Page 12 of Broken Forced Mate
“Was she in immediate physical danger?” Dorian asks.
“I don’t think so. Not in the moment I was seeing. But the choices being made will lead to…” Ash stops and presses a hand to her forehead. “The future is fluid. What I saw might not come to pass if we act quickly enough.”
“Then we need to contact her now,” I insist. “Warn her that—”
The office door opens without a knock, cutting off my words. My heart stops as Raegan walks in, her blonde hair exactly as I remember it, wearing a simple floral dress that makes her hazel eyes look more green than brown.
She looks the same as she did three years ago, only more grown up. Beautiful, confident, carrying herself like she belongs wherever she chooses to be. The sight of her after so long makes my chest ache with longing and regret and a thousand other emotions I’ve spent three years trying to bury.
But my focus immediately snaps to the tall, sandy-haired man walking beside her. He’s wearing a suit and an expensive watch; everything about him screams educated and diplomatic. But I recognize him instantly from weeks of surveillance footage.
It’s one of the Thornridge scouts.
Every instinct I have screams at me to grab Raegan and get her away from the enemy who’s somehow gotten close enough to touch her. But I force myself to remain perfectly still, showing no reaction even as my world crumbles around me.
How is this possible? How did a Thornridge operative end up here, in the heart of Grayhide territory, standing beside the woman I’ve spent three years trying to forget?
The timing is too perfect to be a coincidence. Ash’s vision about deception and betrayal, about choices that will doom more than one person, and now, Raegan appears with one of our enemies at her side.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Raegan says with a small wave. Her voice sounds exactly how I remember it: warm, confident, with just a hint of mischief that always made me want to smile despite myself. “I know you’re in a meeting, but I wanted to introduce everyone to someone important.”
She steps closer to the sandy-haired man, and I watch in horror as she takes his hand. The intimacy of the gesture makes my wolf want to tear his throat out. The ring on her finger catches the fluorescent glow coming from the ceiling, and my stomach drops as I realize what it means.
“This is Bastian Corvelli,” she continues, her face glowing with genuine happiness that breaks my heart and terrifies me in equal measure. “My fiancé.”
Chapter 4 - Raegan
The silence in the room could cut glass.
I stand in the doorway with Bastian’s hand in mine, watching my announcement land on the assembled pack leadership like a grenade. Every face around the conference table registers shock in different ways—Dorian’s mouth drops open, Kira’s mug freezes halfway to her lips, and Ash looks like she might faint.
But it’s Oren’s reaction that makes me hold my breath. My brother’s face cycles through emotions faster than I can track them. Shock melts into confusion, then hardens into something that looks dangerously close to rage.
“Fiancé?” His voice comes out flat and deadly calm. “Who is he?”
“Bastian Corvelli,” I repeat, squeezing my fiancé’s hand for courage. “We’ve been together for six months.”
Being back in this room after three years away feels surreal. This is the same conference table where I used to sit during pack meetings as a teenager, the same wall where Wyn always positions himself during important discussions. My eyes dart to that familiar spot against the wall, and there he is.
Wyn Lemay stands in his usual spot, and fury is oozing from every line of his body when he sees me. His face is stone, but his eyes burn with rage. Which makes absolutely no sense, consideringherejectedme.
The sight of him makes my heart pound with a familiar longing I thought I’d buried.
“Six months,” Oren repeats, but his voice is getting dangerously quiet. “And this is the first I’m hearing about any relationship?”
“I told you I was seeing someone when you visited,” I defensively point out. “You just didn’t ask for details.”
“Because I assumed if it was serious, you’d mention it!” His voice rises, and I watch the other pack leaders shift uncomfortably in their seats. “An engagement isn’t exactly casual dating, Raegan.”
“I’m twenty-three years old,” I remind him. “I don’t need your permission to get engaged.”
“Maybe not permission,” Dorian interjects, “but traditionally, family involvement in such decisions is expected. Especially given your position.”
My position. Always back to that. Never just Raegan making a choice about her own life, but the alpha’s sister making a decision that could affect pack relations.
The weight comes crashing down on my shoulders like it always does when I’m back in Grayhide territory. Three years of freedom in Llewelyn, three years of being valued for my mind and my contributions rather than my bloodline, and within minutes of being home, I’m right back to being a political chess piece.
“I understand the protocol,” I manage through gritted teeth. “But I also understand that I’m an adult who can make her own choices.”
