Page 63 of Banished From the Pack

The van tears out of the swamp and along a dirt road. Only when we turn onto a smooth road does the scary guy yank off my gag. I wiggle my jaw back and forth, trying to get some feeling back in my face. “What do you want from me?” I demand, though my voice sounds shaky and scared. “I don’t taste good to vampires, and my blood does nothing for y’all.”

“And yet, you partook in ours so greedily,” Evan purrs from the front seat.

Scary Guy laughs. In the dim light in the back of the van, his face is lined with shadows, making him look even more sinister. “We don’t want to eat you, mutt.”

“Yes,” says the woman. “We require your services for other reasons.”

“What kind of reasons? You got a problem with the triplets?” I tug against the restraints binding my arms and legs.

“Those outlaws?” Evan scoffs. “They have no power, so they’re of no use to us. They were simply an inconvenience that had to be dealt with, sweet Luna. You, though…”

“I have no power!” I blurt out. “Please let me go. I’m just one lone wolf. What can you want with me?”

Evan chuckles again, that sound that slithers down my back like a snake hanging from the ceiling. “You’re a bargaining chip. We can use you for leverage with the Jacksonville pack.”

A bitter laugh escapes my lips. “Good luck with that. I ain’t Axel’s mate no more. He don’t want nothing to do with me. He’s the one who threw me away, made me a lone wolf. That’s why I found other lone wolves like me.”

“Hmm,” Evan says, sounding amused. “You really are innocent, aren’t you, Luna?”

“He severed the True Mate bond!” I insist. I twist around to show the scary vampire the pale pink scar on my arm. “Look, the mark don’t lie. We’re not mates. He’ll never negotiate to get me back.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Scary-guy grins. Every tooth is pointed and sharp, as if he’s ground them into tiny daggers.

“You’re never going to get anywhere with the Jacksonville pack if all you have to bargain with is me.”

Scary-guy’s expression darkens, and he stares at me through slits.

“You honestly don’t know, do you?”

Evan makes that horrid laugh again. “Oh, sweet Luna. Who do you think destroyed your little shack in Bogbeast Waters?”

“I—I don’t know,” I say. “Are you saying you did that?”

This time, the woman throws her head back and laughs. Then she twists around in the front seat to look at me, her eyes shining with amusement. “No, honey. Axel destroyed it, so you’d have nowhere to go. He was counting on you running back to him.”

His words land like an arrow in my heart. Axel destroyed my home? I blink rapidly, fighting back the tears. It can’t be true. It’s bad enough that he tore my soul to shreds. Wanting me to come back to him after that seems even more cruel. It can’t be true. I close my eyes and try not to feel the sickening speed of the van or think about the vampires’ cruel words and laughter.

They’re lying. Axel doesn’t want me. If he wanted me, he would have showed it when he had me.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Luna

The van screeches to a stop, and I tumble against the driver’s seat, still bound by ropes and a net.

“How do you know that?” I mumble once I’ve managed to right myself somewhat. “How do you know Axel destroyed my home and still wants me? He severed our bond…”

“It’s easy,” Evan says, throwing open his door. He comes around to the back of the van and drags me out by my feet. The uneven, corrugated metal floor collides with my backside. Throwing me over his shoulder as effortlessly as if I’m a dead swamp rabbit, he continues to talk as he strides away from the vehicle. “The True Mate bond isn’t something a wolf takes lightly. Axel might have gone through the motions of breaking the bond, but there’s no way he could sever the connection completely. It’s impossible.”

The sweet scent of a creek fills my nostrils, and I recognize Evan’s place even while upside down.

“I swear to you—we’re not True Mates anymore,” I say, bouncing along his back. But even as I say the words, I know they’re not true. The bond was broken, but it can’t change what we are. I can still sense the energetic bindings, which were once as tight as the ropes cinching me. Now they’re cut loose, like two ends of a rope blowing in the wind. Only now the ropes represent rage and betrayal instead of love and safety. That’s why my wolf cries every time we even think of him. Whatever bound us was severed, but it’s never truly gone, like ugly scar tissue where healthy flesh once lived.

“We’ll see,” Evan says, sounding unconcerned.

Evan’s footsteps are accompanied by the other vampires who accosted me. He steps through a doorway and tosses me onto a plush rug. “Untie her,” he commands to one of the other vampires.

The woman approaches me and pulls a sharp knife from a leather holder on her belt. I wince, hoping the knife doesn’t carve me to pieces. Once freed, I rub my chafed arms and legs. “Are you letting me go?”