Novel & Cerita Shattered Bonds: A Second Chance Mate

A claw had slit my neck clean, and I was choking on my own blood, but I didn’t feel any cut or blood or my neck. I spat out blood again, but this time I was sure that it was over. I could feel the chain that had bound us as mates two years ago breaking, and I was breaking likewise. "Vincent," I whispered, trying to reach him one more time. Then a vision so real began to play in front of my face.

Chapter 25 Staring at the woman and your wolf, and realizing that your life has been filled with lies and falsehoods, was more painful than getting rejected. She couldn't believe what she had heard. The man, the alpha whom she hated with passion and who treated her like shit, is her mate. She had been forcefully married to her second chance mate all this while, and she never knew. "And how do I cure the king then, and how will I meet you again? I have a lot of questions to ask you," Aurora said.

still waiting. “Come here. Right now,” he said again, firm, commanding, gentle. And just like that, the mate bond ignited, wrapping around me. I tried to fight it. I did. I clenched my fists, gritted my teeth, swallowed the emotion clawing at my throat. But the pull… the bond… it wouldn’t let me go. It never did. Before I could stop myself, I was moving, crawling into his arms like a broken girl who had finally given up pretending she wasn’t shattered.

"It's fine. Now that everything's out in the open, there's no switching mates for the ceremony tomorrow. I'll talk to Anna later. Once things cool down, we'll break the mate bond." Nora's eyes flashed coldly, but she managed a smile. "Sure. Whatever you need, I'm on board." … The mate-bonding ceremony was held in the most luxurious ballroom in the entire pack. The place was already packed before things even got started. Joe was restless, glancing at his phone repeatedly. He hadn't been able to get in touch with me since powering it back on yesterday, and a tight, uneasy feeling had been gnawing at him ever since.

Elara's POV "I know the bond is broken," Victor said, his voice raspy. "I felt it tear." He staggered into the sanctuary, looking even more worn down than he had three months ago. "Then what are you doing here?" I asked coldly. "I'm begging you to come back," he said, his voice thick with desperation. "Not because you're my fated mate, not because of the bond. Because I need you." "Oh, you need me now?" I laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Where was this feeling when you were using me? When you were humiliating me?"

This pup is mine, and I will protect it with everything I have. As for this fractured mate bond? It was only a matter of time before it snapped completely. When I got home, the house was pitch black. Ryan didn't come back for several days. I didn't call to ask where he was. Instead, I focused on taking care of myself and the pregnancy, and I privately consulted the pack elders about the procedure for severing a mate bond. The next time I saw Ryan was on Clara's Instagram. An Alpha who usually hated photos was actually wearing a cartoon headband, posing for pregnancy portraits with Clara.

Where the broken mate bond had left its mark. “What I bring is this,” she said. “We will heal the severed mate bond. Not reconnect to Lyra. That ship has sailed, and should be left in sail. But the reserves will be absorbed, and-promise-the scar tissue will dissolve. Someday you'll be able to build a true mate bond with someone else. If you choose to. If you find someone worthy of binding yourself to.” I stopped breathing. Men who lose mates through severing seldom bond again. The scar usually prevents it. The damage runs too deep. I had accepted that. Had believed my chance at a bond like that was gone for good.

“Twenty-nine. Lives in the Jia-Hua territory. You were with her at the hospital last night.” My voice stayed level, almost calm—which somehow made it worse. “I know everything.” I looked at him then, really looked at him. “What you broke wasn’t rules or vows on paper,” I said. “It was trust. It was the bond I believed in. The future I built my life around.” My hand rested lightly over my abdomen. “I can’t pretend that kind of betrayal didn’t happen. I can’t live beside it, touch it, sleep next to it, and tell myself it still means the same thing.”

My skin prickles at the information he gives me and I feel an undying need to read the book. “The second chance mate bond…” I say, trying to act surprised. “Most people believe it to be a rumor.” Artemis laughs and shakes his head. “They happen, but rarely. It’s how the bond is acknowledged which makes it hard to come across your second chance mate. There is no touch and feel sparks, no scenting them when you find them. The bond allows you to fall in love first. Once both people admit they love each other, there is room for the bond to show itself IF they are second chance mates. My grandparents were second chance mates.”

Think. In my first timeline, the engagement had proceeded smoothly. I had been so desperate to save my family, so blinded by Richard's manufactured charm, that I walked willingly into the trap. The marriage happened six months later. The abuse started on the wedding night. But I also remembered something else—something that happened two years into the marriage. Richard's competitor, Marcus Zhao, had nearly destroyed the Ashford empire with a single business deal. Richard had spent millions recovering from that blow, and he never saw it coming.