All Chapters of When Our Crimson Bond Fade: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

My hands paused. My scent held no trace of roses.Then I noticed a glowing star sticker on the inside of his sleeve, clearly left there by a child.“What’s this?” My fingertips had gone cold, but my voice remained steady.Rhys glanced down and peeled it off. “The Security Division hired a new records analyst today. Her name is Sloane Mercer. Her mate served under me and died during a border operation two years ago.” His voice softened. “Her car broke down after work, and Milo had a fever. I drove them to the clinic and let her borrow my coat. The sticker must have come from him.”So that was all.Rhys kissed my forehead as he always did. “Things have been hectic at headquarters. I know I haven’t been home much.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “The Harvest Lights Festival is in a few days. It’s also the seventh anniversary of our bond. I’ll come home early and take you and Jamie to the parade. All right?”I nodded, but I could not stop myself from looking at the link between

Sloane and Milo moved into the guest wing soon afterward.The household staff quickly began to talk. “Rhys assigned them two guards and hired a live-in nanny for Milo. All their expenses go through the Calder accounts.” “He visits them every evening before returning to the main house.”I noticed all of it but no longer cared enough to ask questions. I only counted down to our departure.One afternoon, Jamie was playing in the courtyard with a mechanical wooden wolf. Rhys had brought it from a northern pack after his last mission. Jamie treasured it so much that he kept it beside his bed at night.I was packing upstairs when shouting erupted outside. “Give it to me!”By the time I reached the courtyard, Milo was trying to wrench the wolf from Jamie’s hands. “Dad gave it to me! Give it back!”Milo pulled harder. Wood cracked. The wolf struck the stone path. One leg snapped off, and the tiny gears inside scattered across the ground.Both boys froze. Then Milo burst into tears.Rhys had re

After the carnival, I felt strangely calm. Only three days remained before we left Greybridge.I began packing the belongings stored at the estate. Most had belonged to my mother: jewelry, photographs, books filled with her notes, and the crest of the North Coast Pack. I intended to take every one of them.I was kneeling beside an open box when Sloane appeared in the doorway. Her shoulder seemed to be healing, and the caution she usually displayed in public was gone. “So you’re really leaving?”I placed my mother’s jewelry case in the box.“I thought you were doing this to force Rhys to come after you,” she continued. “It seems you finally understand that he won’t always take your side.”“What happens between Rhys and me is none of your business.”“It wasn’t. But now he trusts my judgment. He put me in charge of Greybridge’s most important port operations, and he protects Milo and me. Whenever a choice must be made, he chooses us first.”She did not claim Rhys loved her. She knew that

A message appeared seconds later.Maren, what did you do to our bond?Before I could turn off the phone, another message arrived.Where are you? Why is Jamie's room empty?I stared at the screen. For the first time in seven years, I did not feel compelled to explain myself to Rhys.I turned off the phone.Across the aisle, Jamie was asleep with the broken wooden wolf tucked beneath his arm. The leg had come loose again. Even in his sleep, his fingers held it against the toy's body.I adjusted his blanket and looked out at the clouds.By the time we landed in Seabrook, the pain of our bond breaking had settled into a dull ache. It reminded me of the injury at my waist whenever I moved, but I could breathe without bracing myself.Lena had arranged a car. The house my mother left me stood on a quiet street above the harbor, with weathered blue shutters and a narrow garden facing the sea.Jamie walked through the front door and stopped. "Is this really Grandma's house?""It is.""Can we st

Rhys returned to Greybridge that night.He had told Maren he knew she was injured. What he had not told her was that he had spent the entire drive to Seabrook remembering the moment he pushed her. He remembered the sound of her striking the counter.He had heard it and kept walking.At the estate, he went straight to the security room. "Pull the storage-room footage from the day Sloane hurt her shoulder," he told the guard.The guard hesitated. "Rhys, we reviewed the corridor camera after the incident. No one asked for the camera inside the room.""I'm asking now."The recording began with Maren kneeling beside a box. Sloane entered a few minutes later and reached for the jewelry case in Maren's hands.They argued. The camera did not record sound, but their movements were clear. Sloane caught the case. Maren pulled it back.Then footsteps approached from the corridor. Sloane turned toward the door, released the case, and threw herself backward into the cabinet.Rhys entered a second la