C3

"I will never believe another word that comes out of his mouth. Not a single breath. The past few days were just a bad dream on the ice, and now I'm waking up to the freezing reality."

"Collins, you're shaking so hard the kitchen tiles are rattling."

"I am fine, Patricia. The snow just melted in my hands outside the transit pavilion, and I realized I could melt glaciers with my bare skin but I couldn't warm a single corner of Ada Lube's frozen heart."

"You walked all the way back from the Skydrivee border in this weather? Your coat is completely waterlogged."

"Where are the pups?"

"Robert is asleep in his nest. Layla and Hayden are in the washroom trying to scrub the frostbite off their fingers. They were trying to build a snow-guard in the front yard and got completely soaked. Collins, look at yourself. You need to get out of those wet furs before your wolf goes under. Let me get the hot water ready."

"Don't worry about the water, Patricia. Just listen to me. Don't you ever say Ada's name in this cabin again. Not in front of me, and definitely not in front of the children."

"Collins... what happened at the station?"

"We are finished. The pack bond is broken. You and Miss Yachina work for his estate, don't you? You draw your silver from the Lube family treasury."

"We've been with the Lube family since Ada was a pup, Collins. Are you telling us to leave the territory?"

"I can't have his shadows staying in my den. If we're done, then every single tie to Mysticfall has to be severed today. I can't look at you without seeing his colors."

"This is too sudden, Collins! My heart can't take this kind of pack shifting. I don't care about the Lube silver. I want to stay right here and look after little Robert."

"You're his employee, Patricia. From this moment on, Ada Lube is a ghost to this family. I respect your work, but I will not have a spy reporting back to the Mysticfall arena every time my son takes a breath."

"I don't know what kind of madness took over the Alpha's head on that train," Miss Yachina said, her heavy boots clicking on the floorboards as she stepped into the hallway. "It's a black day for the pack, Collins. But I've spent my entire life tending the Lube lineage. If the bond is dead, my place is back at the main estate. I'll take the morning runner to Mysticfall."

"Go with her, Patricia. It's better for everyone."

"She's given her whole heart to that baby, Collins," Miss Yachina whispered, pulling her heavy traveling shawl over her shoulders. "Let the old woman choose her own Alpha. If she wants to throw away her Lube pension to scrub floors for your pups, let her resign from the estate and take your mark instead."

"I don't want to drag her into a pack war, Miss Yachina."

"Is it really over between you and the Captain, child? Yesterday you were sharing a plate by the fire."

"He's signing the treaty with Chloe Bennett tonight. He's putting his mark on another male's throat. Do you think there's a single scrap of honor left to salvage from that?"

"May the ancestors protect us. The Bennett family will strip him bare."

"Let them have him. I'm going to bed."

"Patricia, get the medicine pouch," Job called out, his voice cutting through the dark cabin as the grandfather clock struck midnight. "Collins is burning up. His skin is like a hot iron."

"He's having a shifting fever," Patricia muttered, pressing a wet cloth to my forehead while I thrashed under the heavy bear hides. "His inner wolf is fighting the rejection of the bond. Drink this, Collins. It's crushed silver-leaf and willow bark."

"Get away from me... the ice is breaking..."

"Keep swallowing, child. You have to stay grounded for the pups."

"Master Ada, it's Patricia Bennett. I'm calling from the Skydrivee border cabin. I know your train just crossed into the Mysticfall gate, but you need to listen to me."

"Did he send you away, Patricia?"

"He found out about the contract with Chloe Bennett, Master Ada. He knows you're taking the northern mark. He told Miss Yachina and me that we can't stay in his den if we're on your payroll."

"Did he hurt the children?"

"Of course he didn't hurt the children! He's a true-born Parker, not a savage. Miss Yachina is already on the morning supply sled back to your arena, but I'm staying right here. I threw my resignation papers in the wood stove."

"Patricia, you need your winter pension."

"I don't care about the silver, Ada. Robert is still a nursing pup. He needs someone who knows how to tend a wolf-child's growth. No matter what kind of political show you're running with the Bennett family in Mysticfall, this boy is your blood. I'm staying with Collins to pay back the debt I owe your mother for saving my old pack."

"Fine. Keep him alive, Patricia. That's all that matters now."

"I've already cut my ties with the Lube estate, Collins," Patricia said, setting a steaming mug of pine tea on the nightstand as I forced my eyes open against the blinding morning light. "I'm just a old stray wolf looking for a corner by your fire now."

"Are you going to send him reports?"

"I don't have an Alpha anymore, Collins. Only a captain on the ice. I came in to get his old travel bag before Miss Yachina's sled leaves the border post."

"Take it. I stuffed every piece of his hockey gear and his extra furs into the leather trunk by the desk. I don't want his scent lingering in the hallway."

"You look like death, child. The fever broke, but your eyes are full of blood."

"I took the winter herbs. I'll be on the ice with the team by tomorrow noon. Take the bag and get it out of my sight."

"Brandon, why the hell are you calling me from the Mysticfall office? Doesn't Collins have his own runner?"

"Mike, you need to get your boots on and get up to the Skydrivee cabin right now. Don't argue with me. Just move."

"What's wrong with you? I'm in the middle of checking the steel blades for the afternoon practice. Stop sighing into the receiver."

"The pack is split, Mike. Collins and Alpha Ada are done. The bond is shredded. He told me Ada is tracking back to the city to marry Chloe Bennett before the full moon."

"What did you just say?!" Mike roared, the sound of his hockey stick clattering against the concrete floor echoing through the phone line. "The Captain is binding with that Bennett dog?!"

"It's the truth. Patricia called me from the border. She wants us to get the team together and watch over Collins. He's in the den right now with a shifting fever and his eyes are completely shot."

"That bastard," Mike spat, his breathing coming in heavy, ragged gasps as he kicked a crate of pucks across the locker room. "He spent the whole week playing the doting mate just to soften him up before the slaughter?"

"What's the shouting about, Mike?" Brandon Hayes asked, stepping into the equipment room with a clipboard under his arm. "Who's marrying Chloe Bennett? I thought the Captain was just checking the southern borders."

"You're telling me you didn't know your own Alpha was selling our hunting rights to the Bennett family?!"