Wolf Broken: A Reverse Harem Wolf Shifter Romance (Wolfish Book 2)

by Eden Beck

The one thing that remains certain in my mind, the one thing that remains steady, is the overwhelming sense of dread. And when Vivian opens her mouth next, I know why.

  “Rory is racing toward Remus’ pack, hell-bent on destruction.”

  No.

  If he does that, Remus will kill him for sure. What would make Rory even think to do such a thing?

  And then the events of last night flicker back into my memory, and I understand … and am overwrought with guilt.

  I start to cry so hysterically that I can’t see the road and Vivian has to take the wheel with a loud swear.

  “It was me,” I sob as I shake my head again. “I thought I hallucinated those yellow eyes in the forest. I thought there was a whole slew of wolf eyes glowing back at me, but if I really try to picture it now, there wasn’t. It must have been the mushrooms that made me see so many, but there was only one set of eyes wasn’t there? It was only Rory.”

  “What are you talking about?” Vivian snaps. “You mean you saw him?”

  “No, not exactly,” I manage through my own tears. I’m babbling now, talking out loud as the last two months start to settle into place. “All of the howling I’ve heard, and the feeling of being watched and followed in the woods; I didn’t imagine all of that. It was Rory the whole time. He was watching me, and he saw all of the messed up shit that I was doing. All of the pained howls, that was him.”

  Despite Vivian’s urging me to go forward, I have to slow the car down to a halt.

  I sit silent and still for a moment as I try to gather myself together.

  “Well, like I said,” Vivian growls. “I knew it was you.”

  “Last night I was at a bonfire in the woods with a guy from school. I ate some mushrooms and it made my mind go all weird. I thought I saw the boys there, and I thought I saw Rory with me. I was hallucinating and I didn’t know what I was doing, all I knew was how I was feeling.”

  I finally turn to look at her. “I felt the bond, Vivian … the one that Lydia told me about; the one that the boys have with me.”

  “That’s impossible,” Vivian says, suddenly. “Humans can’t feel the bond.”

  I take one hand off the wheel and grab one of her hands, just to be sure for a moment that she’s really here. And she is. Her hands, though smaller and decidedly less hairy, are hot like the boys’. Like Rory. Like Marlowe. Like Kaleb.

  “I felt it,” I say. “I’m sure of it.”

  Vivian’s face looks shocked.

  “I felt it and it killed me. But Rory … Rory must have seen …”

  I choke up again. “He must have seen what I did. He must have thought I was lost. Well and truly lost.”

  Vivian’s face contorts. “Look,” she says, grabbing my hand and placing it back on the steering wheel. She points one finger out in front of her, towards the winding stretch of road. “You don’t have to tell me what it is you did that made him freak the fuck out, but you do have to drive. Can you do that for me?”

  I swallow hard, and nod.

  “Good. Because we don’t have much time. Remus’ pack will be more on edge than ever thanks to the eclipse. They’re not going to show him any mercy.”

  I’m still so confused. I know that Rory and the boys cared about me, but they left.

  “I don’t understand,” I say to her—one hand frozen on the gear shifter. “Why would Rory do this? He left. They all left. Why would he just throw himself away like this?”

  “You’re an idiot!” Vivian snaps at me. She pushes my hand off and changes the gear herself. The car jerks forward, the engine roaring to life. “Just drive, Sabrina! Don’t you get it? Seriously, how stupid do you have to be?”

  My face apparently indicates just how stupid I am, because Vivian can see that I still don’t understand what she’s talking about. She groans as if she’s having to explain biochemistry to a toddler and there isn’t time.

  “The boys are tied to you, Sabrina. They can’t just give you up, it’s impossible for them to. You’re a complete fool if you think that they left because they didn’t love you. They left because they thought it would keep you safe.”

  Keep me safe.

  My laugh is bitter.

  “Is that what they called it? Abandoning me?”

