Page 20 of The Wrong Bond (Wolf Billionaire #4)

CHAPTER 20

SHAWN

S ix days later

It had been six days since that rainy morning at Arlene’s apartment, and six days since I’d confessed my love to her. And since that day, I hadn’t heard a peep from Arlene. It was almost the full moon now and I was feeling very uneasy without her beside me. I was certain that tonight, I would want Arlene more than ever.

I’d gotten to my apartment that morning and confided in Ethan, who’d told me I was doing the right thing. I’d even begun to make provisions for Arlene to meet my parents, properly this time. But I couldn’t set anything in stone without talking to her about how we were going to navigate this.

Her input was extremely important, because I didn’t want her to do something she was uncomfortable with. So I gave her space.

And by five that evening, I sent her a text, which she hadn’t even opened. She didn’t respond to the text and I called her hours later, but she didn’t pick up.

I didn’t panic until the next day, when I called her and it seemed like her phone number had been disconnected. I’d tried to reach her multiple times, but all to no avail.

My texts had been left unanswered and the calls weren’t connecting. I had even gone to her apartment, but it looked like no one lived there any longer.

I’d been looking into getting Leah’s phone number, but even she was hard to reach.Then it suddenly clicked that the only people who might know where Arlene was were my parents. They’d both met her before and had plenty of reasons to want her to disappear.

I burst into my parents’ home, running on nothing more than a broken heart and pure rage. I’d endured being away from Arlene for six days, and it was infuriating that the people who supposedly knew me best had caused me this much pain.

I spotted my parents laughing and having tea with Lora. When had they become so close?

“Mom? Dad? What have you done?” I barked as soon as I approached them.

“You didn’t even say hello, Shawn,” Mom scolded. “And you should at least acknowledge our guest.”

I turned to Lora and gave her a curt nod. “Hi.” Then I turned back to them. “What have you done?”

“What are you talking about? And why are you yelling?” Mom asked as she rose from her seat and reached out to touch me, but I took a step back.

“Where’s Arlene?” I demanded.

“Who’s Arlene?” Dad asked, but I could tell that he was bluffing. They knew everything that went on in my life because they hired people to tail me and report back to them.

“Don’t act dumb.”

“You need to watch your mouth, boy,” Dad scolded, but I ignored him.

“Where is Arlene?” I asked again.

“Shawn, dearest,” Mom began, her voice soft and placating, which only irked me more, “there’s something you need to understand.”

I cut her off, my voice rising. “No, Mom. Where is she?”

“She left.” Lora spoke up.

“Left?” I echoed, the word devoid of meaning. “Left where? Why?”

Lora took a dainty sip of her tea, and my jaw clenched tight. I waited for her to finish drinking before she spoke again.

“Perhaps it’s best to hear it from me.”

“Then speak.” I was quickly losing my patience.

Before Lora could speak, my mother cut in, her voice trembling slightly. “Shawn, we know this is difficult, but Arlene made her choice.”

“What choice?”

“She chose to accept the money I offered her to leave you,” Lora responded quickly.

I swallowed and shook my head. “That’s not true. What did you do to her?”

“Nothing,” Lora said. “I just knew the only way she could stay away from you was if she was offered money. And it worked.”

Panic clawed at my throat. “Arlene is not like that.”

“Really?” Mom raised her eyebrows. “You would believe the woman who sold her body to you over your own parents?”

“She’s not like that,” I mumbled.

“You were just a means to an end. She knew you two would never work in the real world, so she took the easy way out,” Mom chimed in.

Dad chuckled. “That’s a smart move, if you ask me.”

Lora stood up from her seat and approached me, placing her hand on my shoulder. “She was using you to get what she wanted all along. If your connection was as strong as you say it is, then she would have definitely reached out to you, at least to leave a goodbye text.”

I narrowed my eyes. I turned to Lora before saying my next thought. “You told her about the fated bond, didn’t you?”

Lora smiled as she admitted boldly, “I’m you fated mate. She deserved to know that. And don’t act like this, Shawn. You know how the bond works. You will forget her shortly. We are meant to be together.”

“What happens between me and Arlene has nothing to do with you, Lora. I don’t care about this stupid bond. And I’m not forgetting Arlene,” I growled, getting angry.

“Shawn, listen to us?—”

But I cut my parents short with a snarl. I hadn’t come here to listen, I’d come to find the woman I loved, and they were not providing the answers I needed.

It was the full moon, so I was more sensitive and hotheaded than usual. Losing Arlene was the spark that sent me over the edge as I lost control. I felt my body turning against me, and then my inner wolf took over. It was as if something else was clamping down on my consciousness.

I was about to shift, but even if I didn’t want to, I was in too much pain to control my inner wolf. My vision blurred at the edges, narrowing into tunnel vision.

My bones cracked and reformed, and then my skin was replaced with tufts of fur. I could hear Lora’s voice trying to calm me down, but it sounded like it was coming from a huge distance.

My mind was not at all clear, but I could smell Lora, so I knew my mate was near. My memories faded as the last fragments of my human self slipped away, and the only thing that gave me solace was the sound of Lora’s voice.