Page 22 of The Wrong Bond (Wolf Billionaire #4)

CHAPTER 22

SHAWN

I froze by the hospital entrance, scared to walk in and face my fate.

It had been weeks since I’d heard from Arlene, and a couple of days since the full moon. And somehow, I felt like my life had completely changed.

Mustering my courage, I made my way into the hospital. The sterile scent of antiseptic and illness hung heavily in the air. It was late evening and the hushed tones of nurses talking and the beeping of heart monitors were the only sounds breaking the stillness of the building.

I moved down the hallway to the room where Lora, my fated mate, lay.

She was kind, gentle, and with a beauty that left everyone, including myself, speechless. I felt an unnatural pull toward her, but that was all it was. A pull.

But love? Love was a different thing entirely. For me, I’d found love in someone who was not my fated mate, which was a dangerous road to go down. If it were up to me, I would stand by Arlene until the last threads of my sanity completely unraveled.

I didn’t fear madness that came with knowing your fated mate without being bound to them. What I did fear was living the rest of my life not being with the woman I loved.

The full moon had been brutal. My heart and my mind had pulled against each other viciously. On one hand, I was in physical agony because of the pull toward Lora. And on the other, it felt like my heart was bleeding because Arlene wasn’t near.

The night had been a blur of all my primal urges, a battle between the forces inside me. I’d resisted the urge to take Lora as my mate that night, and I’d paid the consequences in broken bones and pain.

When I got to Lora’s room, I paused by her door, my hand hovering over the handle. Taking a deep breath, I pushed it open and walked inside. Her right arm, which I’d bitten in a rage on the night of the full moon, was held together by bandages, and she was reading a book.

Her eyes fluttered up from her book and fell on me. “Shawn,” she whispered, smiling.

“Lora.” I sank into the chair next to her. “How are you feeling?”

She shrugged. “Not the best. I’ve been better, and I didn’t think I’d spend my first night with my mate fighting him.”

The images, quick and blurry, flashed by my memory. Lora had tried to tame me as she slowly undressed, but I couldn’t see past the fact that I didn’t want to solidify our bond. I’d snarled at her and thrown one paw in the air, which had connected with her arm.

Her scream, the sight of blood on my paw, and the unbearable pain I felt from hurting my mate, had completely knocked me out.

When I awoke, there was a doctor hovering over me, and my mom said Lora had been rushed to the hospital. It had been days since that incident, but I hadn’t been able to face her until now.

I swallowed. “I’m sorry about that.”

She shrugged. “It wasn’t your fault. Your heart wants what it wants, but your body is fighting against it.”

I sighed. “I wish I could do something about it.”

She gave me a watery smile. “Me too.”

Her hand reached out, her fingers tracing the lines on my face. Her touch was soft and comforting. “You look tired,” she said, her voice filled with concern.

“Sleep is hard to come by these days.”

“I know you’ve been thinking about Arlene, and I can’t fault you. You care about her deeply, and I wish to find a love as strong as the one you two have for each other.”

My throat tightened. I couldn’t offer Lora the love she deserved.

She dropped her hand back to her book. “I think you’ve blamed yourself enough. I want what’s best for you, Shawn.” She paused. “Even if that means stepping aside.”

“Thank you, Lora. And I promise, I won’t bind you to me. I’ll soon solve all this.”

She frowned at me slightly. “What are you going to do?”

“I can’t reveal what I’m up to just yet, but you’ll be the first to know when it works.”

“What does that mean for us?”

This time, I squeezed her hand. “You can do what you want to now. Travel the world, fall in love, write a book.”

She chuckled.

“I’ll bear the brunt of my actions.”

“It’s a deadly brunt, Shawn.”

“I’ll bear it, and I’ll make sure I get Arlene back.”

Lora nodded stiffly.

I stood up, a sense of weariness settling over me as I thought about my next course of action. “I should go.”

Lora nodded. “I wish you good luck, Shawn.”

“Thank you. I’ll need it.”

I closed the door gently as I left Lora’s room, my mind fixed on one thing. Taking the staircase, I made my way to Leonard’s office. He had been three classes above me in school and was now a doctor at this hospital.

