Chapter 13
Dark Bonds
An alpha-dominated pack bond between alpha(s) and an omega.
It is a bond of control and subservience, where the alpha can coerce the omega to obey them.
Can be forced on an omega without consent, however it is illegal to dark bond omegas without consent—with the exception of gold pack omegas.
Packs with a dark bonded omega cannot bond additional omegas.
SIN
What. The. Fuck?
Crescent, impossibly, smashed into our bond like a boulder, and it was enough to send me to my knees. Agony tore through the mark on my shoulder—the bite that bound me to this pack.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I caught myself on the edge of the table, tearing at my shirt, clawing it off to see the mark.
I was still… still in the pack. I could feel them—feel her. A dark bond shouldn’t be possible, but she was here, and so was I.
My bite was white-hot, and when I looked down at it, scar stark against the skin, I saw it had changed. What had once been a silvery bite scar was now an angry, deep crimson.
I was still in my pack.
These alphas were still mine.
She was still mine.
I could breathe again, and I hauled myself up, focusing on the others and shoving away the lingering pain.
Phantom and Karma were looking between us in shock, their eyes tracing my bite before snapping back to Vandle and Crescent as they got up. She was in his arms, shivering and clutching him.
With more tenderness than should be possible for an alpha as far gone as Vandle was, he set her on the table. She didn’t let him go as he straightened, clutching his stomach, cheek pressed against his abs as she kept her eyes squeezed shut.
What was going on?
I had my gun, but a feral and territorial Vandle had done a good job of deterrence.
She was crying, hiccuping, and purring all at the same time, which really confused my instincts.
“Look at me.” Vandle’s voice was cracked with disuse.
I opened my mouth, then shut it.
Uh…
He could speak?
I felt the command seize her through the bond, and she finally peeled her damp face from his abs, blinking glittering eyelashes as she stared up at him, lips parted in shock.
Something had shifted in Vandle—it had happened as the bond hit. But a gold pack scent match was as close to a magic potion as we had in this world.
She was stabilizing him already.
Her dark bond was like a beacon slap-bang in the middle of her neck. I couldn’t help but stare as his thumb traced it. It was a bite like mine, but it was leaching darkness, not… well, crimson, whatever the fuck that meant.
There were three types of bonds. A dark bond—a bond of control—which looked like that. A normal bond and a princess bond—and both of those left normal silvery scars, though princess bonds glittered a little.
I’d never heard of a bond that went red.
But my pack was still here, and that’s all I cared about.
And she was… ours.
I felt something unwind.
Ours, and—
“You won’t go anywhere without one of us,” Vandle growled at her. She shrank a little, or as much as she could with his palm still cupping her neck.
“Yes, alpha.” She glanced at us nervously again, lip trembling.
Now my nerves were calming, I was starting to tune into the feelings of my pack. What I found was a tad unexpected.
I think Vandle was… angry. Oh, yep, really fucking angry. I could also feel a faint trace of fear that was dying down now. It was a feeling I understood after exiting the bathroom to find she was gone.
Since all I’d got from him in the last year and a half was a smudge of possessive, territorial alpha instincts, I thought that was… good.
Well.
For us.
Crescent, on the other hand…
“Should we… go back to the room?” Karma asked.
Vandle’s annoyed, mismatched gaze snapped to him. “You fed me protein bars for three days,” he growled, straightening. “I’m starving.”
Crescent, freed of his grip, tried to slip from the table. Vandle huffed, stopping her before she could, and picking her up. He was one tall motherfucker, and she might as well have been a teddy bear with the ease with which he lifted her into his arms.
Crescent, who now had her arms wrapped around Vandle’s neck with that oversized top, was staring at me with eyes as wide as dinner plates as Vandle walked off—and right past the bloody mess of bodies he’d left behind.
I felt a smile twitch on my lips. I probably shouldn’t find any part of this funny. She’d almost got herself bonded by some random fucking alphas, and I didn’t have a clue why. But uh… she was ours now.
So that was that.
And she looked so fucking cute in Vandle’s arms.
CRESCENT
I had a bond with my mates.
The spike of fear I’d felt when I'd stared up at that alpha who'd approached me in the square was fading at last. My mate had killed him, which was wrong, I thought.
But they seemed to fight and kill a lot in here so maybe it was... different from the outside world?
