Page 54 of Shifted Fate (Broken Luna #1)

“Soooo. It means that it was your scent that I liked, that my wolf was attracted to.” Brandon stepped toward me and went to grab my hand, but I pulled away.

“Or…it was our combined scent that you liked.” I lied through my teeth. I felt a pang in my chest and I felt the pain radiating from my wolf. I sent a pulse of love to Megan. This was her mate, after all.

It’s okay. Megan’s words were strong, but tinged with sadness. He doesn’t deserve us .

Nix’s voice floated out to us. During our first life, I felt your bond with this idiot and I was content. You will feel a proper bond if we ever find my mate. Do not despair. This is not your only shot at a bond.

I felt Megan perk up with that thought. So I refocused on the conversation at hand. “Look, Brandon. I can appreciate trying to find your mate, but it’s not me.” I smiled, and I turned to leave.

I couldn’t let him touch me. If he touched me, he would feel the mate bond, and that wasn’t something I wanted to deal with.

Megan pushed forward a little. When we have time, I will reject him so the mate bond severs on my side.

I wanted to do it now, but Nix spoke up. You need to speak the words, and if you do that now, everything would be for nothing. Dodge the touching for now and maybe we can use our power to dull the shocks.

I walked away from everyone gathered in the living room, but Lynn’s eyes widened subtly, and I knew to turn. Brandon, again, had grabbed for me and I barely dodged him. “Wait.” He tried again but I backed up a step.

“I said I could appreciate the search, but don’t press your luck. You have no reason to touch me. And I would ask you not to.”

“Watch yourself.” Vince’s words were sharp, but I just cut my eyes to his.

“I will, once you teach your son not to touch unwilling females.” I lifted my lips and made a big deal of scenting the room. “I have no mate in this room, and I would appreciate it if you respected my space.” I glared at Brandon.

Megan was doing her best to hold herself back, as she was affected by his scent. But Nix moved closer to the forefront and lent me her strength not to react to his scent. The idiot in question froze and finally scented the room. Alpha Vince walked closer to him and grabbed his shoulder.

“Son?” He continued to scent the air, but it was Shannon that caught my eye. Her eyes were mere slits, and she was glaring straight at me, as if she knew exactly what he was going to say.

But Brandon remained silent. He walked closer, and I backed away, keeping the distance.

“Amy. I promise I won’t touch you. I just want to smell you.

” I scoffed. The look in his eyes told me he was lying.

The man never could lie. I ripped my shirt off, leaving me in my sports bra, and tossed it to him.

I wasn’t going to let him anywhere near me.

His eyes narrowed as I tilted my head at him.

“Nothing against the future Alpha. I just only want to be touched by my family and my mate. You understand, don’t you?

” My eyes darted to Shannon. “The bond between wolves is sacred and any relationship or intimate touching before the mate bond diminishes it. My mother taught me to hold true to my mate and just my mate. I hope you can understand.” I gave another polite smile and pointed to the shirt.

“That should work for scenting me, right?”

Brandon glared at me for another moment before lifting my shift to his nose. Everyone in the room heard him inhale, and we all froze. Well, I froze. I trusted my power, but my Goddess, I was worried. He inhaled again and then slowly lowered my shirt.

“So?” Vince’s smirk was infuriating.

“No.” Brandon’s voice was low. “But that is impossible. I swore it was her scent.” He glared at me.

I held up my hands in mock surrender. “I told you it might have been a mixture of Shannon’s scent and my own mixing.

” I shrugged my shoulders and turned back to the stairs.

I gave a small wave. “I’m going to head up to my room now, unless there is anything else?

” I looked over my shoulder and waited. But my mother waved me off.

I made my escape with my suitcases, with Lynn trailing behind me. I stopped in the spare bedroom and opened the door. Lynn looked at me. “Me?”

“Yeah. This is you.” I pointed to the far side of the room. “That’s the bathroom. But yeah, this is your room while you’re here.”

“Thank you.” Lynn dropped her suitcase and stared at me expectantly.

“What?” I stared at her with a confused look, but she still stared at me.

“Take me to your room.” Lynn lifted her arm, gesturing me to continue, but I was still confused.

“Why?” Now we were both frozen, staring at each other.

“Because when I’m here, my job is to protect you.” Lynn slowly answered as she stared at me. “Remember…”

“Yeah…” That clicked nothing for me. I was still staring at her when she closed her eyes.

“You don’t have to stand here and insult me, Amy.” Lynn’s eyes grew angry. But I raised my hands in mock surrender.

“Wait a second, I’m not insulting you. I'm genuinely confused.” Lynn’s eyes flashed back to confused.

“I need to know where your room is so that I can watch it. Keep track of you when you are in it. Watch the area when you are out.” Lynn leaned against her door frame. “I’d honestly like a full tour where I see inside every room so I can make a mental map of the entire house.”

“Oh my Goddess. Of course. Come on.” I felt stupid, and I deserved to.

Of course, she would need to get the full tour.

“Come on.” I brought her around the house, showing her all the rooms. Once we were done upstairs and my bags were securely back in my room, we headed back down the stairs.

Thankfully, everyone was gone except my mother. “Everyone left?”

My mother snorted. “After you two went upstairs, Alpha Vince started to ‘talk’ to Brandon. They headed out the door, and Morgan and Shannon went with them, following the two like lost puppies.” My mother washed another dish as she shook her head.

“Mom, let’s leave.” I walked into the kitchen followed by Lynn. “We can just transfer to a new pack. You didn’t need permission to leave dad’s pack and we don’t need Vince’s. We can handle the divorce later.” I had tried this a million times, but I hoped this time would be different.

My mother froze, and I watched her close her eyes slowly, almost painfully. “We can’t.”

“We can!”

She turned to face me and I could see the pain she carried etched into her face. “We can’t. You haven’t shifted yet. And even if you did, you would have to do it in front of the pack to prove you have. Until that happens, we are stuck.”

“But-” I opened my mouth to explain but I stopped when I heard a scuff from the front of the house.

“We’re back.” Morgan called from the front as he opened the door. I watched as my mother shivered, and I backed down.

It wasn’t time to tell her I can shift. I would have to do it in front of the pack first before she would even consider it.

I looked back to Lynn, and she had a look in her eyes that made me want to question what she was thinking.

She was staring at my mom with this look on her face; she’d thought of something, but Morgan walked in and her look vanished.

My mother straightened her shoulders and smiled. “Hey honey.”

I wanted to puke. This was a mess and now that I knew the truth all around, I wanted to save my parents from their own idiocy.

“Hey babe.” Morgan cut his eyes to me and his eyes turned icy. “What were you all talking about in here?” His tone was carefree and open, but his eyes told another story.

“We were talking about my summer with dad.” I smiled. “So much happened. It was an exciting and productive summer.”

“Productive?” His tone shifted.

“Yeah. I was telling mom I restarted her female training course. And Cass mated the second Gamma, Greyson.”

“Is that why you brought…I’m sorry dear, I never caught your name.” Morgan walked over and held out his hand to Lynn. I gritted my teeth because he was full of shit. My mom cut her eyes to me and subtly shook her head.

“I’m Gamma Lynn. And yes, that is why I came here. I heard your new Gamma is still mateless. Now that the second Gamma is mated, I am free to search for my mate.” Lynn smiled.