  I can’t believe what I’m hearing. All this time, I felt like I was sitting in an empty pit alone. I thought they had abandoned me and broken their promise to me, and that they didn’t love me enough to stay with me anymore.

  That was the only explanation.

  I don’t care if they left because they thought they were protecting me by doing it. That wasn’t their call to make.

  Whatever their reasons … they still left.

  Which is what I tell Vivian, but she just stares at me.

  “So, you’re just going to let him die then? Because as petty as you want to be, it doesn’t change the fact that Rory’s out there somewhere about to kill himself because of you.”

  I shake my head as if my denial can make the danger Rory has put himself in disappear. As if it would make it all cease to exist.

  “No,” I say. “But Rory has always been the most level-headed one. He is too responsible, too strong do something as foolish as running head-first into Remus’ pack on the night of the eclipse. You must have made a mistake.” I shake my head again. “He must be heading somewhere else.”

  “He’s not,” Vivian says.

  The anger in Vivian’s expression lessens, although the fear and urgency are still there. She looks at me with more empathy than anyone has ever looked at me before.

  Though I can tell she’s itching for us to get going, for the pavement to fly beneath our tires once more, she forces herself to lean over and press a hand to my shoulder. Her voice softens and her eyes darken as she tilts her head down to look me squarely in the eyes.

  “Sabrina, any man can be broken by love, even the most level-headed ones. In fact, I think that sometimes it’s those men, the ones that seem the strongest, the most reserved, the most in-control … they fall the hardest of all.”

  I bite my bottom lip, trying to take in what she’s saying.

  “Can’t you see what’s happening here?” she says. “Rory doesn’t want to be without you. He doesn’t want to live without you. He was willing to leave you even when it killed him to do it because he thought he was protecting you. Now, for whatever reason he thinks he’s lost you, and he can’t live with that.”

  I’m so shocked that I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do. I’ve gone from feeling months of nothingness, to feeling like I am so flooded with emotions so strong that I’m going to drown right here, right now, in the front seat of this stolen car.

  After a moment, I finally find my voice. It’s small and broken.

  “What are we going to do?” I ask her. Acid is clawing at the back of my throat and my nerves feel like they’re on fire. If anything happens to Rory, it will be my fault.

  “I’ve already called the rest of the pack, but when I left, they were all so focused on getting ready for the ceremony that I don’t know if they’ll even get my messages. Even if they do, I still don’t know if they’ll be able to get here in time.”

  I know that when she said, “in time”, she means “in time to save Rory’s life”.

  “Shit,” she says, suddenly looking down at her pockets as she pats them frantically. “I must have dropped my phone back there when you nearly ran me over. I have no way of calling or checking messages.”

  “I’m no use there,” I say, quietly. “They changed their numbers when they left. Or they blocked me. I can’t call either.”

  We both stare out of the windshield for a long, silent moment.

  “Well then,” Vivian says, swinging one leg over to knock mine off the break petal. The car squeals as I scramble to gain control for a moment. “It’s just you and me, so we better get going.”

  At long last, I jam my foot down on the gas.

  The car springs to life, building speed unti
l we’re once again racing down the tree-lined road under Vivian’s guidance.

  Beside me, Vivian grows quiet and when I glance over at her, looks like she’s deep in thought. After a few minutes she looks at me with a renewed determination.

  “Okay,” she says. “I know where Remus’ pack has set up camp in a portion of their territory. It’s some distance off. If we drive fast, we might still be able to intercept Rory before he reaches the camp and gets himself dismembered.”

  I nod. It’s the best chance we have.

  The only chance.

  I slam my foot back onto the gas pedal, and this time I manage to shove it even closer down to the floorboard as the car lurches forward again and knocks us both back against our seats. This time I’m not running away from something, I’m running toward something.

  “We still might not get there in time,” Vivian says, a weight in her voice that sends a chill up my spine and churns my stomach.

  “Why did you come to get me?” I ask. “Why didn’t you just head straight toward Rory to try to stop him yourself?”

