Broken Bond by C.J. Primer

7

VANESSA 

“I‘ll be out of your hair in a few days,” Vienna explains to my mom as she takes a dish of green beans from her hands. 

“Oh, stop,” Mom scolds, swatting Vee on the butt with a kitchen towel. “You know you‘re welcome to stay as long as you like. We love having you here!” I pick up a basket of rolls, shooting my friend a wide grin. “Yeah, just think of it as an extended sleepover!” 

She smiles wryly, following me to the kitchen table to deposit the food. The whole house smells amazing– my mom always cooks hearty dinners, but she pulls out all the stops when we have company. Although Vienna can hardly be considered‘ company‘– she‘s practically family. This isn‘t the first time Vee has crashed at my house, but it‘s the first time she‘s arrived with a duffel bag in tow and expressed her intention of staying for longer than a single night. I‘m glad she did. When she called me early this morning, I could tell by the tone of her voice that something was wrong, and when she showed up at my door, the look on her face confirmed it. I‘m pretty sure her mom‘s boyfriend has been hitting her. 

It‘s little things I‘ve picked up on– fading bruises, the way Vee flinches when I mention him. I keep waiting for her to come clean and tell me what‘s going on, but so far, she hasn‘t. I‘d confront her if I thought she was in any real danger, but she‘s trained as a warrior for the security squad; she fought in the war against the shadow pack. The girl is a scrapper who can hold her own. I‘ll be here for her when she‘s ready to talk about it, but until then, I‘ll support her in any way I can, like giving her a place to crash. Because that‘s what best friends do. 

I duck out of the way as my dad sets a huge platter of roasted chicken in the center of the table. “I think you‘ve outdone yourself, babe,” he calls back to my mom, hitting her with a dazzling smile. “This looks incredible.” 

Mom smiles back, a blush forming on her cheeks. Even after all these years, the man still makes her blush. 

Damn, I want that. 1 “Ness, will you tell your brothers it‘s time to eat?” Mom asks, reaching behind her back to untie her apron. 

I nod and make my way out of the kitchen and into the living room. Marco and 

Matias are sitting side by side on the couch, both zeroed in on some zombie video game they‘re playing as their fingers mash the buttons on the controllers. They‘re eleven–year–old twins, little carbon copies of one another in so many ways and completely inseparable. I march up to the couch, leaning over it to reach for the big gaming headphones on Marco‘s head and tugging them down. As soon as I do, he whips toward me with his mouth agape in protest, but I just hit him with a big grin. “Dinner time, zombie hunters.” I half expect the twins to put up more of a fight, but they both toss their controllers aside in near–perfect synchronicity, hopping up from the couch to comply. “Lucas and Raf?” I question, glancing around the living room in search of my other two little brothers. They‘re six and eight, and the two of them are always either raising hell or somehow hiding in plain sight. “Upstairs working on their pillow fort,” my teenage sister Elena provides as she strolls into the room from the foyer. “Mia, too.” “Wanna go grab them?” I ask. “Dinner‘s ready.” 

She groans like a typical moody teenager, but she spins on a heel, trudging back toward the foyer to retrieve our siblings from upstairs. 

I stroll back into the kitchen to find the others already taking their seats around the table, eager to dig into the feast my mom prepared. Dad takes the lead in passing around the food while Mom plates up dinner for the younger kids, and once the little kids come down and everyone settles in, Mom immediately starts in on teasing Vienna. 

“Only one piece of chicken?” she tuts. “That‘s why you‘re so tiny! Here, take another.” Before Vienna can protest, Mom picks up the tongs and snatches another piece from the platter, dropping it unceremoniously onto Vienna‘s plate. 

I chuckle, shaking my head as I cut into my own piece of chicken. “Leave her alone, Ma.” I shoot my friend an apologetic glance, but for the first time since she arrived, she has a genuine smile on her face, a laugh slipping from her throat. Maybe this is what she needed after what was clearly a rough night– a little slice of normalcy. My mom has been teasing Vee about her petite stature since we were children, offering her food like she‘s one good meal away from a growth spurt. It‘s her way of showing she cares. “Has the lodge been busy this season?” Dad asks, making casual conversation as he cuts into a chicken breast. 

on my own. I

focused on her dinner plate, but she suddenly perks up, our conversation catching her interest. “Is it true about the rogue?” she inquires, wide–eyed. “Some kids at school said they heard one was spotted up there.”

they don‘t say anything. If they‘re concerned, they‘ll bring it up later without the little kids around. Too bad the boys already heard the word ‘rogue‘, though, because their interest is officially piqued. “A real rogue?” Lucas asks, blinking. “Did you see him?” Raf demands. “What did he look like?” Lucas

she says, popping the bite into her mouth and chewing. The boys stare

Raf presses, unable to contain his curiosity

Honestly, it wasn‘t a big deal.” My brothers scowl, clearly disappointed by her anticlimactic answer. “It‘s a big enough deal for Alpha Chase to be checking in on you,” I quip, shooting Vienna a wink. I jump as I get a kick to the shin under the table while she glares daggers back at me, but it‘s too late – my mom‘s now zeroed in on Vienna, her eyebrows raised so high that they practically reach

nudging Vienna with her elbow. “Good for you, Vee. All you girls do is work, it‘s about time you had some excitement in your lives.” “It‘s not... we‘re not...”

like another daughter to her, so the prospect of her dating an alpha is an exciting one that has her beaming with pride. She pops a forkful of green beans into her mouth, still grinning as she chews. 1 “What about you, Nessa?” Dad asks, arching

My stomach drops and my cheeks heat. She doesn‘t know how right she is. Now it‘s Vienna‘s turn to hit me with a smug smirk, sliding her gaze over to my parents as she swallows down a bite of food. She sets down her fork, folding her hands in front

Mom asks, her eyes rounded in

me!” Elena

hold up my hands in

scold me for not being more careful. By the time the excitement dies down, the twins have wolfed down their food and are begging to return to

TT 

Frozen?” Vienna

meet and they share a knowing smile. They‘re so in sync that it‘s scary sometimes. After we‘ve all cleaned our plates and most of my siblings have disappeared from the table, I feel my phone vibrate in the back pocket of my jeans and

guts to her like I usually do, I panicked and told her that

not sure why I

lie to Vienna. At least I didn‘t,

all in my own head before I admit what happened out loud.

up my neck just at the thought of it, my fingers itching to reach for my phone and check my messages. This is all uncharted territory for me: the texting, the giddiness, the kissing. The lying. I keep asking myself why now, why him? Yet somehow, it‘s like the kiss itself answered both of those questions. It felt

the movie now?”

sister squeals with glee and my parents take her in the other room to get her movie set up, while Vienna and I immediately start clearing the table, depositing the plates and cutlery in the sink and packaging up the leftovers. The whole time, my

and now that Vee‘s staying here, she‘s bunking in with us. We‘ve got her set up on a futon mattress on the floor, and after we all settle

keeping Vee in the dark about what‘s going on with Callum, but until I figure out what it is the two of us are doing, I want to keep it just between us.

no idea

soon as I hear the sound of Vienna and Elena‘s breathing even out, I grab for my phone, throwing the covers over my head and pressing the home button to