Page 42 of The Packaged Deal

I crouch down in front of him and stare.

He scowls at me and shoves at my shoulder from where he’s laying on the couch. Adrian is gone. I’m relieved. I don’t want him to witness this conversation.

“What do you want, Candice?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Montford pack call you that.”

“Sunny is my brother. They're allowed to.” We’ve had this conversation a thousand times. It feels different now, knowing what’s coming. My heart aches.

“Fine. Kandi, babe, what’s going on?”

I let my eyes wander the room because I’m nervous as hell to ask this. “Were you ever going to give me a bond?”

Sven sits up so quickly it makes me sit back on my heels.

“Where the fuck did that question come from?” he barks a little too loudly.

“I just want to know. Was it in the cards or not?”

“Why not ask if I was going to marry you?”

“Marriages can be dissolved or we can get divorced, but bonds are forever,” I explain while I watch his face intently for clues.

Sven scowls and sits back, clearly trying to get as much space as he can. My stomach sinks. I was right. He’s never going to be able to commit. Not to me. Not to Adrian, and not to Jade.

“Fuck,” I whisper and stand up. I pace away from him, needing distance.

“What’s the matter? Why are you asking now?” Sven comes up behind me, sliding his arms around me and leaning his chin on my shoulder. “We don’t need bonds to be happy. Do we? And we are happy. Aren’t we?”

“Yes. We were really happy,” I say, my heart breaking a little inside.

“It’s easy between us. We’re the same. You and I understand each other. You never wanted anything more.”

No. I hadn’t. I really, truly hadn’t ever wanted more than him, not until her. Is it because I knew he couldn’t give me more? Did I just accept and make myself happy with the scraps he could give me?

“Sven.”

“No! Dont fucking do this. Just don’t. It’s not fair. It’s not right. We were good together.”

“She needs me,” I say softly. “And I want more now.”

“So you’d choose her over me?” I can see in his eyes that he doesn’t mean that.

I reach out and cup his cheek, trying to show how much I love him.

“Sven, you don’t need me. You have Adrian and her and me. If you would only open your eyes and realise it. I’m not choosing her. She’s alone. She’s got no one. Right now, until we find somewhere permanent for her, I’m saying I’m not going to hurt her. Or Adrian. Which means I can’t be in this thing with you while you keep rejecting them.”

Sven goes silent, but he’s dropped his arms from me, and I feel the withdrawal like a blow.

“I love you,” I whisper. “I always will. But I can’t be with you if you can’t love us both. If you can’t love us the way we, Addy as well, deserve.”

Sven lets out a deep growl, turns, and storms out of the house. And there’s nothing surprising about that at all.

twelve

Jade