  “Because he wouldn’t have listened to me. He will only listen to you. Besides, I know that you can’t live without him either.”

  I stare over at her across the seat.

  “How could you possibly know that?” I ask.

  “Because I’m not blind,” she says, suddenly forcing a smile despite everything else that’s going on. It’s surprisingly gentle. “You, on the other hand, seem to be. And not just about Rory either. You were so jealous of me when you first met me, I could smell the jealousy coming off you like rising steam.”

  I wonder if she means that literally or figuratively.

  “Of course, I was,” I say, and I don’t stop there. If we’re being honest with each other, then we might as well be brutally so. “I was afraid that one of them, or even all of them, would want you instead of me.”

  Vivian laughs so loud, it nearly makes me swerve off the road again.

  “What’s so funny?” I ask.

  “The thought of you thinking that I would steal one of the boys from you.”

  She covers her mouth with one hand to stifle a second laugh.

  “I don’t see why I wouldn’t,” I say. “You’re beautiful, and fierce, and—”

  “And gay,” Vivian says, interrupting me. “So very, very gay.”

  23

  Sabrina

  Vivian was never a threat at all, because Vivian is gay.

  That little bit of information might have come in handy sooner.

  All this … all of this … probably could have been avoided if someone had ever bothered to tell me.

  I know it’s private, that part of her is her own business. But then when she showed up, she made it mine. She saw how jealous I was becoming, they all did. And yet not one of them thought to tell me before now.

  Before I’m racing to save Rory from a suicide mission that’s entirely my own fault.

  So many things they should have told me. So many things that would have made this all so much easier.

  I stretch my hands out on the steering wheel. I’ve been gripping it so tightly that I’ve lost all feelings in the tips of my fingers and I try to focus on the task at hand.

  I remember the boys talking about what an excellent tracker Vivian is. All the wolf shifters have enhanced senses and can track someone from literally miles away, but they said that even amongst other shifters, Vivian is still unique.

  Marlowe had once said that she could track someone who was standing motionless and holding their breath from miles away, which sounded impossible to me. But even with her renowned tracking skills, she seems to be having a really hard time finding and catching up with Rory.

  “What’s the matter?” I ask when I see her face crinkle in concentration in the passenger seat next to me. She holds her hand up as if to quiet me for a moment while she’s focusing. She tilts her head toward the open window and breathes. Her eyes are astutely widened, and her tongue is just slightly poking out between her partially open mouth as if she is tasting the air.

  “Ugh,” she says as she pulls her head back toward me. The look on her face makes me worry even more. “He must be moving too fast. I’m having trouble tracking him.”

  “But if he’s headed to Remus’ territory, don’t we just go there?”

  If only Remus’ pack had stayed close to the river. Then we would have found them already.

  But then again, it might have already been too late.

  Maybe we’re actually lucky they moved.

  “No, we need to head Rory off before he reaches Remus or none of this will matter. Remus will kill him on site as soon as he sets a paw on his ground … and us with him if we’re there.”

  “Then what do we do?” I ask in a panic.

  “Try again,” Vivian says as she sticks her face back toward the window. I know better than to interrupt her a second time. Rory’s life depends on her being able to find him in time.

  Finally, after what seems like I’ve been driving along the same road forever, Vivian throws her hand in the air at me.

  “Stop!” she says. “He’s here.”

  I slam on the breaks and pull the car over to the side of the road. Even as it’s still coming to a screeching halt, Vivian jumps out of the car and faces the tree-line of the woods. She whips her head back to glance at me quickly and for a minute, it looks as if she’s going to shift.

  Her eyes turn gold and the muscles of her shoulders ripple. But if she had been thinking about shifting just then, she changes her mind when she looks at me.

  “You can’t keep up with me on those two legs,” she says with frustration. “We’ll run together as humans. Follow me!”

  I push off my feet and run as fast as I can to keep up alongside her. Even on two legs, Vivian is a fair bit faster than I am, and much more agile. She weaves in and out between the trees effortlessly without ever losing pace. I try to match her, but I stumble over the thick tree roots springing from the ground and my hoodie snags on the outstretched branches of crowded trees.

