Pack Ruin (The Splintered Bond #3)

32. Scars and Second Chances

32

Scars and Second Chances

FLOR

“ I ’m worried about Grigor,” I admitted later that afternoon. We could still hear the sounds of a hunt outside, and I’d been trying not to let myself think that it was my mysterious suitor who was at the front of what sounded like a pack of wild wolves. More than once, a wolf had come close to the house, one even snuffling at the front door before it gave up and wandered away.

We’d decided not to use the stove, of course, since the smell of food would definitely be noticeable in a pack that was this starved, magic spell or not. Del’s house wasn’t in the nicer parts of the compound, and nobody out here had ever had much food.

The Pack House was in the center of the fenced compound, more or less, with dorms and barracks on two sides, and houses and double-wide trailers in sloppily concentric half-circles for a mile or so. Del’s house was just about close enough to the fence line to make getting us all out possible, but not before it got dark, and not without Grigor’s magic.

That’s what had me worried. Even though he’d said he was feeling better before he left, Luke and Glen both seemed a little fatigued, and I wasn’t certain why. Was Grigor still weaker than usual? It could have been the magic he was using now that was draining all three of them somewhat.

Luke and Glen had spent the first hour after Grigor left hunting for even more cans, but hadn’t found anything else. So we wouldn’t have long before hunger would drive us out. At least we had water, and knives to sharpen. So when the sun went down, we would make a run for it.

I had Del’s whetstone and the last few paring knives from the kitchen, and was spending my time at the kitchen table, making them sharper than they’d been brand new.

Luke and Glen were playing cards on the sofa—with a towel covering the desecrated fabric, thank goodness—and conversing in quiet voices. I could hear every word they said, of course, and I was learning more than I’d counted on, about Luke, mostly.

“I didn’t expect to see you again,” Luke murmured. “I still can’t believe you came for me.”

“Of course we did. You’re her mate. Or you will be, once you two figure your shit out.”

“When did you two…? Was it a life-saving thing?”

Glen laughed. “You heard about Brand, huh? Poor bastard, it about killed him to have his claim be a medical emergency. Then Finn, in the family parlor at Northern, right before he had to go back to Eastern?—”

“No way. She’s really bonded to Finnick as well? How the hell did he pull that off?”

“ She did it, man. Or her wolf did. Bradley had Alpha-commanded him to tell him everything about what had happened with the Russians who abducted her?—”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

I’d finished two knives by the time Glen got to the end of that story.

“Holy shit,” Luke muttered. “I thought she’d be safe once she got away from here.”

“Yeah, not so much. Trouble seems to follow our girl wherever she goes. Anyway, she bit Finn on—get this—his tongue.”

“That’s… probably good, given where he’s stuck right now.” There was a moment of silence before Luke went on. “Okay, so I can see where she claimed you. And Brand? He’s wearing her mark, too?”

“Yeah, that’s the… Oh right. I forgot about your pack’s, ah, tradition. I can’t imagine claiming my mate, and not having her return it, you know? It would feel like nothing would be complete. I’d wear ten of her bites if I could.”

Outside, a shadow crossed the sun, and the only sound was cards flipping for a long moment. Then Luke murmured, “We all knew it was wrong. The shifters who were older than Callaway always claimed one another. I think that’s one of the reasons that he started up the ‘tradition’ of males not allowing females to return the mating claims. It made what he did seem less…”

“Evil? Twisted?”

“Profane,” Luke supplied. “He twisted everything the moon intended. And when anyone spoke out, he punished them. Killed them more often than not, or had Van Blackside do it for him. It’s why our pack was so small, and so weak. He made us weak.”

“You could make Southern strong,” Glen said gently. “If you stay here?—”

“Like you stayed with your pack?” A soft laugh filled the room. “If she’ll have me, I’d leave everything and not look back once. I’ll do exactly what you did—become a rogue, abjure my pack, and follow her anywhere. I’d follow her into Hell, Glen. Just like you would.”

“You might have to do something harder, Luke. You might have to stay here, and take the Alpha position.”

“I don’t want it. What the hell would I stay for?” It was exactly what I’d said to Glen when I’d left here months ago.

“To fuck up their plans. Finn’s parents were trying to kill you, or get you to die. They’re planning something big. Samuel told me he suspects they’ve been setting this up for years. Setting all the pieces in place, funding the Russians who took Flor, maybe. Giving information and even weapons to Callaway and Blackside—the ones Joaquin found during the battle. Samuel said there have been far too many coincidences for it not to be a plan.”

Luke muttered the word that was on my own lips. “Fuck.”

“Exactly.”

