{"id":4190,"date":"2026-05-04T09:16:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T13:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=4190"},"modified":"2026-05-04T09:33:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T13:33:14","slug":"bond-breaker-excerpt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=4190","title":{"rendered":"Bond Breaker excerpt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before you dive into this sneak preview…this is book three in a series! Haven’t read the first two books yet? Mate Market<\/a> is the place to start.<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Chapter 1<\/h1>\n

\"Braden,The knife was burning into my palms, and my oldest friend was disappearing before my eyes.<\/p>\n

Which, okay, wasn\u2019t entirely odd. Braden was<\/i> a ghost after all. And the knife, his anchor, was<\/i> magical.<\/p>\n

But the knife didn\u2019t usually cause blisters the instant I made contact. And Braden wasn\u2019t fading a little the way he sometimes did when running low on energy. Instead, patches of ghost were erasing from the edges inward, allowing hard lines of the bookcase and stainless-steel laboratory bench behind him to show through.<\/p>\n

\u201cWren?\u201d Ellie hovered just outside the salt-marked ward circle, her voice rising to a pitch even higher than usual for the eight-year-old ghost. \u201cWhat\u2019s happening?\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t answer because I didn\u2019t know. The empowerment ritual was intended to give Braden unilateral control over his anchor and to prevent him from losing memories whenever his magic was accessed. To use Ellie\u2019s phrasing, he\u2019d become his own boss.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d both agreed that was worth a little risk. Especially after this morning when Braden had looked at me with a blank, searching expression and asked, \u201cSorry\u2014what\u2019s your name again?\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d remembered me within seconds, brushing off the lapse with his usual wordplay. But his eyes hadn\u2019t been laughing, and mine hadn\u2019t either.<\/p>\n

Which made me unwilling to wait until I was sure about every facet of the empowerment ritual before attempting it. No matter how leery my mate had been of the plan.<\/p>\n

And now Locke\u2019s concerns proved to have been valid. Because the energy spiraling between me and Braden kept building with no apparent end in sight. The heat from his pocketknife intensified until I ached to let go of it.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, my fingers wouldn\u2019t uncurl. And the only people present were ghosts: one a little girl stuck outside the wards, the other a teenager unable to do anything other than grit his teeth and try to cling to continued existence. Neither was able to snatch the anchor out of my grip.<\/p>\n

Locke would have been able to help, of course. He\u2019d wanted to be here, even though he\u2019d disapproved of the endeavor. Had offered to stand guard as my \u201cmagical fire extinguisher\u201d in case things went wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have your own pack to run,\u201d<\/i> I\u2019d told him.<\/p>\n

His answer was simple. \u201cYou\u2019re my mate.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Which should have ended the discussion. Should have meant I\u2019d include him in the ritual, trust him to catch me if I fell.<\/p>\n

Instead, I\u2019d smiled and changed the subject. Then I waited until Locke was busy and built a ward circle that blocked our mate-bond connection. The goal? He wouldn\u2019t even know what I was doing until the ritual was complete.<\/p>\n

Old habits apparently died hard.<\/p>\n

Now, trapped within the six-foot-wide ward circle, I was regretting all those choices. Because the ward blocked me from calling for Locke\u2019s help the same way it blocked his knowledge of the ritual. Even as Braden\u2019s form flickered. Even as my friend\u2019s left elbow vanished into thin air.<\/p>\n

As I tried and failed to open my fingers yet again, a draft of cold wind swept through the room. My eyes flew to the door, expecting Locke even though he\u2019d have no way of knowing I was in trouble.<\/p>\n

The door stayed closed, just like the windows. And midsummer wasn\u2019t the season for cold breezes.<\/p>\n

Still, chill sank into my bones like frostbite. My breath fogged\u2026<\/p>\n

Then the cold was gone. And so was Braden.<\/p>\n

Except he wasn\u2019t. I could feel him. The pack bond insisted he was standing right there in front of me. But my eyes showed only emptiness where he should have been.<\/p>\n

