Fragmented bond

I passed through the rippling black barrier into the Summoner lands. Our realm had a basic setup: the Summoner, Magic-user, Blood mage, and Elemental lands were in four quadrants. The Death mage lands were in the center and separated the four other lands. A river surrounded all the quadrants. On the other side of the river were the Outlier lands where wild and dangerous animals roamed free.

Rather than head to our pack's lands, I aimed for the southern pack near the Death mage lands.

I was pretty sure the only reason I had yet to fall apart was because there was a dumbass part of me that still held onto hope that Iris was wrong. That he wasn’t cheating on me. A fissure of heartache opened in my chest whenever I thought about this for too long, and I had to shut it down.

Before long, I was shifting back into human form, and tapping the black-colored metallic bracelet.

Shaking off the uncomfortable aftereffects of the magic from my bracelet, I trekked through the sparse forest, full of tall and skinny trees, with dark orange bark and bright red leaves. My favorite places in our realm were the areas where the different types of trees intersected, and I was surrounded by multi-hued trees of various species and heights. Unfortunately, I couldn’t visit one of those areas today, I had to spy on my mate to find out if he was cheating on me.

I knew the general area of where he might be in the vast pack lands and so that was where I headed. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to ask where he was. Chances were that whoever I talked to would immediately warn him I was here, and I didn’t want that. I wanted to catch him by surprise. He would probably never own up to it unless he was caught in the act.

If it was actually true.

As I neared the southernmost village, I stuck to the tree line, like an absolute stalker. I’d been doing this for a while, sweating my ass off and feeling like a dumbass when I finally found Lukas. His dark red hair was like a beacon as he disappeared around a building.

I followed him, staying far enough back that he wouldn’t notice me. Had our bond developed, I would’ve never been able to do this without him noticing. Then again, I wouldn’t have had to do this if our bond weren’t in shambles. I couldn’t believe I was resorting to stalking my mate. How did we even get to this point?

It spoke of how comfortable he was in his home with how little he paid attention to his surroundings. Even when I was home, I was always somewhat careful, what with being an heir to the pack. Enemies would love nothing more than to weaken our pack by taking out one of its heirs.

I followed him for a while and just when I thought this was fruitless—that I had allowed myself to become paranoid and stalked my mate for no reason—he abruptly came to a halt. It felt like a hot knife stabbed me in my chest. The ground felt unstable beneath my feet; I was surprised I was still standing. I leaned heavily against a nearby building to ensure my legs wouldn’t give out. It hurt to breathe with how hard my chest was clenching.

A woman, that was only a few inches shorter than Lukas, had her arms around his neck as they kissed.

What made all of this worse was how he wasn’t even trying to hide this. If I wasn’t so distraught, I would’ve been embarrassed. How many others knew about this and hadn’t said anything? I doubted his friends didn’t know about the affair. He seemed like the type to brag about this to his closest friends. All of which I met, and they had chatted with me, acting like nothing was wrong.

My dragon raged in my chest and I had to actively work to suppress the heat-tinged magic trying to wash over my body. Before I knew what I was doing, my legs were moving and I was storming toward them. I tapped his shoulder, and when he turned around ready to cuss me out, I punched him in the face, and I didn’t hold back.

The satisfaction at hearing his nose break and the shock on his face when he saw me was muted by the raging storm of agony. It was like my soul was slowly shattering, and I was doing all I could to try and hold myself together.

I barely registered the woman shrieking at me, calling me every name in the book. After readjusting his nose, Lukas used the hem of his shirt to stem the flow of blood coming from his broken nose.

It was a shame it would soon be healed. The urge to hurt him was so strong. To make him feel the pain I felt when I saw them together, but I knew I couldn’t go through with it. Even now, a small pathetic part of me felt bad about hurting him; the part of the bond that still held on for dear life.

Blood was pounding in my ears as I distantly heard Lukas tell the woman to give us a moment. He grabbed my arm and started dragging me along behind him. The small part of me that was still in denial leaped at being touched by him, but I shoved that pathetic part of me aside.

I shook his hand from my arm, crossing them as I moved a couple of feet away. Even so, I still silently followed him as we made our way out of the village and into the forest, the pastel blue sky fading from view.

So, he was okay with cheating on me in public, but he wanted to deal with the aftermath in private? Interesting.

It didn’t take long for me to become too impatient to continue. “How could you?”

He came to a halt but didn’t turn around. Tension held his shoulders, and his hands were clenched into fists.

“How could you do this to me? How could you allow me to put myself through all of this when you were the problem the entire time? You let me make a fool of myself, going to all those magic users and trading favors for nothing.”

My voice, unfortunately, shook with the tears threatening to make an appearance, and yet he still didn’t turn around or say anything. “Did you ever care for me, or was it all a lie? Why have you put me through all this suffering if you don’t want to be with me?”

Still nothing.

“I deserve to know the truth. Tell me why you’ve done this to me.”

When he had still yet to say anything, I stormed toward him and grabbed his shoulder, ready to turn him around to finally see his expression. No way was I going to let him get away with not saying anything. “I don’t want you, I never wanted you. The only reason I went along with this for as long as I have is because of your future position.” His voice was an icy whisper, lashing at my already aching chest and inflicting even more pain.

I flinched at his tone and words, my hand retreating as if he just burned me.

“What?” I asked in a choked whisper as it felt like a chasm opened in my chest.

“But no power is worth having to deal with you for a second longer.” He finally faced me, but when I saw his icy expression, I wished he hadn’t. “I’m glad you found me today; I really am. I’m glad I don’t have to pretend I don’t find you pathetic and insufferable. The fates made a mistake when they paired me with you. I deserve better.”

I pressed my hand to my chest as if it could stop my heart and soul from shattering as the crack in the bond grew. I didn’t know what expression I was wearing since my face felt numb. When I used my other hand to touch my cheek, I was horrified to discover I was crying.

The unfettered disgust on his face, as he watched me struggle to hold myself together, broke me even more. “I’m done pretending. Don’t contact me ever again, I’m washing my hands clean of you once and for all.”

He didn’t spare me another glance, he just strode past me toward the village as if that was a suitable end to our relationship.

“I'm pregnant,” I whispered, watching as his retreating figure halted. I didn’t say it so he’d come back to me and change his mind…at least I hoped I didn’t. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure why I told him about the pregnancy, maybe it was to make him regret his actions and cutting words.

He stood still, and his shoulders bunched with tension. After several long moments of silence, he said, “That’s not my fucking problem.” He resumed walking away from me and soon he was gone, leaving me alone as the torrential storm of emotions drowned me, and I finally broke.