“I’ve never heard of a mate bond being broken before but…I’ll look into it for you,” she said, hugging me tight. “I’m so sorry this happened.”
I wanted to say ‘me too’ but that would have been a lie. I wanted to be sorry, I wanted to want to take it back. But now I was mated with Rosalie, all I really wanted was to keep her as mine. Forever. It was conflicting as shit.
“Thank you, Harper.” I hugged her tight for a moment, some of the weight on my shoulders easing.
I wasn’t used to living the hard life. I ruled from the top. No one had ever affected my status quo until Rosalie had come along and fucked shit up. But by the stars I was going crazy without her. I needed to figure out a way to get her out of the hole. And I knew that wasn’t for purely selfish reasons either. Three months in that place alone was enough to crack the toughest of nuts. And as strong as my mate may have been, no one was immune to that shit. Especially when I could feel the pain of being in that place eating at her like it was eating at me. I swear Sin Wilder was as sane as a sober nun when he went in there. Alright, maybe as sane as a drunk nun who’d had a stint in Starfall Asylum. But still. He was definitely fifty percent crazier these days than he used to be.
“We can announce it when the tattoo is done,” I said and she nodded, beaming at me, happy that she was helping me in this. But she couldn’t hide the darkness in her eyes over the reason for that help.
The bell rang to announce it was time to head to the Magic Compound and a breath of relief left me at the thought. I needed to set more jobs on the Veiled Wall to see if there was any more information on Rosalie’s release. Whoever was gathering info on the matter for me probably thought the Fae setting the jobs was entering stalker territory when it came to Rosalie. But thanks to the wall being anonymous, I didn’t give two shits.
I headed out of my cell with Harper and my Wolves howled as I approached them, running my hands over their heads before leading the way out of the cell block. I crossed the bridge and we were led to the Magic Compound. Our block was the first to arrive, but I frowned at the added security by the gateway that led inside. Fourteen fucking guards stood sentinel around it and Officer Cain was right there to usher me forward.
“In,” he commanded, opening the door and I smirked threateningly in his face as I passed by, stepping through the door which shut sharply behind me.
Officer Lyle looked sweaty and more pale than usual behind the barrier of glass that parted us as he ran a hand through his red locks.
“Hey gorgeous, you look a little flushed today,” I switched on the charm, but he didn’t seem to be in the mood to bite.
“Hands,” he instructed.
I put them through the holes with a frown and he placed a cuff key into the lock. Instead of turning it halfway to release my magic, he twisted it fully around and the cuffs fell from my wrists with a clatter.
“What the-” I started, but before I could finish that sentence, he’d snapped two shiny new silver rings onto my wrists in their place and gestured for me to go into the compound. “What’s with the new cuffs?”
“Security upgrade,” he said simply, giving me a slight smile as he softened for a moment. “Now go.”
The door into the compound was open but I lingered a moment longer, looking back at the guards who were all staring in at me, their shoulders rigid. I guessed they wanted this changeover to go smoothly, and the looks on some of their faces said they were out for blood today, so good luck to anyone who tried to cause trouble.
I stepped into the compound and headed over towards our usual benches, sitting down front and centre before resting my elbows on my knees and flexing my fingers. I created a chalice of ice and filled it with the purest water before taking a sip while I watched the rest of the inmates slowly be re-cuffed and let into the compound. I examined the new bands on my