Bonded For Blood, Not Love

My foster sister, Gloria Binder, and I married a pair of werewolf brothers.

I married the older brother, the steady one who ran the Dixon household. She married the man who held power over the entire pack.

We got pregnant in the same year. In a couple of months, they would be able to take a sample of our babies' cardiogen and use it as medicine to treat their fathers' illness.

Two months before my due date, the gates of the outer villa were kicked open.

The intruders beat me, fists and boots coming down hard, then forced a bowl of labor-inducing medicine down my throat.

I screamed at the maid beside me to run and get my mate.

But all I got back was his message.

He was furious.

"You said you wanted peace and quiet and insisted on staying at the secluded villa to rest. Now you're pulling something this low just to drag me over there? I don't have time to waste on you. Judy needs a few plants moved into her yard. She's delicate and can't do heavy work. I'm helping her."

The medicine had already taken effect. I could feel the baby thrashing, as if it were about to tear its way out of me. I would have died from the pain if Gloria hadn't come back from gathering herbs and saved my life.

She sent people to find my mate and demand justice for me.

Yet, all she got was another message.

"You're living just fine in the villa. Who would dare hurt you? I need to help my brother plant a few more shrubs for Judy. I don't have time for your petty drama!"

Gloria was pregnant, too. After being beaten and kicked, she lost her baby.

We lay in a pool of blood, holding each other.

"Gloria," I whispered through tears, "I don't want to repay any debts anymore. I want to sever my bond with Lesley."

When I woke up, I ignored the stabbing pain in my body and immediately asked for a pen and paper. I wrote a bond severance letter and had it delivered to Lesley Dixon.

More than two weeks later, the man who had been so busy transplanting plants for Judy Savage finally showed up at the secluded villa.

He didn't even see me, and immediately exploded in the courtyard.

"The Dixons are a reputable family! You can't just throw tantrums when you feel like it! You said you lost the baby? That's obviously a lie you made up just to compete with Judy for attention.

"I'm the head of the family. How could I ever accept a bond severance from my own mate? I tolerated you again and again because the child in your womb could save my father's life. But you've gone too far with this madness!

"Judy had chest tightness today. The doctor said planting greenery would help her recover. She finally stopped taking medication. Are you trying to make her sick again? If you want out, fine. After the baby is born, I'll give you the severance papers myself. Until then, behave and don't embarrass my family!"

So that was it. He only came because he was afraid word of the bond severance would get out and damage his reputation as head of the family.

I already knew his feelings for me were gone. I struggled to get out of bed, wanting him to see my flat stomach with his own eyes.

I wanted him to know that I had really lost our child.

But I had just miscarried. Grief and pain hit me at once. My legs gave out, and I fell hard onto the floor.

The door burst open. My maid, Regina Carlson, rushed in.

With red eyes, she helped me back onto the bed and said through a tight throat, "Ms. Binder, don't go after him. He already left."

I lay there, helpless, tears sliding down my face.

Only now did I finally see it clearly. What he cared about was whether the child in my womb could save his father, Arthur Dixon.

As for whether the baby and I lived or died, it never mattered to him at all.

Regina pulled a bracelet from her sleeve. "I found this in the courtyard after those people left."

There was a sun symbol in the center and a small engraved "Savage" at the corner. This was from the Savages of the Mistbound Pack.

The only person from the Mistbound Pack hanging around the Dixons that my sister, Gloria Binder, and I knew was Judy Savage.