Broken Bond by C.J. Primer

29

CALLUM

My pulse races as I walk into the Norbury packhouse, my gaze greedily sweeping over the interior. There’s nobody in sight. The sound of approaching footsteps yanks my attention to the hallway off the kitchen, but the dark eyes that meet mine aren’t the ones I’m seeking. Chase emerges, his hulking form swallowing up the view of the hall behind him.

I lift my chin in greeting, my eyes gravitating toward the opposite hallway that houses the guest rooms.

“She’s not here,” Chase provides, knowing exactly who I’m looking for, and my shoulders sag as a pang of disappointment stabs in my gut.

Days have passed since our run-in at the cabin, and again, so much was left unsaid. That seems to be the theme every time Nessa and I see one another lately. I’m always left memories makes my pulse go linger in the doorway. I never got the chance. to tell Alpha Vaughn just how much those meetings meant to me. I wish I had, but none of us could have anticipated that he’d be taken from us so soon, least of all the son who now takes his seat on the opposite side of the desk.

Chase beckons me inside with a flick of his head, my movements jerky as I step into the room and take the seat across from him. It’s strange seeing Chase in his father’s chair; my childhood friend now technically my superior. I suppose he always had rank in the pack as the alpha’s son, but I’ve never

really felt the effect of that rank until right now.

“You probably know what this is about,’

Chase drawls, leaning back in his chair and crossing an ankle over his knee.

His relaxed stance puts me at ease and I blow out a breath I didn’t even realize I was holding, sinking back in my own chair. “No clue, actually. Thought we already covered the whole Miles thing.”

Though I haven’t been back to the packhouse since beating the crap out of Miles in the kitchen, I’ve seen Chase several times over the last week, the first of which was later that day. Miles had already filled him in on the reason I jumped him, and Chase totally understood where I was coming from, even going so far as to apologize for throwing me out after the fight before he got all the facts. While he has to take a neutral stance as Alpha, I’m pretty sure he would’ve done the same had he been in my shoes. He alluded to as much.

“You guys work things out?” Chase asks, arching a brow.

I shake my head. Truthfully, I’ve been avoiding Miles because I’m still so pissed off that I’m liable to rip the guy apart if I come across him. It wasn’t enough for him to move in on Nessa after I left, he just had to drive an even bigger wedge between us upon my return. Fuckin’ insecure prick.

Chase heaves a sigh. “C’mon, man. We don’t let shit like this linger.”

“No?” I challenge. “What if he pulled that crap with Vienna?”

The muscle in his jaw ticks. “He wouldn’t have had the chance,” Chase growls. “I knew what I wanted and I claimed my mate.”

While he doesn’t outright say it, I pick up on his stinging insinuation. I’m the one who left. I’m the one who gave someone else an opportunity to move in on my girl because I didn’t claim her when I had the chance.

“That’s not why I asked you to come over, though,” Chase breathes, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the edge of the desk. He laces his fingers together, leveling me with a weighty stare. “I want to offer you a position as an enforcer for the pack.”

My jaw goes slack. This is definitely not what I was expecting when he called me to come over today- and while I should be fucking ecstatic, I can’t ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Alpha Vaughn was grooming me to be an enforcer. I’m sure Chase knows that. What he doesn’t know, though, is the secret that his father was protecting for me. The one that my stepdad has been holding over my head since Vaughn passed, threatening to out me to Chase if I don’t toe the line and further his own agenda.

Chase looks to me expectantly, a grin pulling at the corner of his lips, but it falls when I shake my head.

man,” I sigh, scrubbing a hand over my face, fucking hating that

scowls, clearly taken aback by my hesitation. “Why the hell not? You were practically born to be an enforcer. My dad thought so.” He narrows his eyes on me, studying my blank expression like he’ll find the answer hidden there. “I

take it, Troy will throw a fit.

don’t know about me,

“Bullshit. I’ve known you my entire

head. “But

to see beneath my blank mask again, leaning over the top of the desk. “What’s this

blow out a breath, unfurling my fists

should tell

to know, both as my alpha and as my friend. Chase is like a brother to me. I trust him more than anyone. Shouldn’t I be able

can’t take back what I’ve done. And once I tell him, there’s no going back from that,

do that. He knows

have to tell

up to my deepest, darkest secret, and

doesn’t even sound like my own. “I’m

a hand. “So has everyone who fought in the war

my hands. I don’t even know how to get the words out. I haven’t talked about

all got fuckin’ blitzed that night after stealing those bottles of whiskey

laughing at my friends as they tried to dance, tripping over their own feet and bumping into people. I remember the heavy scent of perfume stinging my nostrils as a woman slid onto the barstool beside mine, leaning over to rest her hand on my forearm, her

staying at the lodge. We started talking, and she invited

I was seventeen, and she was hot. I

nerve if I do. “I went up with her, and one thing led to another. We started

looked wrapped around her delicate neck, the surge of power I felt when I applied pressure. The harder I squeezed, the more her eyes clouded with lust. She liked it, and fuck, I did too. I was so lost in the moment that I don’t even know exactly when it happened- just that I

I killed her.” I see a flash in my mind of her

He went in there to see what happened and I just fucking took

I be dealt with. He said I was a danger to the pack and insisted on exile. I still don’t know

on me. Why rather than punishing me, he helped to cover it

Rob looked into who she was,” I mutter. “She was a call girl from Boulder. No family, no real ties. They got rid of the body and shredded any record of her being at the lodge that night. Then your dad sat me down and he… I don’t know why, but he decided to give me another chance,” I say, leaving out the grittier details of our

source of my deep-seated rage. He’s

“After he died, though, Troy started holding it over my head, threatening to tell you, which is why I’m telling you now. So you have all the facts before deciding if you really want someone like me as an enforcer for the pack, and so you can hear it from me instead of him.” I heave a sigh, rubbing my

Chase’s eyes. He slumps back in his chair, watching me carefully as he

my secret, even from his own

silence is too much, grating on my nerves and making my heart pound faster. I can’t stand the

a breath, swiping a hand over his chin and staring at me

questions about the murder or the cover-up, but not this. I didn’t expect him to be so perceptive.

did with that woman,” he mumbles to himself as he puts the

snap my mouth closed and

back in his chair, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Well fuck me. This is… shit, this is heavy. I had no fucking idea. I mean I knew something happened last year when you started doing side projects for my dad, and we all wondered why you weren’t into random hookups