Chapter 4 A Bond That Should Never Have Been

• “Fuck! Our mate… brother, we’re fucking mated to the same woman!” Geri shouted, his voice loud in the stillness of the night as they tore through the woods, chasing a scent they could no longer trace.
• Amarok was on edge, his wolf clawing at his insides, growling loud in his head. The woman. Their mate. She’d been right there, and now she was gone.
• “She saw us… fucking another woman—and now she’s gone!” he snapped, kicking a rock as his rage boiled over.
• The island had begun to fall quiet, the music and dancing replaced by silence. Most pack members were already heading back to their tents, the festival dying down.
• “We didn’t even get to see her face properly,” Amarok snarled as they stormed toward the Frost pack’s designated area.
• “She ran, brother. But why? She had to feel the bond, too.”
• Amarok growled and grabbed Geri’s shirt. “What would you do if you saw her fucking another man?”
• “I’d rip the bastard’s head off!” Geri growled without thinking.
• “Exactly.”
• They rounded the corner of their camp just as a loud cry caught their ears. The brothers shared a look and rushed toward the noise.
• “What the fuck is going on now?” Amarok barked as they entered a tent full of tense wolves.
• Everyone bowed quickly.
• “Alpha…”
• “Your warrior caused trouble,” Gary explained. “We’re disciplining him.”
• Their eyes shifted to the figure at the center of it all, one of their own, chained, bloody, head bowed low in shame.
• “What did he do?” Geri’s voice was cold.
• Gary cleared his throat. He explained everything that happened, Gary is the beta of the Frost pack and the person who witnessed it all.
• “You want the other packs to see us as savages who rape women?” Amarok roared. The tent fell deathly quiet.
• “Alpha, please…” the chained man sobbed. “I didn’t mean…”
• But Amarok had already moved closer. Then it hit him.
• That scent.
• His nostrils flared and his eyes snapped wide.
• Her.
• He gripped the man’s jaw, sniffed him hard—and Geri was already closing in beside him.
• “There it is again…” Geri muttered, voice thick. “Her scent. But it’s different now. Mixed with… something sweet. Like fucking heaven.”
• The others watched, confused.
• Gary stepped forward carefully. “Alpha? Is something wrong?”
• Amarok didn’t look away. “The girls. Where are they?”
• “I don’t know which pack they’re from,” Gary said slowly. “But why?”
• “Because,” Geri snapped, “one of them is our mate!”
• Gasps echoed.
• “You both found your mate?” Gary blinked, stunned.
• “Yes. And it’s the same fucking girl,” Amarok said through clenched teeth.
• Gary’s face turned pale. “How is that even possible?”
• “We don’t fucking know. But this fool reeks of her. Go find Macon. Now.”
• “Yes, Alpha.”
• Macon arrived minutes later, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
• “My Alpha… perhaps we wait until morning?” he said carefully. “Most of the island is asleep. We’ll search quietly and—”
• “We can’t fucking sleep, Macon!” Geri growled, pacing like a wild animal.
• “She was so close,” Amarok muttered. “And now she’s gone.”
• “That girl is ours,” Geri said. “And we lost her before we even touched her.”
• They waited. But the night was long.
• Neither brother slept.
• Their wolves were restless. Their minds wild. It was the longest night they’d ever known.
• Morning came slowly.
• Inside the quiet tent, Tara stirred first. Her eyes blinked open, her heart pounding in her chest. Sleep had barely touched her. Her head ached. Her body felt tight and cold.
• The events of last night came crashing back.
• The fight. The screams. Her sisters’ drunk laughter. That man grabbing Taylor and pushing Vera.
• But none of that haunted her more than what she saw in the woods.
• The two men, naked and fucking another woman.
• And the way her whole soul had screamed mate.
• It was sick. Twisted.
• She didn’t even have her wolf yet, how was it even possible?
• “Tara, are you alright?” Stone’s voice pulled her from her thoughts.
• She nodded quickly, but he didn’t buy it.
• “Is it because of the fight? Don’t worry. Father and I will speak to the Frost Alpha today.”
• The name alone made her chest ache. Frost. Her whole body tightened.
• “No, I’m okay,” she said quickly. “Just… need some water.”
• Vera and Taylor stepped in, faces still sleepy.
• “We’re so sorry,” Vera began. “If we hadn’t gotten so drunk—if you weren’t there—”
• Tara held out her arms, and all three girls hugged tight.
• “It’s over. We’re fine now,” Tara whispered.
• But Taylor noticed the look in her eyes. The distance.
• “You sure you didn’t get hurt?” Taylor asked.
• “No.”
• “You feel different,” Vera said quietly.
• Tara shook her head. “I’m fine.”
• Then, commotion outside. Loud voices, Men shouting. They heard Stone’s voice and Father’s.
• The three girls rushed outside. And stopped cold.
• Stone and Geri stood chest to chest, fists clenched, grabbing each other’s collars. Behind them stood a group of Frost wolves, eyes hard.
• “Mates!” Taylor’s voice rang out, sharp and breathless.
• Everyone froze.
• Her eyes locked on Amarok and Geri. Both men turned to her instantly. Their wolves surged forward at once.
• “Mates!”
• The word echoed from their mouths in one voice, raw and guttural.
• Tara stood frozen. Her heart slammed so hard she thought it would burst.
• Again, the voice whispered in her head. Mates.
• Amarok’s chest heaved. His eyes never left both women.
• Geri stepped forward, stunned, locked in a daze.
• They were all trapped in it. That bond. That pull. That madness.
• Curtis stepped in quickly. “Girls?” he looked between them and the men.
• Macon finally arrived, his eyes wide with awe. “Bless the goddess… the Alpha has found his mate, or mates.”
• Everyone looked between them in shock.
• Amarok turned, his eyes wild. “How the fuck is this possible? Two mates… for two brothers?”
• Stone stepped forward, furious. “Mates?! They don’t even have their wolves yet!”
• Curtis didn’t speak. He was just as stunned as everyone else.
• Four souls. One bond. Nothing like this had ever happened before.
• “No. No, no, no!” Tara shouted suddenly. Her hands shook.
• She stared at them—those men. The men she saw last night.
• “I saw you,” she said. “In the woods.”
• The memory hit her hard again, the woman’s body bent. Their rough thrusts. Her own feet frozen.
• “You were inside another woman!” she screamed, her voice raw with pain.
• “I saw you both—and you expect me to accept this?” Her eyes burned.
• “We deserve better, Taylor and I!”
• She reached for her sister’s hand and pulled her.
• And they ran. They didn’t stop.
• Not when their father called after them.
• Not when Stone yelled.
• Not when Amarok growled and Geri’s voice broke with regret.
• They ran from it all. From the truth, from the pain.
• From the madness of a bond that should never have been.