Which is when the pocketknife jerked open in my hands.<\/p>\n

I clenched down on the handle as the still-hot and now sharp anchor tried to slither out of my grip. Because every anchor has a special ability, and Braden\u2019s was a doozy. The blade could cut through space and magic as well as flesh.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, the tiniest glancing touch of blade-edge sent energy crackling along the ward circle. And, yes, dismantling the ward would<\/i> let me call Locke\u2026but it would also risk turning this out-of-control experiment loose on everyone outside it.<\/p>\n

Ellie, for example. Perhaps even members of Locke\u2019s living pack.<\/p>\n

\u201cBraden?\u201d My voice came out strangled, hoping he was the one manipulating his anchor. \u201cPlease stop that.\u201d<\/p>\n

No answer. Or, well, no words.<\/p>\n

But books started flying off the shelves along the back wall where the ward circle brushed up against bookcases. The first one to take flight was a thick volume on ghost theory that put me to sleep every time I opened it. This time, the tome seemed intent upon putting me to sleep in a different and more permanent manner as it sailed past my head close enough so the breeze of its passing swept hair into my mouth.<\/p>\n

Then a mug splintered as it struck the floor at the opposite side of the ward circle. Papers scattered like startled birds.<\/p>\n

Poltergeist activity. The kind I\u2019d only seen once before, originating with a ghost who wasn\u2019t bound at all. One who was furious about his death and used that fury to burn through every bit of energy holding him to earth without regard for how it would shorten his afterlife.<\/p>\n

\u201cBraden!\u201d Ellie shrieked through the chaos. \u201cDon\u2019t hurt Wren!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t hurt yourself!<\/i>\u201d I added. \u201cYou\u2019re draining your energy!\u201d<\/p>\n

Another book launched itself at me in lieu of an answer. I ducked while also trying again to close the knife, to reverse the ritual before\u2014<\/p>\n

The laboratory door slammed against the far wall as it opened.<\/p>\n

\u201cWren!\u201d Locke\u2019s voice roared through the chaos, sharp with fear and command. Behind him, a pack mate appeared briefly in the doorway, security tablet still clutched in one hand.<\/p>\n

Despite the swirl of debris and the erratic anchor in my hand, I focused on who was present. I was trying to learn Locke\u2019s pack mates\u2014my<\/i> pack mates. So I forced myself to put a name to the scared face hovering behind Locke.<\/p>\n

Tobias was the one who\u2019d helped find data on a smashed computer back in the spring. He was twenty-something, obsessively organized, and uncomfortable around wolf weavers\u2026which meant he and I hadn\u2019t spoken more than a dozen words in the months I\u2019d lived here.<\/p>\n

This ritual gone awry was likely to drive even more of a wedge between the pack and the academy if Tobias carried tales of weird ghost magic away without having my motivations explained.<\/p>\n

Locke didn\u2019t worry about any of that. He just waved a dismissal at his pack mate, then his intense gaze returned to me. \u201cNow,\u201d he suggested with careful calm, \u201cmight be a good time to shut this down.\u201d<\/p>\n

My pulse kicked against my ribs as my wolf tried to force her way out, wanting fur and fangs and a threat she could actually bite into. Or perhaps she wanted what she always wanted when Locke was in the room\u2014to go to him, to forget the complications between us, to\u2026<\/p>\n

But the energy around me was building to a crescendo. Locke had a very good point. Unfortunately\u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cBe glad to shut the ritual down if I knew how to,\u201d I managed to grit out between clenched teeth.<\/p>\n

Because I\u2019d already tried the obvious. And if Braden\u2019s anchor managed to dismantle the ward circle before I stopped whatever I\u2019d started\u2014<\/p>\n

A vial exploded near my feet, shards of glass biting into my calves. The ward circle\u2019s light flared bright enough to sear through my rapidly squinched-shut eyelids.<\/p>\n

