Eleri Stone - Witch Bound

Carly was the pack concubine, that’s what Christian had been about to say. It happened. Some women valued control more than affection and whoever bonded a hound controlled them, at least sexually. Sometimes several men from one pack would bond to the same woman. It made it easier for the bonded hounds to compartmentalize their lives. No wife. No girlfriend. Just a sexual partner. And so long as she didn’t stray outside the pack, she became almost an honorary member and it didn’t usually cause problems of jealousy. The women and hounds who entered into that kind of arrangement did it purposefully. If Fen was dancing with the pack concubine, he knew exactly what he was doing.

Raquel couldn’t breathe.

The woman was nearly the same height as Fen, and his arm wrapped around her body just below her breasts. His knee slid between Carly’s thighs and his free hand gripped her hip to hold her against him.

Christian blocked Raquel’s view as he and Fen exchanged words—quite a few of them. The song ended, but Carly didn’t leave Fen’s side. She looked upon the confrontation with a remote and faintly amused expression. When Christian pointed toward Raquel, Carly turned her head to follow the gesture. Her lovely eyes narrowed.

Raquel’s hands curled into fists and she climbed stiffly to her feet. It wasn’t her place to intervene. Fen didn’t want her. She wouldn’t hurt Carly, surely an innocent bystander in this mess.

Raquel couldn’t hear what was being said over the noise in the bar. The game on the big TV on the wall. The people playing pool in the next room. The waitress brought the drinks and set them on the table. Raquel murmured her thanks without turning, all of her attention on the man across the room. Every ounce of willpower consumed by her fight to stay where she was and give Christian a chance to talk some sense into his friend.

A moment later, Christian walked back to the table, his expression grim. “Let’s go.”

Fen and Carly weren’t dancing, they were talking, but Raquel didn’t feel particularly reassured. “What happened?”

“I’m not going to sit here and watch him do this.”

“You’re his friend,” she said. “Maybe his best friend. You need to talk him out of this.”

Christian’s jaw clenched. “He’s made up his mind.”

Unwillingly, her gaze was pulled back to the corner. Fen stared at her with a lost expression on his face. When she took a step in his direction, he turned away.

“I’ll try.” She didn’t care if he didn’t want to talk to her.

“Raquel—”

Shaking off Christian’s hand on her arm, she stalked across the bar. She knew exactly when Fen realized she was coming after him by the way his body tightened. Supersenses and all. His back stiffened and his shoulders set, but he didn’t lift his head or turn around.

“Go away, Rocky,” he growled.

Ignoring that, she addressed Carly. “Would you give us a moment please?”

Carly nodded and even though Fen raised his hand to stop her from leaving, she slipped past and he let her go.

Head bowed, Fen released a heavy sigh and then faced Raquel. He wore dark jeans and worn boots, a T-shirt that wrapped the muscles in his arm perfectly. Rubbing a hand over his face, he gave her a look that was more weary than annoyed. “What do you want?”

“You can ask that?” He knew exactly what she wanted and this was his way of putting it out of reach for both of them. Forever. “Don’t do this.”

Her voice trembled and he hesitated, but only for a moment. “I’m not betraying my friend, my pack or my clan.”

“We haven’t done anything.”

His mouth twisted. “You think the way I look at you isn’t already a betrayal? Give Christian a chance. The two of you could be happy. If you don’t think you can make it work, I’m pretty sure they’ll release you from the contract. I won’t be the reason for it.”

“That’s it?”

“I’m not right for you. For anyone. It’s past time I accept that. And you...” He flinched. “It’s better for you too. This way you’re free to look somewhere else.”

Her blood went cold and then flashed hot. “Do not pretend you’re doing this for me.”

Except he wasn’t pretending. She could see that. The idiot man thought he was doing the right thing, saving her from herself.

Fen was silent for several breaths and the look in his eyes broke her heart. When he spoke, his voice was low and strained. “You deserve more. I already have a family and I won’t have children.”

“We could adopt.”

He gave her a disgusted look. “And we live happily ever after? It doesn’t work like that.”

She could see what he wasn’t saying. It doesn’t work like that for me , not for a hound.

And maybe it didn’t usually work out for hounds, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t work for them. She’d been raised in a clan and was well aware of all the pitfalls that came with bonding a hound. She understood that he would be tied to his pack as tightly as to a mate—maybe more so for him because he led the hounds and because of the man he was. Fen took that responsibility seriously.

Her eyes were open. Despite all the difficulties in their path now or the ones that might lay ahead, they belonged together. From their first conversation, she felt as if she knew him, had known him forever. Every moment they spent together felt right except this one. Couldn’t he see that?

“Please,” she said, because if he didn’t understand how wrong this was, she didn’t know how to change his mind.

He picked up his coat and glanced at someone behind her. Carly, she imagined. For one moment, Fen looked directly at her and Raquel thought he might change his mind. His face was stark. The neon light that had been so kind to Carly only highlighted the hollows of his cheeks and eyes. He looked so painfully unhappy that she couldn’t help but take a step closer. He started for the door, his arm bumping her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

She thought about tripping him, knocking him over the head, spelling the door. But she couldn’t do any of those things. She’d made her choice. She had to let him make his. There was nothing else she could do to change his mind. She was right about them. What was between them was good. Truer than pacts or curses or prophecies. They belonged together. She felt that all the way down to her bones. She hoped Fen would realize it too, before he did something phenomenally stupid.

They left without eating and Christian didn’t speak until they pulled into her driveway. The porch light was on and she saw the curtain move before Christian cut the headlights. Of course, her mother would be waiting up for her tonight of all nights.

Christian reached over and lifted her hand. “I knew there was an interest. I didn’t realize how strong it was on both sides. I’ll talk with him, but I don’t know if I can get him to see sense. He can be so damned hardheaded it drives me crazy.”

“I didn’t see it happen. If I’d known it was going to...” She couldn’t make herself say she would have prevented it. She wished things were different, but not that way.

She couldn’t quite read the expression on Christian’s face, but he didn’t seem angry. “Let me go stop him. We’ll figure everything else out later.”

“Do you think you can?”

Christian squeezed her hand. “Even if Fen changes his mind about Carly, I doubt he’ll change it about taking a wife. His parents were reasonably happy, but that’s rare for hound matings. And Fen’s father was never pack leader. The clan’s expectations are hard enough to deal with. Add pack ties to that and you can see why he wouldn’t want another collar wrapped around his neck.”