Page 43 of Betrayed Auctioned Mate

Ado’s expression hardens. “It’s not that simple. Breaking a blood bond… it’s dangerous. Complicated.”

I frown, trying to understand. “Dangerous how? What happens if—”

“We’re not discussing it,” he interrupts, his tone more hard-edged than I expected. He stands abruptly, turning his back to me as he runs a hand through his hair. I can see therigidity in his shoulders, the way he’s struggling to keep himself in check. “I’m not risking it.”

“Why not?” I press, sitting up slightly despite the protest from my aching body. “Why won’t you talk to me about it? What are you not telling me?”

Ado doesn’t answer right away. For once, his perpetual silence was louder than any words he could have spoken. I can see him burning with something I can’t explain.

When he finally turns around, his eyes are darker than I’ve ever seen them. Even that night, the night we…

“Because I’m not letting you—” he cuts himself off.Go.I knew he was going to say it. “...get hurt.”

My head spins with anxiety. “What are you saying? Why are you being like this?”

He doesn’t answer. Instead, he steps toward the door, his movements quick and almost frantic, like he needs to get out of here before he says something he’ll regret.

“Ado,” I call after him, but he’s already halfway out the door.

“I’ll come back later,” he mutters, not looking at me as he slips out into the hallway.

The door clicks shut behind him, and I’m left alone in the sterile med bay, my mind racing. There is a burn behind my eyes—I have to fight not to cry.

Once upon a time, we told each other everything.

Now, I feel like I’ve been bonded to a total stranger.

Chapter 22 - Ado

For the next few days, I am a mess.

Keira won’t talk to me. She doesn’t even look at me. She spends the first two nights in the medical bay, and by the time she’s released, we have not spoken again.

When we cross paths in the halls, she veers away like I’m a ghost, a shadow she doesn’t want to acknowledge or have to look at. She’s always encircled by Olivia and one or two of others, keeping a watchful eye on her, and sometimes Byron escorts her to and from places. I can tell he has made it his mission to make sure she’s okay. The two of them barely say a word to me either. I’ve suddenly become an outsider among my own pack.

I can’t blame them.

I’ve replayed the conversation we had in the med bay over and over in my head. I was cruel, I think, or at least inconsiderate. I shouldn’t have approached her like that. I meant everything I said—or most of it, anyway. All of the things I can remember through the haze.

My protective instincts have been on overdrive ever since that blood bond snapped into place. It’s tearing me up inside not to be near her, not to make sure she’s safe. I barely sleep, spending nights pacing in my room, trying to feel her in the building, to know she’s safe.

But she doesn’t want to see me. And I can’t force it.

There is still work to be done. Aris tries to keep us focused, pushing us to analyze the intel we gathered from the auction, trying to make sense of the information we have. But the pack is fractured. Percy and Rafael do their best to stayneutral, but even they seem quieter, more reserved. They shoot me sympathetic looks when they think the others aren’t looking.

There’s no banter during the meetings, no camaraderie. We’re all walking on eggshells, waiting to be the first to break one.

For a few days, it is miserable in the pack center.

I try to focus on the work. I want nothing more than to drown out the chaos in my head with numbers, names, and connections we need to piece together, but it’s no use. Every time I sit down at the table, I feel the empty space where Keira should be gaping opposite me, the silence where her voice should fill the air. The bond strings me along like a puppet. I am constantly compelled by a foreign force. I can’t even tell if she’s healing, if she’s sleeping, if she’s eaten. That lack of connection gnaws at me like an open wound that won’t scab.

When I do catch glimpses of Keira, she looks tired. I catalog the shadows under her eyes and the slight hollowness in her features. She looks haunted.

Of course, she’s haunted. The worst thing that’s ever happened to her almost happened again.

And to save her, I violated her trust forever.

Aris keeps trying to pull us back together. We’re a pack, but right now, we feel anything but united. He looks like he wants to grab us all and smack our heads together half the time, but he does nothing yet. He’s waiting to see if I can figure this out alone. I can tell.

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