  “Come on!” she shouts at me.

  I’m trying my hardest but am once again reminded of my inferiority as a human.

  I would give anything to be able to sprint onto four legs right now and not feel like my lungs are about to pop like an over-inflated balloon. Just when I think I am finally doing a good job at staying with her, Vivian comes to an abrupt stop that makes me crash into the back of her.

  I fall backward onto my tailbone against the ground. I look up quickly to see why we’ve stopped and just ahead of us I can see a blur of dark fur shooting across the leaves.

  “Rory, stop!” Vivian screams.

  The blur of fur and teeth doesn’t slow even a little bit.

  “Rory, Sabrina is here with me. Stop!” she screams again. This time the dark streak skids to a halt on its paws with a grace that makes it look as though it’s a finely executed ballet move.

  The wolf turns and looks at us, at me. He’s not more than a few yards away.

  “Oh no, no, no,” Vivian says in a panic-stricken and hushed voice.

  “What is it?” I whisper to her as I get to my feet.

  “We’re too late,” she says.

  “What do you mean? We’re here and so is Rory. We’ve reached him.”

  Vivian lifts her finger to point to where the wolf is standing, and I notice a slight difference between the ground that lies beneath his front paws and his back paws. The ground in front of him is trodden down like the inside perimeter of cages at the zoo where the animals have circled around inside so many times that their repeated path creates a grove in the ground.

  Also how the perimeter line of a guarded wolf pack territory might look like.

  Rory’s back paws still rest on the rougher, wilder ground of the forest … but I doubt that matters.

  “He’s on Remus’ territory,” Vivian says, quietly. She doesn’t move or take a step forward. She looks as if she is preparing to
watch Rory be torn to shreds at any moment … and then possibly be murdered herself as she tries to save him.

  Even so, I’m not ready to give up. The whole forest could be descending upon us and that still wouldn’t stop me. Not when we’re already so close.

  I start walking toward the wolf, toward Rory. He flinches for a minute and I can see his eyes dart between me and Remus’ territory as if he’s trying to decide whether to pounce back into his run or wait for me to reach him.

  “Rory, please,” I say as tears start to swell in my eyes. “Please don’t run. Please.”

  I hear a low-pitched growl emanate from him. It doesn’t sound angry or threatening … it sounds like pain. I can feel the sound of it reverberate against my ribs the way you can feel the bass at a rock concert.

  “Please,” I whimper again as I walk all the way up to him and fall in front of him onto my knees. I reach out my hand toward him and to my surprise, he sits down on his hind legs to face me and lowers his head.

  I run my fingers through his soft fur and wrap them behind his ears. Then I put my head against his and bury my face in his muzzle. I can hear his deep exhale and feel his warm breath near my ear. I wrap both of my arms around him and hold him as though I were holding on to my own existence in danger of being swallowed-up whole.

  “I know what you think happened,” I whisper. It takes everything in me to keep my voice steady. “Vivian told me, and I know what you saw and what you think it meant. But Rory, you have to listen to me and believe me; nothing happened between me and Tom at the bonfire … nothing.”

  I have to swallow hard, forcing the memory from my mind.

  If Rory knew the truth of what happened, it wouldn’t be Remus he was here to kill.

  Tom might not have been successful in his underhanded attempt to seduce me, but I doubt that would matter to any one of these boys … least of all Rory.

  “I was so upset that you were gone, that all of you were gone, that I just didn’t know how to handle it. I couldn’t feel anything anymore except for an unbearable emptiness, so I tried to distract myself.”

  I take another breath. “I just needed to feel something, anything aside from the gut-wrenching pain of missing you. But you have to believe me Rory. I couldn’t bring myself to make love to anyone else, not even when I was drugged-up on mushrooms, because something in me knows that I can’t give myself wholly like that to anyone else.”