Page 73 of Primal

It’s been days since the initial blow, and yet she still looked like she was one strong gust of wind away from blowing over, from dissolving into dust. She moved like everything hurt. If it’s still this bad now, how bad was it when they first got her out of that clearing.

The mated pair look lost at first by my question, but as it dawns on them, their faces pull tight. The disappointment and disgust that had been slowly easing since they got back slamsback into place, full force, like I’ve ripped the scab off all over again.

Rhosyn doesn’t answer with words at first.

She just smacks the side of my head.

Hard.

“Bad, you fucking idiot, it’sbad,” she snaps, her voice thick with frustration. “I adore you—as my Alpha and my friend—but you fucked up, Nick. You fucked upso bad.”

I nod, slow and stiff. “I’m going to make it right.”

“Well, you’d better work fast,” she shoots back, arms crossed. “You saw what she looks like.”

I did. And it’s burned into me now. A part of me that I will carry everywhere I go.

“I didn’t know a broken bond would do that to her,” I say quietly, the words tasting like rust in my mouth. It’s not an excuse, I know that. I’m not trying to make one. It’s just the truth. “I didn’t realize it could be like this. I…I just didn’t know.”

“You’re right. You didn’t,” she says, tone softer now. But there’s something in her voice. Guilt, maybe, or pity, that makes my skin crawl. She hesitates, looking at her mate briefly, before she speaks again, and when she does, her voice carries the weight of something I don’t want to hear. “It’s more than just a broken mate bond, Nick. She has rejected mate syndrome.”

My heart stops.

She keeps going, like the words will hurt less if she gets them out quickly.

“She didn’t reject you back, her side of the bond is making her he’s wasting away.”

I don’t fucking breathe. Can’t.

My wolf lifts his head, howling in agony.

It’s the only warning I get before he rips out of my skin.

Chapter 27

Noa

By the time we get home to the manor, I’m pretty sure I’m being held together by a piece of chewed bubblegum and a whisper of hope. Neither of which are known for their structural integrity. And, honestly, I don’t even know what part of today was supposed to give me that ridiculous emotion in the first place. It sure as hell wasn’t my conversation with Zora, I can tell you that much.

And there are pieces I really wish I didn’t know.

I’ve started putting the puzzle together, thanks to Zora, but there are still missing parts. And some of what I’ve managed to uncover? I selfishly wish I could have stayed blissfully in the dark about.

Like the part where Seren might have known.

I’m fortunate in a lot of ways, I know that, but I’ve also had more than my fair share of things ripped out from under me. Not lost…stolen. And through it all, I thought if nothing else, I could count on my trust in my best friend to hold. Unshakable. Incorruptible.

A part of me doesn’t want to ask. Doesn’t want to hear it out loud. I’m already too worn out to take on the weight ofbetrayal from the one person I thought I had left to count on. But I have to know. Seren’s lived through a rejected fated bond, she knows firsthand how it works. Which makes it really damn hard to believe she didn’t know what would happen if I didn’t say those words back to him. Even if some naive, desperate part of me, the part that’s been white-knuckling it since we left Pack Fallamhain’s gates, still wants to believe otherwise.

I wait for the soft click of the cellar door to shut behind Siggy. Count to ten—Mississippi style—in my head, just to be safe. She’d said she wanted to head down to her nest for a little while, claimed she needed to unwind after today, which makes sense. Facing her home. Her mother. Carly’s mother. That’s more than enough to send anyone retreating into their safest space.

And if anyone deserves peace right now, it’s Siggy.

I sent her down with a mug of hot chocolate—yes, her second of the day—and told her I’d be close by if she needed me. But this conversation? This one doesn’t belong anywhere near her ears. She’s got enough to carry without adding my shit to the pile. Seren’s her friend too. Someone she leans on. And Siggy needs every ounce of support she can get if she’s going to keep healing. I won’t be the reason she starts questioning one of the only people she’s started to trust.

So, I wait.

Then I turn away from the kettle, turning off the burner as I do, because I had zero intentions of drinking any tea. I just needed something to do with my hands while I waited for Siggy to quickly catch up with Seren before excusing herself.

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