Page 6 of Broken Forced Mate
“Wyn,” Theo calls before heading out. “Whatever these Thornridge people want, it’s not going to be good for us.”
“I know.”
He disappears into the desert, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the growing certainty that our peaceful valley is about to become anything but.
I secure my equipment and start the journey back to pack headquarters. The morning heat is building, making the rocks shimmer in the distance. By midday, this desert will be brutal for anyone not used to its demands.
But that might work in our favor. If the Thornridge pack is planning something aggressive, they’ll have to contend withterrain that gives us every advantage. We know these lands intimately. Every canyon, every water source, every hidden path.
They’re outsiders trying to take what doesn’t belong to them.
The pack hall comes into view as I crest a ridge, and its adobe walls blend seamlessly with the desert landscape. Home, despite everything. The place where I’ve spent the past three years trying to forget the woman who left for greener pastures after I had no choice but to reject her.
Maybe that’s for the best. Whatever the Thornridge pack wants, the coming days are going to be dangerous. Better that Raegan is safely away from all of this, pursuing her education in a territory that values her mind over her bloodline.
Better that she never has to see what I might have to become to protect this place.
Chapter 2 - Raegan
The engagement ring feels like a shackle around my finger.
I sit cross-legged on my dormitory bed in Llewelyn territory, surrounded by textbooks on interpack diplomacy that I should be reading. Instead, I keep staring at the simple silver band Bastian Corvelli placed there just three days ago.
Bastian arrived at the university six months ago as an exchange student from a territory outside our valley. He’s studying interpack relations with a focus on resource management and trade agreements. Sandy brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a smile that comes easily…. He’s exactly the kind of man any sensible woman would be thrilled to marry.
“You’re doing it again,” my roommate Dora says from her desk across the room.
“Doing what?”
“Spinning that ring like it’s going to fly off and escape.” She closes her laptop and turns to face me. “Second thoughts?”
I stop twisting the band around my finger. “No. Maybe. I don’t know.”
Dora Brennan has been my roommate for two years now. She’s a beta from the local pack, and she’s studying environmental science with plans to help restore damaged territories across the region. Her red hair catches the room’s harsh light as she stands and stretches.
“Want to talk about it?” she asks.
I trace the ring’s smooth surface with my thumb. The weight of it feels wrong somehow, like wearing someone else’s clothes before they’ve been washed. Every fiber of my beingknows Bastian isn’t my true mate, yet I said yes when he proposed. The word came out of my mouth before I could stop it.
“It’s just pre-wedding nerves,” I tell her. “Everyone gets them, right?”
“Maybe.” Dora sits on the edge of her bed, facing me. “But you’ve been weird about this whole engagement thing since it happened. You barely smiled when you showed me the ring.”
She’s right. When Bastian got down on one knee outside the library three days ago, my first instinct was to take a step back. Not exactly the reaction of a woman in love.
“He’s a good man,” I say, more to convince myself than her. “Kind, intelligent, ambitious. He wants to make a difference.”
“Those are great qualities in a colleague. Not sure they’re enough for a husband.”
That makes me wince. Dora doesn’t sugarcoat things, which is usually something I appreciate about her. Today it feels like salt in an open wound.
“The matriarch thinks it’s a good match,” I offer weakly.
“The matriarch thinks about political advantages. You should think about what makes you happy.”
Matriarch Lydia Thornwick has been incredibly supportive of my studies and my relationship with Bastian. She sees potential diplomatic benefits in stronger ties between territories, especially with the Grayhides’ recent prosperity from their Amanzite discovery. A marriage between a Grayhide Alpha’s sister and a promising young diplomat could open doors that have been closed for generations.
But Dora’s question bounces around in my head. What makes me happy?