The energy I\u2019d woken was tearing itself apart, and me along with it. What was it doing to Braden? Would he still be himself once the magic burned out?<\/p>\n

Locke cleared his throat and I suddenly knew what he intended. Because we\u2019d learned over the last few months that Locke was a bond breaker, his abilities the polar opposite of my wolf-weaver knack. If he touched me with my pack bonds open, he\u2019d temporarily dismiss my ghosts.<\/p>\n

Not a huge problem usually. Possibly a huge problem now.<\/p>\n

After all, I couldn\u2019t be sure Braden would come back if he was dismissed in the middle of this malformed ritual.<\/p>\n

\u201cStay outside the wards,\u201d I warned.<\/p>\n

Ignoring me, Locke stepped easily across the glowing edge of the ward circle that would have caused anyone else to bounce off. When faced with a bond breaker, the circle simply dissolved.<\/p>\n

Wards collapsing around me felt like all of my clothes were being ripped off in the middle of an arctic gale. Searing. Freezing. Exposing.<\/p>\n

And at the same moment, our mate bond snapped back open and Locke\u2019s emotions crashed into my mind.<\/p>\n

His worry was tinged with an edge of frustration he was clenched-fist suppressing. Without asking for permission, he touched my hand, the one holding the knife, the one throbbing with pain\u2026<\/p>\n

And the air pressure dropped. My ears popped. The oddest pine-needle aftertaste filled my mouth at the same time every connection I\u2019d built\u2014to Braden, to Ellie, to the spiraling magic\u2014deflated like a pricked balloon.<\/p>\n

For just a moment, the effect felt less like relief and more like something had opened its mouth and swallowed up the chaos. But then that thought was gone as the last dregs of ritual energy collapsed\u2026and so did my knees.<\/p>\n

The scorching hot knife fell from my nerveless fingers, hitting the floor with a clatter that seemed too loud in the sudden silence. Locke caught me by the shoulders before I could join its descent.<\/p>\n

Even though we were at odds, his touch steadied me, anchoring me to the physical world in a way nothing else could have. His scent of snow and wood smoke and my own newsprint tempted my lungs back to work. Inside me, my wolf uncurled and stretched, unworried by anything other than the pleasure of our mate\u2019s touch.<\/p>\n

Gradually, the heat of his palms seeped through fabric into skin that had gone cold with shock. For one traitorous moment, I let the wolf lead. Together, we leaned into that warmth, let Locke hold us up, forgot why his touch was dangerous.<\/p>\n

Then I swallowed a bitter reminder of what skin-on-skin contact cost. Looked past my mate at the ruined laboratory full of overturned mugs and half-emptied shelves.<\/p>\n

The lights that had illuminated the ward circle were long since extinguished. Books had stopped flying. Papers drifted slowly to rest.<\/p>\n

And, as I\u2019d expected, both Braden and Ellie were gone.<\/p>\n

Chapter 2<\/h1>\n

\u201cLet go of me.\u201d The words came out sharper than I\u2019d intended, but I couldn\u2019t soften them. Not when my ghosts had been dismissed by Locke\u2019s bond-breaker ability against my explicit command.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a minute.\u201d His voice took on that maddening calm he used when forcing his temper to settle. \u201cLet me see your hands first.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hands are fine.\u201d I tried to pull away, but my knees remained unsteady from the ritual\u2019s implosion. The lab bench behind me was cold against my hip, sharp contrast to the fire in my palm and the heat of Locke\u2019s touch.<\/p>\n

Ignoring all of that, I added: \u201cI need to bring Braden and Ellie back.\u201d<\/p>\n

I shouldn\u2019t have needed to explain further. Locke and I were still learning how to navigate the junction between our abilities, but we\u2019d long ago figured out that I couldn\u2019t sweeten my ghosts\u2019 anchors while he touched me. If I wanted to push my living strength into Braden\u2019s knife and Ellie\u2019s toy pony in hopes that would rematerialize them, the two of us had to break contact.<\/p>\n

