Broken Bond - Callie Rose Page 0,39
the shirt on over my head, then yank my underwear on as my cheeks flame with embarrassment to be caught like this. I’m not ashamed of what we did, but the fact we did it while the others were out—and one of them was being healed from painful wounds—does feel like we went behind their backs. Even though that’s not what we did, I don’t know how to defuse the situation.
Ridge gave me my clothes, but he isn’t fast enough in finding his own. He’s still looking for his pants when Dare barges into the room.
Dare moves with supernatural quickness—much faster than he should be able to move, considering the state of his leg earlier today. Camilla really must be the best healer the East Pack has, and while it’s unfortunate she hasn’t been able to save Malcolm, I’m ecstatic to see Dare looking more like himself.
Or, well… I would be if his current self didn’t look so ready to murder Ridge.
His footsteps sound like thunder in the small space, and I swear even the mattress shivers at his rage. He rounds the foot of the bed, grabs Ridge by the throat, hauls him to his feet, and then shoves the broad-shouldered man up against the wall with a vicious, inhuman snarl.
I gasp at the sudden violence, my breath catching in my throat and shock freezing me to the bed.
“You just couldn’t wait to get her alone, could you?” Dare accuses, his tone full of vitriol. “Once you had her all to yourself, you could do whatever you wanted without us standing in your way.”
“Dare, please.” Adrenaline pulses through me. I’ve seen the men bicker and argue before, but I’ve never seen them fight with such vicious anger. I slip from the bed but keep my distance. Partly because I’m terrified of this man, his face so twisted in rage I don’t even recognize him. “It was my choice. I was part of this too.”
The snarling shifter doesn’t even seem to hear me. All his attention is focused on Ridge.
Ridge reaches out and shoves against Dare’s chest, dislodging the other man’s iron grip on his throat. “At least I didn’t fucking abandon her when she needed me most. I sat by her bedside. The three of us took care of her while you ran like a pussy.”
Dare shoves back, his lips curling in fury. “Don’t act like you know me or know what I’ve been through.”
Ridge’s eyes narrow. “Right. Losing your pack to witches who have no connection to Sable is a great reason to turn your back on her.”
“You don’t know my pain!” Dare roars, stepping closer to Ridge with both fists clenched.
My heart seizes in my chest. I’m certain that these two men would be evenly matched in a fight. They could kill each other if things get out of hand, and there’s no way I’m letting that happen. Not tonight. Not ever.
The magic inside me boils just beneath my skin, not visible but so powerful I can feel it in every atom of my body. I struggle to contain it, trying to force images of snapping jaws and blood-soaked fur from my mind.
“I know your fucking pain,” Ridge grits out. “Archer knows your pain. Losing people you love to witches isn’t rare, you asshole. But you know what? None of us make her feel like some unwanted monster. Not the way you do.”
Dare bares his teeth and shoves Ridge again, making his back hit the wall. “Witches are monsters,” he hisses.
Those three words rip through me, opening every single old wound in my body and shattering my heart into a thousand pieces. I hear in his voice just how much he means what he says.
All I am to him is a monster.
When the magic came for me, I ceased to be Sable, his future possible mate, and became nothing more than an abomination.
So then why is he so furious that I had sex with Ridge? Would he want to have sex with a monster? His anger doesn’t make any sense. I’d expect this reaction from Trystan, not Dare, yet the West Pack shifter hasn’t moved from his place by the door.
The room has grown frigid and still. Archer and Trystan both look equally furious—and hurt—at the turn of events, but neither of them makes a move to join the two scuffling shifters. But they both look at me with an undercurrent of pity, because they know exactly what pain Dare put me in with his callous words.
Ridge