Screw My Childhood Sweetheart His Alpha Brother Marked Me First novel Chapter 82

Chapter 82

I leaned forward, my muscles protesting. I pulled my hand from Anson’s and tugged Caspian towards me. “You don’t have to thank me. I care about him.” The words hurt to say. How often did I have to be the one who cared about someone who didn’t care about me in return? Given away by my birth mother, cast aside by my adoptive parents, a boyfriend who couldn’t be bothered to stick around while I was grieving my sister, and now this.

Caspian bent forward, his head resting on my side. “I’ve never been so scared. I thought we were going to lose you.”

I ran my hands through his hair. “I’m fine.” My eyes shifted to River. “Aren’t I?”

He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my palm. “You healed yourself by the third day.” He lifted the hem of my shirt. Faint claw marks showed on my skin, but they looked as if they were years old, not days.

I stared down at the marks. “Sam?”

Anson tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “He didn’t make it. Neither did the other injured wolf.”

“Crispin,” I whispered. As much as I wanted to throttle Sam for what he’d put us through, I hated that Crispin had lost his father. He was now alone in the world. I knew what that felt like, and it was the last thing I wanted for the sweet boy.

“We’re taking good care of him,” River assured me, as if sensing my trail of thoughts. “He’ll never feel alone. We aren’t telling the young ones about Sam’s betrayal.”

“Can I go see him?”

River squeezed my hand. “As soon as you’re on your feet. You need time to recover first.”

I bit my lip and nodded. “Sam said he wanted to take me to my father.”

A muscle in Anson’s jaw ticked. “Vaughn told us.”

Caspian straightened to a sitting position. “I went through his phone and computer. The only thing we found was frequent calls to a burner cell. It wasn’t stored under a name in his phone, and I wasn’t able to trace it back to anyone.”

I ran my fingertip along a seam in the quilt. “Do you think he was telling the truth? That he wanted to take me to my father?”

“We don’t know,” Caspian said. “It’s possible.”

Luc’s gaze shifted to the window. “Or he was taking you because he was paid to.”

My eyes widened. “Paid?”

“We found cash deposits in Sam’s bank account, starting around the time you showed up,” Caspian explained.

“Why would someone want me that badly?”

The guys eyed each other but didn’t say a word.

20:22

Screw My Childhood Sweetheart–His Alpha Brother Marked Me First!

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Chapter 82

I pulled my hand from River‘ and pushed myself up higher against the pillows. “Start talking. I’m so damn sick of secrets

River winced but nodded. “The strongest bonds are those of true mates. Our gifts will strengthen each other’s. But those true connections are somewhat rare in our world. Some shifters just fall in love and want to bond with that person. In those cases, you still get some strength from the bond, just not as much as from a true mate.”

“So someone could still use some of my power if we bonded?”

“Yes.”

“But I would have to agree.”

Anson shook his head, eyes darkening. “It’s archaic and majorly fucked up, but you can force a bond against someone’s will.“

“What?”

Caspian nodded. “It’s painful to the wolf who’s forced. It’s a form of breaking their will. But it is possible.”

Nausea swept through me. It was a form of rape in so many ways. “And you think someone might want to do that to me.”

River found my hand again. “You’re very powerful. More powerful than we ever could’ve dreamed. That makes you a target.”

Anson moved in closer to me. “We won’t let anything happen to you. You’re stuck with us as your permanent shadows from

now on.”

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