Still, Locke\u2019s hands remained on my shoulders. His tight and sharp concern reverberated down our mate bond.<\/p>\n

If I continued hiding experiments, what might happen next time? What if he\u2019d arrived too late?<\/p>\n

I was worried too. But worry didn\u2019t ensure Braden and Ellie wouldn\u2019t join the ranks of the ghosts I\u2019d already lost.<\/p>\n

George. Fran. Chloe. Names that ached worse than the throbbing of my injured palm.<\/p>\n

Locke must have felt my emotional spiral via the mate bond because his hands fell away from my shoulders at last. And even though I\u2019d been the one who demanded it, the distance he created between us felt like a loss.<\/p>\n

My fingers twitched toward him, then I caught myself and curled them into fists. Immediately, blisters screamed protest.<\/p>\n

Locke was the one who winced. \u201cI\u2019ll get the burn kit.\u201d<\/p>\n

He turned away as promised, which let me remove Ellie\u2019s toy pony from my pocket then stoop to snatch Braden\u2019s pocketknife off the floor. The metal of the latter was no longer scorching, but the blade was still open.<\/p>\n

Without hesitation, I pressed my burned palm against the sharp edge.<\/p>\n

Fresh pain flared hot and sharp, layering atop the deeper throb of burns and blisters. I heard a growl from across the room as blood welled up, Locke\u2019s protective instincts pushing into me via the mate bond.<\/p>\n

He wished that I\u2019d anchor sweeten using something less violent than cutting into my own body. And it was true that sweat or spit did<\/i> work most of the time. But I couldn\u2019t risk half measures when Braden had looked so odd before disappearing. Especially since that odd coldness lingered in the air like smoke, the aftertaste of pine still strong on my tongue.<\/p>\n

No, I needed blood this time. So I ignored my mate\u2019s disapproval and focused on the knife and on the connection between Braden and this object that had been his most prized possession when he was still living.<\/p>\n

Far too slowly, the anchor warmed beneath my touch. And, eventually, Braden\u2019s presence materialized at the edge of my awareness.<\/p>\n

He was there. Finally, my lungs inhaled a full breath.<\/p>\n

Braden wasn\u2019t entirely his old self though. His body had turned solid enough so the walls didn\u2019t show through him, but his edges flickered like a candle flame in a draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cBraden? Can you hear me?\u201d<\/p>\n

He opened his mouth, and for a terrifying moment nothing came out. Then a thread of his voice reached me. \u201cYeah. I\u2019m\u2026what happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

What happened was I\u2019d nearly destroyed him. What happened was my experimental binding had left him unstable while likely using up memories rather than building a firewall around them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hoping you could tell me.\u201d When he only shook his head, I pressed: \u201cYou were in the middle of things when the ritual went wrong. What did it feel like?\u201d<\/p>\n

Braden was quiet for a moment, translucent fingers flexing as if he was testing whether they still worked. \u201cIt felt like after I died and before you bound my anchor. Cold. Confusion.\u201d He shuddered, the motion making his form flicker worse as he whispered, \u201cI thought I saw the alpha who killed me and Chloe.\u201d<\/p>\n

I had nightmares about that moment far too often. No wonder Braden suffered from a similar trauma flashback when my failed magic was literally unwinding him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut hey,\u201d Braden continued, his voice firmer, \u201cnow that I\u2019ve almost died twice, I think that qualifies me for a frequent dyer program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as he\u2019d planned, his bad pun made me smile as I slipped his knife into my pocket and reached for Ellie\u2019s toy pony, the one we\u2019d hunted across the Atlantic Ocean not so long ago. Enough blood remained on my palm to swipe across the toy\u2019s worn surface without opening a fresh cut.<\/p>\n