I’d never had any reason to visit him because before now, I’d always been in great shape, so I knew it would be a surprise for him to see me.

When I got to his office door, I knocked a couple times.

“Yes, come in,” a voice called from inside the office, and I pushed open the door and stepped in. “Shawn Elton!” Leonard said with a chuckle. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

I smiled as we shook hands. “Can’t I just check in on you?”

Leonard gave me a knowing smile. “I don’t know if that’s something you would do.”

“Well, I’m doing it.”

Leonard leaned closer to me. “Okay, be honest, why are you here?”

I sighed, not knowing how to begin. “First off, my fated mate was admitted to your hospital.”

“Lora McGregor? I’ve heard the rumors floating around. Congratulations, man!”

I gave him a small smile that didn’t reach my eyes, and he noticed it. “Thank you.”

“Something is wrong. What is it?”

I sighed. “Well, the injury on her arm isn’t from a rogue wolf like my parents claimed.”

Leonard nodded. “I suspected that, especially when you didn’t come visit. It didn’t look like a rogue attack.”

“I did it.”

If Leonard was shocked about that, he didn’t show it, because his face remained very expressionless. Maybe he just had a good poker face.

“Why?”

And then I spent the next twenty minutes telling him everything, starting from the beginning. I knew Leonard was the only one who could help me. He was quite a douche back in school, but his personal development from an airhead quarterback to one of the most renowned doctors in the state should be studied.

“Wow,” was all he could say when I was done.

“Wow ‘good’ or wow ‘bad?’” I asked.

“Wow ‘I don’t know what to say,’” he responded.

I nodded. “Fair enough. It’s a crazy idea.”

“It’s insane. I’ve never heard of anyone who immediately renounced their fated bond, because first of all, fated bonds are extremely rare.”

I nodded.

Leonard peered at me. “There’s no known cure that can break the fated bond, but there are experimental electronic treatments that have been going around.”

“Keep going,” I urged.

“It’s dangerous and not something I’d advise you to go for. It’s still very new, Shawn, and it would cause you more pain than you felt during the full moon.”

I swallowed. The pain I’d felt during the full moon had been the worst thing I’d ever felt, so experiencing something worse than that was unthinkable.

“I want to be with Arlene, and this is the only way.”

Leonard’s eyes got serious again. “It’s not the best idea, Shawn. It’s practically a death sentence. It’s an electronic treatment that is being designed to disrupt the neural pathways associated with the bond.”

“What are the chances of success?”

Leonard sighed. “It’s very, very low. We’ve only had a handful of cases, because as you know, we rarely see fated bonds, and it is extremely rare to want to break a bond. One in ten patients have experienced the results they hoped for…” He trailed off.

“And the others?” I pressed.

Leonard hesitated and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “The others have experienced complications that led to…severe mental damage and death.”

A cold dread settled in my stomach. The thought of living the rest of my life bound to Lora, a woman I didn’t love, while Arlene was somewhere without me was a fate worse than death to me. “Okay.”

“Okay what?” Leonard asked, looking at me like I’d just said the stupidest thing ever.

“I’ll do it,” I finished.

Leonard scoffed. “Did you hear what I just said, Shawn? You could die or never be the same again. My advice as your friend and doctor is to not go through with.”

I met his gaze. “And my command as your patient and alpha is that you’ll do what I say.”

Leonard swallowed. “It’s quite a grueling process.”

I nodded. “I’m ready to make that sacrifice.”

The days that followed passed by in a blur of multiple tests, medications, my skin being poked with sharp tools, blood being drawn, and so much more. Fear loomed over me constantly, but I kept thinking of what would happen if this was successful.

I could feel my mental and physical wellbeing deteriorating as the days went by. Every week, I stepped on the scale in the bathroom, and every week, I weighed less and less. My clothes barely fit me anymore, I couldn’t concentrate at work, and each full moon, I felt like I was dying, but I persevered.

I kept thinking of Arlene. Every single painful test I underwent was worth it because of her.