that didn’t work, to at least distance herself from them. Harris knew they could lose her here, now, if he wasn’t careful.
“No,” he said. “I shouldn’t have given you a choice. I shouldn’t have used the bond at all. I know what it is, what it does. The lengths it will drive a man to.” He definitely had her attention now. Ethan’s too. He took a deep breath before plunging in, tempted to get up and pace as he told the story, but unable to make himself release her from his lap.
“I came here when I was eighteen after my brother banished me.” She gasped and slid her hand down his arm to his hand, gave it a brief squeeze. He knew after years of living among them that a lupine couldn’t imagine a worse fate. He laced her fingers through his and brought them to his mouth for a lingering kiss.
“What happened?” she whispered.
“My parents were bonded, but that world is so different from anything you know. It’s cold.
Love and happiness are frowned upon. Held in contempt. It’s all about power, and those emotions make you weak. My mother was a witch, but she was different. She refused to live like that. She told me she was leaving him, after my birthday.”
He took a deep breath. This part sucked. This was the part he’d tried to forget.
“My father found out,” he said flatly. “Because of the bond. He tracked her movements around the city, knew she wanted to flee, and he wasn’t about to let that happen. He would look bad,” Harris said bitterly. “He decided he didn’t need her anymore since he had two grown sons.”
“Gods,” Ethan muttered, clearly understanding where this tale was going.
Harris didn’t meet his eyes or Gabby’s. If he did, he wouldn’t be able to finish, and they both needed to know what he was capable of.
“He was a cold bastard, my father,” he ground out, remembered fury thickening his throat.
“My brother and I had been gone all day. It was my birthday. Mom left the house the same time we did. To run errands she said, but I knew that wasn’t true. I don’t know how he got her back to the house, but when we returned…he was standing over her in the foyer. The gun was still in his hand.”
Gabby turned her face into his chest, and her hand slid up to clutch the hair at the back of his head. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured.
“I’m not finished,” he ground out.
He knew his voice sounded grim, like it carried death, but Gabby didn’t flinch or try to get away. She just held on tighter. He was afraid his heart might crack open.
“He killed her. He didn’t deny it. The rage was so consuming. He told us not to worry, someone would come along to clean up the mess in a minute. Then he turned around to walk away. I lost it. I lost control of my power. Slammed him against the wall until he was dead.”
“And they banished you for that?” Ethan asked, voice almost a growl as he shared Harris’s fury and grief.
“As the oldest surviving male in the family, it was up to my brother to decide my punishment. By our law, for killing an elder, there are only two options. Death or banishment.
No matter what the circumstances are. There were some pretty loud demands for my execution.” He felt wrung out from telling the story, but he gave them a wan smile. “You’ll have to forgive my brother. He didn’t have a choice, and in the end, it brought the three of us together.”
“So you shouldn’t have created this bond with me because of what happened to your mother. Why did you do it, then?” she asked gently.
He wanted to tell her he hadn’t been able to help himself, that it had just been instinct, but he gave her the truth. “Because I wanted to be that close to you. I wanted to feel this connection with you.
“And it had nothing to do with keeping tabs on me?”
He sensed a trap here. “I’m not trying to track your every move, darlin’.” Her eyes narrowed. “Just some of them?” she asked tartly. “Will you know if I’m on pack business? Dangerous pack business?”
Yep, definitely a trap. He nodded.
“I don’t need protection. I don’t need a big, strong man to keep me safe.” He felt like he’d walked into a minefield. “I know that,” he said warily, not about to admit part of his motivation was protecting her. Even though it was more a guard against his people than any danger a lupine might pose. Any wolf challengers would have to get through Ethan first, and that wasn’t happening. “I can’t pick and choose which parts of the bond work any more than Ethan can control his.”
She didn’t look happy about it, but she let the subject drop, and her anger faded with it.
Thank the gods.
“Now about the dominance thing, darlin’.” He needed her to submit to him here, at home, and he knew deep down she wanted to. Ethan never would fully submit to Harris, and that was okay because he didn’t
Her eyes turned guarded.
“You lied to me about liking it,” he said. She scrambled to get off his lap, and he let her go. For now. She got a stubborn look he recognized. “Don’t lie to me, Gabby,” he said softly, not bothering to hide the dom from her.
She heaved a sigh, wrung her fingers, and looked down, refusing to meet his gaze. The actions of a submissive. “Okay. Fine. I liked it.”
Progress, finally.
He didn’t show his sense of triumph, though it was damned hard to conceal it. She felt it through the bond. Her head snapped up. When she looked at him defiantly, he allowed a mean little smile, knowing it would excite her as