This time, the sweetening followed a more ordinary trajectory. The little girl appeared in a swirl of gossamer mist that immediately turned solid.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look funny,\u201d she told Braden, tilting her head to study him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel funny. Because I\u2019m a funny guy.\u201d As a visual aid, he poked both forefingers up through his hair like devil horns, wiggling them while twisting his face into a silly mask.<\/p>\n

Braden did <\/i>still appear more translucent than he should have been. But if he was well enough to joke, things couldn\u2019t be terrible. I clung to that hope as familiar footsteps approached.<\/p>\n

Locke had waited until both ghosts were present before intruding even though finding the first-aid kit in the cabinet behind me would have taken mere seconds. His jaw was set, though, the twitch of tightening muscles drawing my attention to the strong column of his throat, the shadow of stubble along his chin.<\/p>\n

Even frustrated and holding himself carefully in check, my mate radiated an intensity that made something low in my belly tighten. His words, on the other hand, were less pleasant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat exactly were you trying to accomplish?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBraden needs control over his own anchor.\u201d I followed Locke\u2019s gaze to my bleeding palm, finally letting myself register how much the combination of knife cut plus blisters hurt. Still, I stood by my motives. \u201cHe needs to be able to use his knife without draining memories.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA worthy goal.\u201d My mate\u2019s voice was flat, emotionless. But our bond felt brittle from the bleed-through of his anger as he added: \u201cIf it hadn\u2019t nearly gotten you killed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chapter 3<\/h1>\n

I expected Locke to double down on his demand that he be allowed to bandage my injured hand. Instead he stepped back. \u201cLet\u2019s run.\u201d<\/p>\n

I blinked at him. \u201cNow? Don\u2019t you and Tobias need to do whatever you were doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Locke didn\u2019t explain further, but I could feel his reasoning via the mate bond. Shifting would have more effect on my wounds than any antiseptic ointment. And we both needed to clear our heads before we said something we\u2019d regret.<\/p>\n

After all, we\u2019d been circling the same argument for months now\u2014his need to protect me, my need not to be swaddled in bubble wrap. Standing in a destroyed laboratory rehashing our contrasting viewpoints was unlikely to resolve that impasse.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlright,\u201d I said quietly.<\/p>\n

Locke opened the door and let Braden and Ellie out before following them, leaving me alone to shift. In their absence, the change rippled through me easily\u2014bones reshaping, senses sharpening, pain fading as my wolf form knit skin back into wholeness on my palm-turned-pad.<\/p>\n

The burn still twinged when I put weight on it. But it was easy to ignore after I padded outside and found both ghosts gone while Locke waited in his majestic lupine form.<\/p>\n

Easier still when he let me take the lead in our promised run.<\/p>\n

The sky stretched wide above open tundra, only the low smudge of spruce on the horizon breaking up the expanse. And in that vastness, it seemed like we could run forever. Like we would<\/i> run forever, outpacing our problems, outpacing the issues we couldn\u2019t seem to talk about without getting drawn back into the same old arguments.<\/p>\n

Our bodies didn\u2019t argue. Instead, the rhythm settled easily between us. Even when words failed, when touching was impossible, we had this: running in the endless summer daylight.<\/p>\n

In wolf form, every path we took together was the right path. In wolf form, we could simply be mates.<\/p>\n

My legs were shorter than Locke\u2019s, but by now I knew how to stretch them. Meanwhile, his paws landed exactly where mine had been. Not because we needed silence, but because touching ground I\u2019d touched was akin to touching me.<\/p>\n

We were fully in sync as we crested another rise and nearly ran over Tobias. He raised his tablet like a shield, backpedaling rapidly while grunting out a surprised, \u201cOh!\u201d<\/p>\n

He regained his composure quickly though. Turned to Locke and reported in as if requiring information was the only reason his alpha might be out on the tundra.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve recalibrated this camera,\u201d he said, addressing his words to the ground at his alpha\u2019s feet, \u201cbut the mount is corroded. I hope it\u2019s okay that I ordered more replacements than we need for the usual pack locations. Perhaps the academy perimeter could use coverage as well?\u201d<\/p>\n

