nt to die.”
    Cash reached out to comfort her, then realized what he was doing and quickly pulled back his hand. Fuck, what had gotten into him? He was never compelled to give comfort. Two years of pain had caused that. “No one would want that,” he said sharply to hide his reaction.
    She glanced up to him with sad eyes. “I told him I didn’t want him and that I would never be happy with him.”
    “But he didn’t care?” His voice came out soft in response to the despair held in her eyes. He wanted nothing more than to grab her and erase that pain. But that was not his right. She didn’t belong to him.
    She shook her head, wiping away another fallen tear. “No, he didn’t care.”
    Cash let