Page 15 of Shadow of Fury

Only, in the back of her mind, she knew that wasn’t how mating bonds worked. Fate didn’t just give you a second chance because your other half died or you couldn’t find them. Bonds were a special magic between two shifters whose souls had always been meant to be one. You only got one mate, one chance, and if she and Logan had sparked a bond then that meant he and Lark hadn’t been fated after all.

Right?

She felt like her head was spinning and she wanted to be sick. She couldn't seem to stop crying. She couldn’t face the guilt of what she’d felt when Logan had kissed her any more than she could face the truth of what they were to one another.

“Oh Wren. It’s okay. It's all going to be okay.” Raven held her for a long time.

She stroked her hair and let Wren cry. Her solid strength helped, having someone to lean on helped, and Wren thought she might actually be able to pull herself back together until Raven spoke again.

“You’re scaring me.” her sister spoke softly. “I haven’t seen you cry since Lark’s funeral.”

Wren whimpered and Raven sucked in a breath.

“Is this about Lark?”

Wren gave a shaky nod.

“What is it? Did you go back to the office and find something?” Raven pulled back enough to look her in the eyes.

Wren shook her head.

“Come on. Talk to me. Please.”

Her voice was hoarse and croaky from all the crying but Wren managed to force out words, because she owed her sister that much, “I-it’s Logan. H-he’s back.”

“What? He’s here? In Shadow Pines?” Raven’s eyes went wide.

Wren nodded.

“You saw him while you were out for your run?”

Wren’s bottom lip trembled but she nodded again.

Raven tilted her head, pity darkened her eyes, “Oh, Wren, You didn’t just see him did you? You confronted him about Lark?”

Wren sniffled and Raven must have taken that as confirmation because she sighed and pulled her sister closer again.

“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

It wasn’t, but Raven couldn’t know that. Not yet. Because Wren couldn’t tell her. Not tonight. Tonight she needed the only sister she had left and if she told Raven what had actually happened she was absolutely certain there would be no more hugs and reassurances.

She would have to tell Raven the truth soon, but not tonight.

Tomorrow she would admit to what she had done and face the look of disgust that would color Raven’s beautiful features. Because Raven would be disgusted. Hell, Wren was disgusted with herself and if their roles were reversed she knew how she would see her actions.

She had somehow sparked a bond with the man who Lark had loved, the man Lark had intended to spend her life with, the man who should have been Lark’s fated mate, not hers. And he was the same man who had either killed her sister, or at the very least helped cover it up. He was the same man who had walked away from her sister’s graveside and gone out into the world to live his life without any consequences or repercussions.

It felt like a betrayal of Lark, of their older sister’s memory, of everything she had been and wanted in life and if it had been Raven and not her, Wren would have railed against her weakness and hated her for giving him another chance to ruin their family.

She knew how she would feel because at that moment, she hated herself. She hated her weakness. She hated fate and whatever fucked up mind games it was playing with them.

She couldn’t go back in time and undo any of it but she could give herself just a little longer with her remaining family before her entire world blew apart. Tonight, she would get cleaned up and let Raven hover and take care of her the way her little sister always wanted to. She would soak in the love and the support because if she was right, this might be the very last time Raven ever spoke to her.

She held tight to her sister like a life preserver as her roiling emotions threatened to drown her.

Logan stormed into the house and up the stairs to Vivian’s old room. He didn’t care where his father was. He didn’t have time for him. He had texted his sister that he was on his way and to get her things together but she hadn’t been waiting outside for him like he’d asked. He cursed as he was forced to climb the stairs of the old house he’d had no intention of stepping foot inside again.

“Viv.” He growled from her doorway when he caught sight of her standing by the window, looking out over the backyard. He didn’t move any further into the room. Didn’t want to catch even a glimpse of that view. “Come on. We have to get out of here.”