He hadn\u2019t so much as glanced at me, but thinking of the academy\u2019s safety rather than just the pack\u2019s felt like a truce flag. I wished I was two-legged so I could thank him.<\/p>\n

And maybe some part of my emotion flew down my mate bond to Locke then via the pack bond to Tobias. Because the latter\u2019s ears reddened and his gaze flitted to me at last before locking onto the safety of his tablet.<\/p>\n

Which made me reassess the past. Perhaps Tobias hadn\u2019t avoided me because I was a wolf weaver. Perhaps he was just shy and uncomfortable around women. After all, until recently, Locke\u2019s pack had contained only men.<\/p>\n

Locke saved us all from further embarrassment by nodding his lupine head at Tobias then nudging me back into motion. After that, we kept running for minutes or hours until all the rough edges left by the day\u2019s adventures were gone. Only then did Locke finally send his first word down the mate bond.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetter?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t answer in words. Instead, I let him feel the peace that had settled inside me. The way my paw barely throbbed.<\/p>\n

A slight hesitation, then a question formed: \u201cMay I?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

I cocked my head. I didn\u2019t know what he was asking. But the answer was easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

The energy he pushed down the mate bond rolled into me like warm honey. It found the lingering damage leftover from before hand had become paw. Found the ruptured blisters and abraded skin beneath the tough pad callous. Then it soothed all of that away along with the pain.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t exactly healing magic. Instead, it was Locke using our mate bond to carry strength and vitality. He was offering me his own body\u2019s resiliency, and I was accepting it gladly.<\/p>\n

Like real, functioning mates.<\/p>\n

The final ache faded and I stumbled slightly, overwhelmed by the intensity of Locke\u2019s energy inside me. \u201cBetter?\u201d<\/i> my mate asked a second time.<\/p>\n

This time, the answer was easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerfect.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

We weren\u2019t running any longer. Instead, we\u2019d come to a halt atop a small rise, boggy ground oozing up between my toes and the aroma of crushed ferns sweet in my nostrils. I turned to face my mate\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026Then shivered. A pocket of cold air had settled over the rise, intense enough to make my recently healed paw ache. My inner wolf\u2019s ears swiveled, trying to track the invisible.<\/p>\n

Or no, not the invisible. There was movement beyond Locke\u2019s left shoulder.<\/p>\n

Two wolves loped toward each other in the distance, barely visible through the heat shimmer rising from a sun-warmed expanse of marsh. \u201cPack mates?\u201d<\/i> I asked via our mate bond.<\/p>\n

Locke didn\u2019t turn to look, using my own eyes in place of his own. Still, his answer was certain. He knew every one of his pack mates on a bone-deep level.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cIntruders?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cLikely.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

After all, we were closer to the academy grounds here than to pack central. Closer to the area we\u2019d known might become a target for those afraid of wolf weavers or of wolf-weaver knowledge expanding past designated bloodlines. The only surprise was that no strangers had made trouble before this.<\/p>\n

Through the mate bond, I felt Locke transition from run-partner to alpha. The change was so abrupt it felt like ice hissing into boiling water. He needed to chase, to defend, to\u2014<\/p>\n

The wolves turned down a slope, disappearing from view. And I made the decision for both of us, breaking into a sprint along a route that should lead straight toward where the intruders had gone.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Distances were deceptive in wide-open landscapes. What had looked like a quick jog stretched into minutes of hard running as we arrowed toward the landmark I\u2019d noted.<\/p>\n

Locke surged ahead almost immediately, our former synchronization abandoned. I had to push my muscles hard to keep up as the first fat drops of rain struck my fur.<\/i><\/p>\n

Then a summer storm unleashed itself with the kind of abrupt fury only arctic weather could manage. Soon, I was running flat-out across ground turned muddy and treacherous. Rain plastered my fur flat against my face, making it hard to see.<\/p>\n

