9. Max
Max
I watch as Kennedy disappears into the forest, the darkness swallowing her up.
Waiting, long after she’s vanished from view. Finally, I force myself to look away. To move around the truck, climb in, and turn around on the narrow track, making my way back down the mountain toward the main town.
It’s… difficult.
Much like my mate.
Kennedy Traylor is ours. There’s no denying it. Even now, my newly acquired bond strains in my chest, pushing me to go back, to make sure she walks through the door safely.
She made it clear that she won’t welcome it, and I don’t blame her.
I meant what I said. Six months ago, I would have dropped to my knees and thanked every god I could remember to have Kenny as mine. I would have worshipped the ground she walked on, fought a fucking army to keep her safe.
But a lot can happen in six months. And I fucking hate how much my silence hurt her. I could see it in her face, even as she tried to hide it.
I’ve always been able to read her. And that knowledge plays in my head as I park up and head inside.
I can hear the shouting from outside.
Theo turns to me as I walk in. “Where the fuck did you go?”
I drop his keys in front of them. “I took Kennedy home.”
All three of them stiffen. Oscar speaks first. “What?”
“I wanted to speak to her,” I repeat, my words steady. But my grip is tight on the back of the chair. “I think we’re missing something.”
“Missing that she’s a murdering bitch,” Theo snaps. The tension rises, and Oscar pinches the bridge of his nose, throwing out a hand as Jake steps forward.
“Calm the fuck down,” he snaps back. “We’re all feeling the effects of the bond. That won’t help.”
“There’s nothing to help.” Theo looks adamant. “She’s not my fucking mate. The universe is not that messed up. It’s a mistake. Or – or she did something—,”
“It’s not a mistake.” Theo turns at my words, eyebrows raising, but I hold his gaze. “It’s not, Theo. And I’m sorry for it. But Kennedy is ours.”
“And that changes things,” Jake says quietly.
I nod. It changes everything. “It has to. We have to think about this. A mating bond – that’s forever. We don’t get an out. I’ve never heard of a rejected bond. I don’t think it’s possible.”
Would I even want to?
I don’t know.
“There has to be a way to break it,” Theo says staunchly. He slams his hand down on the table. “I can’t. I can’t look at her and see anything else but Brett. She killed my brother. Your brother, or so I thought.”
“That’s unfair,” Oscar says sharply. “They’re right, Theo.”
“There’s more.” I keep my eyes on Theo. “There’s something – wrong. Off. Oscar was right.”
Because her scent is warped in a way I’ve never come across. My mate’s scent should be perfect to my nose. Something I could never get enough of. And hers is – but it’s too bitter. I can almost taste it on my tongue. “She smells sick .”
I see the flicker in his eyes. The way he stiffens. But his lip curls, his rage palpable in the air. “Maybe it’s a sign that she’s faking it. But I fucking hope so. Sounds like karma to me.”
There’s a moment of stunned silence. Theo’s face falters for the barest instant, as if in regret.
But there’s a screech, and Oscar is out of his chair. His face twists as he launches himself over the goddamned table, slamming into Theo and sending both of them toppling over as his fist lands in his face.
“Shit—,” Jake and I both jump in, pulling them apart as they snarl at each other. Theo’s lip is bleeding.
Oscar strains at my grip, his teeth bared. “Get the fuck off me. Now.”
I let go. I can’t not. Oscar is on Theo in a second, his arm locked against his throat as he pushes him against the wall hard enough to rattle his skull. “What the fuck ?”
Theo says nothing. His hand comes up to grip Oscar’s arm, but he stays silent, his face mutinous. “You’re acting like you want her. All of you.”
“She’s our mate,” Oscar snaps. “You don’t fuck around with bonds. She’s it, Theo. We have to work with what we have. Use your fucking brain and think .”
Jake steps forward, his voice low. “I think we all need to take a breath. It’s hit us all hard. He didn’t mean it, Oscar.”
Theo presses his lips together. For a moment, I think he’s going to reiterate his words, and we all tense. But he slowly shakes his head, closing his eyes. “ I can’t do this .”
The words are rough, dragged from deep inside his throat. “If you want her, have her. I’ll find another pack.”
The words strike against my skin like flint, sharp and painful.
“Not an option.” Oscar roughly releases him. “You’re ours. We just need some time to work this out, Theo. We all want answers about Brett.”
“So how do we get them?” Jake voices it.
Theo rubs at his throat. Oscar pushes him down into a chair and turns to me. Neither of them mentions the dominance display. “Did she say anything, Max?”
I squint down at the table. “No. She’s…angry. Hurt, almost.”
“We publicly rejected the mating bond,” Jake mutters. “I don’t even know what that would have felt like for her.”
“But I think there’s something she’s not telling us.” I frown down at the wood. “We’ll need to tread carefully. She feels… fragile.”
Theo huffs. His jaw tightens when we all look at him. “She knows how I feel. But I won’t hurt her.”
“There are many ways to hurt an omega,” I remind him. All of them, really. “I’d say we ticked a few off the list tonight.”
And it’s not something I’m proud of. Even now, the bond pushes me to go back.
She should be with us.
Not up there. With her useless, asshole father, in that crappy place where the electricity fails as often as it works.
Even her nest is here. As if we always knew she was going to be ours, even as our world went to shit.
The wood of the chair snaps beneath my hands.
“What do you suggest?” Oscar leans back in his chair, studying me.
“We could… lean into the bond, I guess. Use it to coax answers out of her.” But as I say it, my mouth twists. It feels manipulative. Wrong. As if we’re taking her vulnerabilities and using them as a weapon.
It’s the opposite of what a mate should do.
But what can we do?
We can’t move forward until we know what happened. We can’t choose her until we know, not without ripping our pack apart.
“Use the bark,” Theo says suddenly. He’s leaning forward. “If she is our mate, she’s susceptible to it. It’s the quickest way, and she won’t be able to lie her way out of it.”
“Absolutely not.” Jake slashes his hand through the air. “That’s a hard fucking pass for me. That’s not what the bark is for, and you damn well know it.”
I study Theo carefully. “You’d do that to her?”
Because if he would, he’s not the alpha I thought he was. It would make him more like his father than any of us thought.
More like… Brett.
A tic appears in his jaw. “Fine. No bark, then. But I want answers.”
“So don’t threaten her, and maybe you’ll get them. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” Jake points out. “You use the bark on her, and you’re going to spend the rest of your life miserable, Theo.”
“I’m already miserable.” He pushes back from the table. “If everyone is done discussing Kennedy’s precious feelings while my brother lays dead in the cold ground, I’m going to bed.”
“Theo,” Oscar says softly. “This isn’t about that, and you know it.”
But Theo waves his hand, already turning his back on us to leave. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
He turns back before reaching the door. “But Kennedy Traylor is not my mate. Not as far as I’m concerned.”
“Be careful.” Theo jerks at my words. “Some things you can’t take back.”
And something tells me we need to be very, very careful.
“Believe me,” he says heavily. “I know.”