Page 18 of Broken Forced Mate
The window latch is newer construction, the kind installed for aesthetic consistency with the main house. But new doesn't mean secure if you know what you're doing. Years of security work have taught me all kinds of useful skills.
I think about the teenage girl who used to sneak out through this same type of window to meet friends downtown. How many times did I track her movements, making sure she stayed safe while maintaining the illusion of freedom?
Now I’m the danger she needs protection from.
The latch gives way with barely a whisper of sound. The window slides open on well-maintained tracks, and I slip inside like the predator I’ve become, moving through darkness toward the woman I’ve spent three years trying to forget.
The room layout matches the blueprints exactly. Bed against the far wall, dresser to my right, bathroom door closed. Raegan’s breathing is deep and even; she’s actually asleep, not just lying awake worrying.
Better for both of us that way.
I move closer to the bed, cloth ready in my left hand. One quick application over her nose and mouth, count to ten, and she’ll be unconscious long enough for extraction.
My hand trembles as I raise the chloroform cloth.
This is it. Once I cross this line, there’s no going back. Raegan will never forgive me for what I’m about to do, never trust me again, never look at me with anything but hatred and fear.
But she’ll be alive to hate me.
That’s going to have to be enough.
I lean forward, ready to end her world as she knows it.
The floorboard beneath my foot creaks.
Raegan’s eyes snap open in the darkness, meeting mine across the space between us. For one frozen moment, we stare at each other—the woman I’ve spent years protecting and the man about to betray her trust completely.
Then she opens her mouth to scream.
Chapter 6 - Raegan
I scream as the dark figure moves toward my bedroom door.
But instead of fleeing, he shoves the heavy dresser against it with surprising speed and strength. The wooden furniture scrapes across the hardwood floor, creating a makeshift barricade that blocks the only exit like a prison door slamming shut.
My heart races as I realize I’m trapped. Whatever this intruder wants, he’s made sure I can’t escape, and no one can easily get in to help me. The guest room suddenly feels like a cage, and I’m alone with someone who clearly planned this invasion down to the last detail.
My training kicks in immediately. Years of self-defense classes, both with Wyn and at Llewelyn, don’t abandon me now, even with adrenaline flooding my system. I roll out of bed and drive my elbow toward the intruder’s ribs while bringing my knee up toward what I hope is his groin.
The man grunts and staggers back, but he recovers faster than I expected. In the darkness, I can’t make out his features, only that he’s tall and broad-shouldered and built like someone who knows how to fight.
My bare feet find purchase on the cold hardwood floor as I prepare for another attack. The guest room suddenly feels too small, too confining. Every shadow could hide another threat, and the nightgown I’m wearing offers no protection, nor any dignity.
“Raegan, stop!” The voice freezes me mid-strike. “It’s me.”
Wyn. My heart pounds even harder as recognition floods through me. The familiar cedar scent, the way he moves, the sound of my name on his lips after three years of silence.
That only makes me angrier.
“Get out!” I launch myself at him as fury gives my small frame a vicious edge. “Get the hell out of my room!”
“You’re in danger,” he screams, blocking my wild swing with ease. “Bastian isn’t who you think he is. You need to come with me.”
I claw at his face, aiming for his eyes. Three years of hurt and rejection fuel every movement. “I don’t need to do a damn thing! You don’t get to show up in my bedroom after what you did to me and tell me what to do!”
The memories crash over me as we struggle. That night in the garden, when he looked at me like I was nothing. When he dismissed my feelings as a childish fantasy and walked away without looking back.
The way I threw myself at him, so sure he felt the same connection I did. The complete devastation when he rejected me, like discussing the weather rather than breaking my heart.
