Page 27 of Forced Bonds

“So, she stole it?” Benji asked, clearly not knowing my mother like I did.

I shook my head. “No, she was too much of a coward to do that herself. Instead, she begged my father to grab it. She told him some nonsense that only a powerful supernatural could even touch the book.”

“What happened then?” Sal asked, now sitting on the bed as he listened to my story.

“Well,” I continued. “My father planned for the heist, taking twenty of his best packmates with him. They found the location. My mother had already known which gemstones they’d placed around to fuel the ward. They disassembled it enough to get inside unnoticed, or so they thought. My father hurried to grab the book, but as soon as he held it in his arms, he died. His pack put it into a bag without touching it and all shifted and ran. Everyone else escaped with their lives intact.”

“And then what?” Benji asked, seemingly very into my tale.

“Then my mother demanded we ward the library to keep it safe, using witches from a nearby coven who had no idea what they were locking inside. They needed offerings to make it stronger, so my mom had packmates offer their life to strengthen it.”

“She ordered her pack to off themselves?!” Benji gasped.

I nodded. “My mother wasn’t a warm person. She only cared about power.”

“How many had to die?” Sal questioned.

“Ten,” I answered, not able to meet their gaze. “She fell ill two weeks later and then I was chosen as alpha. She died a few days ago from mating sickness.”

“Just how long ago did your father die?” Sal asked, his tone clearly confused.

“Three to four months now,” I answered, letting him slowly piece it all together, but I elaborated when he only seemed to grow more confused. “My mother stayed alive even after her mate died, either by force of will or because she truly hadn’t loved my father. Eventually, though, she did die.”

“You don’t seem saddened by it?” Benji questioned, eyeing me warily.

“That’s because I’m not,” I admitted. “I hated the woman and she felt very much the same. She only kicked the bucket when I told her my mate was a human male and that I wouldn’t produce any heirs. It seemed her fragile heart couldn’t handle that and she died from the shock alone.”

Sal smirked knowingly at me. “You feel satisfied by that.”

I shrugged. “She’s the reason I lost my father and alpha. She outstayed her welcome and needed to disappear.”

“But surely she must’ve known it was a suicide mission?” Benji questioned. “Wouldn’t she have known she could die from it?”

I shrugged again. “I think she believed herself too strong to die of a broken mating bond, and from the lack of love they shared. I think she truly thought herself too strong to die.”

Sal nodded at that. “So she likely believed that with your father out of the picture, she would become alpha and run the pack on her own?”

“I think so,” I shrugged. “Again, I didn’t really ask what her masterplan was. I was just mad at her for causing the loss of this many packmates and my alpha. Having the book in our possession hasn’t helped us grow our numbers either. The rogue vampires somehow know what that book does, so they’re all coming here. It wasn’t an outcome we’d taken into account at all.”

“And do you care if they get it?” Sal asked, either testing me or not getting a good enough read on my emotions.

“Before I bonded with you two, I would’ve died protecting the book that my father died getting. But now?” I sighed. “Now I honestly don’t care what happens to it.” If we kept protecting it, I would lose more packmates. If we gave it away, more regular vampires would be made. They would then outnumber the other supernaturals by a lot. Us other supes needed to be born. They could be made, making them our biggest threat.

“I need to call my coven master and tell him about the book, I’ll let him decide what we should do. Honestly, I don’t give a damn what happens to it either,” Sal added, taking out his phone and leaving to talk in the bathroom, which for some reason was behind a huge glass wall?

I looked over at Benji when I felt anger pouring out of him. He looked pissed as he glared at Sal through the glass. Our vampire was none the wiser as he spoke to whoever his master was.

Chapter Sixteen

Benjamin

My fear was now proven. I was nothing to them. Just a piece of meat to feed from and fuck. Zar had asked Chris what to do and not once had either man looked my way or asked for what I wanted. They both had no opinion but I did. A cure for rogue vampires to disappear altogether? Yes, fucking please! My whole life had been dedicated to ending rogues! Now that I knew the option was there to get rid of all of them? I was practically vibrating with anger as I watched Zar talk all casually to Altaur about something that could change the lives of humans everywhere. He didn’t care about us humans, and I hated that.

A hand confidently took mine and I almost flinched from the shock of it. Chris’ eyes met mine, his full of concern as he watched me. “What’s wrong?” the infuriating wolf asked.

“Oh, I don’t know. Want the whole fucking list?!” I snapped. I had it on my phone and everything, right over my list of things I needed to remember, like not trusting vampires and how ineffective my turtlenecks proved to be.

He tilted his head, making his black locks fall down on his forehead a bit in a very not at all sexy way. “You have a list?”