There had been a little bubble of joy in my tummy when my mate had come for me. Something exhilarating about the iron tang of blood in the air and the aching mark on my neck.
Vandle, they’d said.
He... wanted me.
And he would fight for me.
My pack lead… the thought was dizzying. More than I could have imagined.
And now I was theirs... like... properly theirs.
I should feel a lot more guilty than I did, but none of this had been my choice.
I’d tried.
He smelled like burning wood and ash. It was so dominant, and kinda... angry. It was still hard not to huff it as he carried me down the hallway.
We entered the huge cafeteria that I'd first been in when I'd come through the doors to Anarchy, but this time Vandle was carrying me over to the open window along the wall. He didn't stop to speak to anyone as he loaded up a plate.
The others were behind us, and I could feel them all in the bond, so I'd stuffed my face into the corner of Vandle's neck, not meeting their eyes.
They were all a bit shaken, and upset, and... Well, also pissed. But they'd... be okay with it in the end.
At least I hoped so.
They were heathens, so they didn't understand that they couldn't give me a normal bond. Not with me being gold pack...
This was for the best.
More than I deserved.
Vandle didn't take long, piling up his plate with an obscene amount, and snapping at one of the servers when they tried to stop him.
“I haven't had a real meal in days,” he snarled.
The server, a slender alpha with long black hair and a goatee, seemed so shocked by his outburst, that he didn't argue.
The server didn't say anything to me, though he was gawking—like everyone else, actually. The others caught up with us as he left the cafeteria and returned to the main square where he’d bitten me. He set me down, and slid onto one of the benches.
The square was much larger than any of the hallways or even the cafeteria, which had a higher ceiling than the cells. This room was a few stories high, like the chapel auditorium back in the Convent.
I settled onto the bench right beside him, hoping he was alright with how close I was.
He was clearly still grumpy with me, even as he nudged one of his pancakes in my direction. I took it, unable to tear my gaze from him.
He was really beautiful, even with the strange mismatched eyes. It comforted me—I'd always been a little different looking. My hair was white, and my skin was devoid of colour except for when I blushed. Before my eyes had turned gold, they’d been a pale pink.
But that wasn’t the real reason his mismatched eyes were wholly captivating. There was a much more pressing truth that was sinking in.
He was a Seer—he was special.
And the Ascendants elevated Seers as Chosen.
That meant… I blinked, the truth finally hitting me. He could claim this dark bond without being cursed.
“Can someone explain what the fuck just happened?” Phantom sat down opposite us. He glanced at Vandle, then to me. “Why did you run away?”
“I… didn’t know your pack lead was a seer,” I whispered.
“What does that change?” Sin asked.
Right. They really didn’t know anything. “Seers have sight beyond the mortal realm.”
Vandle paused halfway through cramming a pancake into his mouth, shooting me a funny look.
“And…?” Sin prodded.
“So he has the authority to decide on a dark bond with a gold pack like me.”
The words themselves settled nerves that still hadn’t dulled since I’d woken up this morning.
I was bonded to my scent matches, and everything was going to be okay.
SEERS
Seers are rare alphas or omegas distinguished by white hair and heterochromia—one red eye and one white—and by their ability to visualize auras of other alphas and omega.
They are colour blind but perceive their scent matches in full colour.
Seers can assess the stability and health of auras, aura sickness, and identify bond classifications—including princess bonds and consensual versus non-consensual dark bonds—often marked by distinct visual phenomena such as a pearly sheen at bite sites.
VANDLE
My mind was sluggishly settling into a new reality. A new world. I remembered my time in the cell. Alone. Insane. Black and white shapes of guards blurring in and out.
With only a few brief windows into reality.
So few people I remembered from before…
Until one visit had gifted me reality just enough to request coming down here to Anarchy…
How long ago had that been?
Then my life was a series of flashing memories. Meeting Sin, and joining the pack. Cycling in and out of ruts. Fighting hard enough in the cages that sometimes, for the briefest of seconds, I was present.
I had no idea how far away those things were from each other.
Days. Months. Years.
Today, though, everything had changed. I’d woken in a rising tide of panic—seeing my omega try to flee.
A scent match…
One I’d gone and dark bonded even if she hadn’t given me a choice.
She was beautiful. Perfect. But she was saying really odd things. I’d lowered my food, examining her closer.
What had she just claimed?
Sight beyond the what? “The… mortal realm?”