I set down the knife, trying to remember what calm felt like. The only place I’d ever felt that was Brand’s lake. I closed my eyes and pictured it.

It was working until Glen said, “Speaking of fucking, when are you gonna give up the old V card?” I heard the sound of someone punching someone else, and when Glen wheezed, I grinned.

“This… This isn’t the time,” Luke sputtered. “There are enemies all around, and?—”

“Come on, Luke, we’re not in a sewer now. You know there’s never going to be a good time. Go do the bitey mambo with our girl, and level up. It’ll make you stronger. Her, too. I bet it helps her wolf come out.”

I stood and put the paring knives and whetstone away, considering Glen’s words as I sat back down at the table. He might be right; I wasn’t certain why my wolf hadn’t emerged, not even during the full moons since I was forced to shift for the first time, but she felt close.

I didn’t really need a reason or an excuse to bond with Luke. I’d known he was my mate—or one of them—for a while now. And I’d been in love with him since I was a girl. It was just hard to get past the knowledge that he’d lived all those years knowing I was his mate, but not stopping the abuse the pack’s Enforcers and the Alpha had heaped on me.

If anyone tried to hurt one of my mates, I would stop at nothing to make sure they couldn’t make a second attempt. He said he’d protected me, but it was hard to see when, or how exactly. Even if he’d been forbidden to shift, or to stop the beatings I took… I sighed and sat back down, wondering if I could forgive him. I knew I’d need to before we went any further.

“Has she seen you without your shirt?” Glen asked. I thought he was teasing Luke about being shy, until he added, “Has she seen the scars?”

“Of course not.” Luke whispered the answer, as my mind spun, trying to remember if I’d ever seen him with his shirt off. I’d seen his abs, for sure. I’d stabbed him in them. I’d seen him shirtless from a distance over the years, but I’d never had the chance to get an up-close look.

Come to think of it, Luke had almost always kept his shirt on. And he hadn’t been allowed to shift for so long, meaning he’d never really run around without clothes at all. More than once, I’d wondered what he looked like under his clothes, and been disappointed that I never even got a glimpse of his human form right after a shift.

I’d felt his skin the night before, in the storm drain. And there had been some places on his shoulders that had felt bumpy. I’d just assumed he had mud or something stuck to him, making his skin feel uneven. Could they have been scars?

Glen was whispering, now, too. “You should let her. I don’t think she really knows what you went through. That Callaway whipped you with silver, and why.”

“Does it matter?”

Glen’s voice was pitched loud enough for me to hear it, and I could feel in the bond that he wanted me to pay attention. He knew I was listening. “That he was going to whip her with it if you didn’t stop trying to protect her? Yeah, it fucking does. ”

Luke’s answer was so quiet, I almost couldn’t hear it. “I don’t want her to pity me. If she claims me, I want it to be because she thinks I deserve her love. Not that I do.”

“Not that any of us do, brother,” Glen said. I heard cards being put down, and a second later, Glen was standing behind me. He tilted me and the whole chair back, balancing it on the back two legs, and kissed me upside down, his stubble tickling my nose until I batted him away.

“Do it right, you goofball,” I grumbled, and he grinned, plucking me out of the chair entirely and setting me down on the table. I still only had on the t-shirt and a pair of boxers, and the laminate top was cold on my butt. “What are you doing?”

When Glen sat down on the chair where I’d just been, and wrapped his hands around my thighs like he was about to dig into his favorite meal, I had my answer. “I’m doing you. Right. Like you asked.” He set his face over the seam of the boxers and growled, sending vibrations to my core.

“Oh yuck, not on the table,” I groaned, trying to wriggle away and failing.

Glen wiggled his eyebrows and leered from between my legs. “We’re leaving tonight. Why not go out with a bang? One last perfect meal?”

I almost laughed. Glen’s bright spirit in our bond was like sunshine in the darkness. Once we left here, we’d be in the cavern with Sergeant and the others, and I sure as heck wasn’t going to be doing anything with my mother and great-uncle listening in. I half-wanted to let Glen have his kinky way with me right there. But over his shaggy blond head, I could see Luke, standing beside the sofa, his arms folded, and his eyes filled with longing.

“I think you’re right,” I said, leaning over and pressing a gentle kiss to Glen’s mouth, then his cheek. I whispered in his ear, hoping he understood, “But you’ll have to wait your turn.”

The surge of joy in the bond made it clear Glen not only understood, but that this was exactly what he wanted. A split second later, a distant echo of that happiness trickled through the bond with Brand. And then, as if a wire were sparking, then dying down, Finnick’s connection with me flared to life before it was choked off again.

Glen kissed me more deeply before he let me go. “As you wish.”