The water washed away scents also\u2014the easiest way to track in wolf form\u2014leaving us at a disadvantage. But the wolves hadn\u2019t fled. As we crested the next slope, I spotted them: two figures in human form, standing so close together they seemed like a single shadow against rain-sodden tundra. They were visible only in flashes when lightning strobed through storm clouds, so it was hard to make out any identifying features.<\/p>\n

In the second of those flashes, they saw us just as we\u2019d seen them. Instantly, the intruders split apart, shifting back into fur even as they leapt into motion. The one on the left darted toward a cluster of spruce, the other toward a deep ravine that cut like a scar through the hillside off to our right.<\/p>\n

A deliberate attempt to divide us? \u201cStay together,\u201d<\/i> Locke commanded through the mate bond even as he veered right.<\/p>\n

The ravine made tactical sense\u2014easier to trap a wolf between stone walls than in brush and trees. But the intruder was faster than I\u2019d expected, dodging between rocks with desperate speed that suggested panic rather than strategy.<\/p>\n

We closed the distance gradually. Fifty feet, then forty.<\/p>\n

As we ran, the rain intensified until I could no longer tell shadows from substance. A sudden band of cold speared through me and I glanced at Locke, expecting him to be shivering just like I was.<\/p>\n

Only, he cocked his head while we both kept on running. No, he hadn\u2019t noticed anything.<\/p>\n

So maybe the cold hadn\u2019t been real? Maybe none of the chills during and after the failed empowerment ritual had been actual environmental changes. If haywire magic had knocked my internal thermostat sideways\u2026<\/p>\n

I shouldn\u2019t have let my attention wander from the current moment, not when sprinting over rough terrain during a downpour. My paw slipped on loose rocks. The newly healed cut on my pad reopened. Pain flared with my next step.<\/p>\n

Locke stopped so abruptly I slammed into his flank, fur cushioning the impact while also shielding us from his bond-breaker abilities. Still, it was a close call. If I\u2019d fallen and my nose had touched his paw pad\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d <\/i>I demanded, trying to see past him into the ravine.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re hurt.\u201d<\/i> Energy trickled down the mate bond without permission this time, turning pain into a healing itch, one significantly less welcome than it had been the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re letting them get away\u2014\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

I craned around his bulk, desperate for any glimpse of our quarry. But rain and cloud shadows blocked everything.<\/p>\n

Locke stepped aside just as static raised the fur along my spine. Lightning split the sky, bright enough to turn the whole world white.<\/p>\n

For just a moment, the full landscape was illuminated. But it was also empty. Just ravine and rain-washed stone.<\/p>\n

Whoever\u2014or whatever\u2014we\u2019d been chasing had vanished as thoroughly as if they had never existed.<\/p>\n

Chapter 4<\/h1>\n

Through the mate bond, I felt Locke reaching out to his pack, coordinating a continuation of the search he\u2019d forced us to give up on. His mental touch brushed across one pack mate after another then\u2014<\/p>\n

His whole body went rigid.<\/p>\n

Instinct pressed me closer to my mate\u2019s fur even though I\u2019d been the one wary of this kind of contact a moment earlier. My query was more emotion than words, but Locke\u2019s response came through the mate bond in full sentences.<\/p>\n

\u201cTobias is down. X found him near the eastern perimeter.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Down<\/i> could mean injured. Down<\/i> could mean unconscious. But the way Locke\u2019s pain crashed into me suggested it meant something far worse.<\/p>\n

This time, when we ran, Locke kept me in front of him. Not to give me control but to guard my back. Meanwhile, his dread amplified my own until the prickly emotion reverberated back and forth between us like speaker feedback.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d seen Tobias an hour ago. He\u2019d been fine then. Alert. Focused on his security cameras.<\/p>\n

What had happened in a single hour?<\/p>\n

Locke\u2019s beta met us at the tree line in human form, clothes already on and a bundle of additional items in his arms so Locke and I could dress after shifting. X\u2019s stance was as stiff and alert as always, but his face was ashen as he informed us:<\/p>\n

