Page 29 of Broken

Ireland stared at Cole. She hadn’t known any of that about shifter wolves, and had absolutely no idea what might happen to their bond with him wearing the bracelet. It wasn’t like she’d thought this through beforehand.

“There’s no way for me to know,” she said. “The bracelet was never intended to be worn by shifters.”

She didn’t mention that, now she’d had time to think, she was surprised it had worked on Cole at all. It was made of Bright Fae magic, and shifters were made of Dark Fae magic. She’d always been told the two were incompatible. Thus, why the Bright Fae were so afraid of her.

She could see that the wolves didn’t like the idea of their bond being messed with. Boomer and some of the others had come in behind Thanatos, and now they all started objecting to the whole idea—and to her—in loud voices. And growling a lot.

To make it worse, she was pretty sure that Thanatos was Dark Fae. She couldn’t tell what kind, except that he was extremely old and extremely powerful, and was disguising his nature with carefully crafted spells.

But she had only encountered one Fae Elder in her time—a Bright Fae—and he hadn’t come close to emanating the intense aura of power this one did.

She shivered. His energy was making her a little sick, and somewhere inside her, she was aware of her wolf-self in a way she’d never been before. It was like it existed inside her as a separate entity, and it was… curious. Interested. And pulled towards all these dark creatures, these wolves, and the prince of darkness who led them.

Oddly, though, she didn’t feel a sense of evil from him. More just alienness, like something you’d find deep in a dark cave under the earth, something powerful and unchanging that measured time in centuries rather than years.

But that in itself made him dangerous. His needs and wants were nothing like hers, and he would never be swayed by her powers.

Ireland suddenly felt like the room was closing in on her. Too much noise, too much anger, too much dark magic.

Just when she wanted to break and run, Cole gave a short, earsplitting whistle.

“Enough,” he said. “Shut up.”

To her surprise, they listened. Everyone stopped talking.

Cole turned to Ireland. “You said something last night about you and the Protector having to stay together,” he said. “How far apart can we get, exactly.”

She bit her lip. “I don’t know. A few hundred yards, maybe? Less if we can’t see each other.”

He gave a short nod, like it was about what he’d expected. “What happens if we don’t?”

“Right away?” she said. “We lose our powers and start to get weak.”

That wasn’t the whole answer, and she could see he knew it. “And then?”

“And then we pass out.”

His voice got that dangerous quietness again. “And then?”

She sighed. “And then we die.”

He seemed less upset by this than all the others, who’d started growling again. He said, “I thought the Bright Fae were all about lambs and butterflies and things not dying.”

He didn’t have to be snarky about it. “Well, we can be separated for probably a day.” She thought back to what the Council had told her, to impress on her that it was futile to try to run away. “They explained that it would be my choice if we died, because it would mean I broke the rules.”

Cole’s eyes widened. “They said that?” She nodded. “And if one of us was… say… kidnapped? And removed forcibly?”

If it was her, they would have taken the bracelet off the Protector, and used it to find her. She didn’t know what they would have done if her Protector was kidnapped. But she only said, “Sucks for us.”

That set them all off again, louder this time.

Cole stared at her for a long moment, his eyes unreadable. Then he swung around and gave another sharp whistle.

Everyone shut up again. Damn. Ireland wondered if he could teach her to do that.

Gunn turned to Thanatos. “Can’t you get that thing off him?”

Ireland noted he wasn’t so concerned about her.

“Not at the present time,” Thanatos said. “It will require further study.” He fixed that creepy empty hood on Ireland again.

“You will return with us to Outlaw Ridge. At that time, we will discuss what Thomas Riker was trying to accomplish, to make sure it does not come to pass. And I will examine the magic of this bond more closely.”

Ireland could feel walls closing in around her, the dreams of freedom crumbling. She didn’t believe for a moment that a dark creature like Thanatos would be able to influence the bracelets, and she was scared of what would happen if he tried.

And what if the pack bond Gunn talked about worked the other way? What if all the dark magic of the wolves crept into her through Cole and the bracelet, and snuffed out her soul? Turned her into a killer?

But what choice did she have? She’d done this to Cole. It was her responsibility to see it through. Maybe when they were alone, she could convince him to leave with her. Surely there was someone, somewhere—a Bright Fae who would help her.

She had to hold on to that.