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“Something’s changed,” he said. “You know her better than anyone. Did she fight with someone? Get upset? Did someone say something to piss her off? Anything that could bring out her wolf?”

He sat on my bed and gripped my hand. Our bond strengthened through touch and I could feel his worry on top of my own.Advertisement

Oh, God. Of course. That was it. “She had a fight with Donovan a few days ago.” How could I forget about that?

“What? Why did they fight?” Dr. Gonzales said.

“He left—”

“Right,” Dr. Gonzales said. “He had to go find the alphas in South America for the Tribunal. Why would she fight with him about that?”

Mr. Dawson, Donovan, Sebastien, and a few other alphas were off rounding up as many pack leaders as possible for the Tribunal. Some of them lived in pretty remote areas, preferring to be able to switch from wolf to human without worrying who was watching. Donovan had gone after a pack alpha that roamed the Andes Mountains.

I blew out a breath. I didn’t know how much to tell them about Donovan and Meredith. It wasn’t my business to spill and Meredith liked to keep her stuff private, but she was seriously sick. “When Donovan left last week, he and Meredith had a fight. She wouldn’t talk about it, but I have a pretty good guess what they were fighting about.”

Dastien leaned closer. “And?”

I paced away from them as I considered what to say. From the sound of Meredith’s steady breathing in the next room, she was totally zonked. Screw it. I was gonna spill my guts and hope she wouldn’t kick my ass for it later. I turned back to face them. “When they first met, I thought I felt something between Meredith and Donovan. The way they looked at each other was beyond intense. Something clicked with them, but then all the vampire stuff happened… Anyhow, right before Donovan left he told her that he wanted them to be mated, but she refused.”

God. She was probably going to kill me for saying this, but if it could save her, then she’d get over it. I reached for Dastien’s hand again. “I’m pretty sure they’re a true mated pair.”

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“Cherie. Just because we’re a mated pair, doesn’t mean that others are. It’s very rare,” Dastien said.

He was going to get himself hit if he kept using that patronizing tone. “I know that I’m new to this whole deal, but I can tell the difference between our bond and other bonds.”

Dr. Gonzales stepped closer. “What do you mean?”

I shrugged. “They feel different.”

“You can feel bonds?” Dastien asked, spacing his words out so that there was no misunderstanding.

“I guess. Kind of. Can’t you feel ours?”

“Sure.” There was a hint of a question in the way that he said it.

That didn’t sound so convincing. “I don’t know why I can tell, but I can. Trust me. They’re not like everyone else. Their bond was tangible from the moment they met. The connection between them sizzled, and it got stronger as they spent more time together.”

“Assuming you’re right, she actually refused him?” Dr. Gonzales’ eyebrows were somewhere in the vicinity of her hairline.

Donovan was strong and powerful. It didn’t help matters that he was hot and really sweet, too. If I hadn’t met Dastien, even I’d be crushing on him. Saying no to him seemed pretty unfathomable. “I think she’s being dumb, but Meredith thinks she’s ‘broken’ because of the curse. Like that makes her not worthy of him.”

“We need to get Donovan back here,” Dr. Gonzales said. “Can you reach him?”

“As soon as he checks in, sure, but that could be today or next week.” Dastien rubbed his hands down his face.

“I’m not sure she’ll last that long,” Dr. Gonzales said.

Panic made my knees weak. I sat on the bed next to Dastien. No. This had to be fixable. We had to fix this. “What do you mean?” I leaned into Dastien as he put his arm around me.

“It typically takes weeks for nausea to set in, but with the blood…Meredith is already considerably past that.” She said it gently, as if that would make it any easier to hear. “If we can’t find a way to break the curse, she won’t have much time.”

A loud buzzing rang in my ears.

“Breathe, cherie. Take a deep breath.”

I did, but it was a shaky one.

We needed a plan.

“Okay,” I said when I could speak again. “So, we break the curse or something.”

“It’s not that easy,” Dastien said. pqdm.com