\u201cTobias is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The warning was for me, I realized, not for Locke. This hard-nosed beta had proven his protective streak when he left his life in Europe behind to follow his nephew, Locke\u2019s son, back to Canada. Now, as X took up a position at my shoulder, it seemed he expected me to collapse at the sight of a dead body and was well aware that my mate shouldn\u2019t be the one to catch me if I fell.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t collapse though. I\u2019d seen corpses before. After all, that\u2019s where ghosts came from.<\/p>\n

Instead, Locke was the one who swayed as we entered the small clearing ringed by scrubby willows, leftover rain dripping from their leaves like tears. Locke was the one who grunted as if he\u2019d been struck as he took in the scene.<\/p>\n

Tobias\u2019s tablet was still clutched in one hand, screen dark. The young man looked like he\u2019d simply sat down to rest\u2014legs crossed, back resting against a tree trunk, head tilted slightly to one side.<\/p>\n

Except he wasn\u2019t breathing.<\/p>\n

X would already have checked his pulse. Still, Locke dropped to his knees, fingers flying to Tobias\u2019s throat. At the same time, my mate\u2019s thoughts flowed toward me down the mate bond.<\/p>\n

Tobias had still been learning how to carry himself. Now, we\u2019d never know what kind of man he would have grown into.<\/p>\n

Just like Braden and Chloe. I swallowed. All three had been far too young to die.<\/p>\n

I expected the sag of Locke\u2019s shoulders when the pulse he was seeking didn\u2019t materialize. I didn\u2019t expect what my mate did next.<\/p>\n

Without explanation, Locke began prying open Tobias\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n

I moved closer, careful not to disturb anything. The area around Tobias showed no signs of struggle, no trampled grass or broken branches. The screen of his tablet wasn\u2019t scratched or broken. His clothes weren\u2019t bloodied or torn.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo strange scents,\u201d X said before I could ask. \u201cBut he\u2019s been here through the rain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDry soil beneath him,\u201d I agreed. Then for the beta\u2019s benefit: \u201cWe saw Tobias just before the storm, so the timeline is tight.\u201d<\/p>\n

X nodded, but his attention hadn\u2019t left his alpha. The gruesome sight of Locke\u2019s finger probing deep in a dead man\u2019s mouth had quickly grown understandable to me but apparently not to X.<\/p>\n

\"Bond<\/a><\/h1>\n

\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d the beta demanded at last.<\/p>\n

Spitz and Fisher\u2019s Medicolegal Investigation of Death<\/i> pointed out that surface temperatures dropped quickly when bodies stopped working, but core heat should only lose a couple of degrees per hour. Locke didn\u2019t go into those specifics. Just said, \u201cHis tongue is colder than it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cold like that blast of chill during my failed empowerment ritual? Like the two I\u2019d felt out on the tundra?<\/p>\n

Only this one Locke could feel too.<\/p>\n

That left me even more at a loss to explain the temperature oddity, but I knew one thing: \u201cYoung wolves don\u2019t drop dead of natural causes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d Locke closed Tobias\u2019s mouth then ran his hands over his pack mate\u2019s arms in a way that suggested grief more than investigation. \u201cNo, they don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Keep reading in Bond Breaker!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before you dive into this sneak preview…this is book three in a series! Haven’t read the first two books yet? Mate Market is the place to start. *** Chapter 1 The knife was burning into my palms, and my oldest friend was disappearing before my eyes. Which, okay, wasn\u2019t entirely odd. Braden was a ghost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,174],"tags":[14,7,27,23,8],"class_list":["post-4190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excerpts-aimee-easterling","category-series-ghost-pack","tag-paranormal-books","tag-shifter-books","tag-urban-fantasy-books","tag-urban-paranormal-romantic-fantasy","tag-werewolf-books","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4190"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4197,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4190\/revisions\/4197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}