Standing beside me, Bree shook with a silent strength as she stared at the two council members—or at least, that’s who I was guessing they were—determination tilting her chin despite the fact that all color had drained out of her face. At her declaration, the man and the woman had fallen silent, their hands reaching for one another in a show of support.

A couple then.

Who knew Bree’s real name.

And hugged her like they knew her.

Ah, fuck! Everything slotted into place.

Her words had my stance widening and my back straightening, even as their meaning sank in and spread exhilaration humming through my blood.

Tracing Bree’s hand with my thumb, I stared at the couple as they finally noticed me, the silent shadow standing beside their daughter, whose hand she was holding onto so tight, I was beginning to lose circulation.

But I wasn’t going anywhere. Just like their daughter wasn’t. And didn’t that little fact just threaten to cut me off at the knees?

“Bree?”

She jolted at the sound of my voice, her eyes showing a little too much white as she tilted her head to me, breaking the staring match that was going on. “Owen, these are my parents. Sylvia and Gareth Skyjade.” She indicated the older couple with a tilt of her head, but seemed reluctant to tear her eyes away from me. Then her jaw firmed, her gaze shuttering. “Sorry, my adoptive parents.”

A soft gasp came from Sylvia, her hand fluttering over her mouth and her mate’s arm going around her shoulders, as if to stop her from stumbling, but I wasn’t fooled. If either one, or both, were on the council then they were powerful shifters.

“We wanted to tell you…” Regret dragged Gareth’s features down, his voice trailing off.

Sylvia’s shoulders rolled back, as if finally finding her spine. “But if anyone outside of our home that we couldn’t trust had found out that you weren’t really ours, they might have taken you away from us. We couldn’t risk it.”

“Maybe that would have been better, did you ever think of that? Huh? Mother.” Bree spat the words out as if they were daggers she could inflict physical pain with.

Gareth frowned. “Don’t talk to your mother like that.”

“But she isn’t, is she?”

Gareth opened his mouth, but Sylvia silenced him with a hand on his arm. “Is that why you ran away? Because you found out?”

I glanced around. People had drifted away, giving the family reunion some space. My enforcers had taken up position on both sides, their eyes averted but aware. Carter stared at me from over by the town car and I gave him a sharp shake of my head. His eyebrow rose, but he didn’t start forward, instead shepherding his flock across the street to wherever the hell he decided to take them. I didn’t know, didn’t care, my whole attention focused on helping my mate deal with whatever the hell was going on.

A tremor ran through Bree and pinpricks of pain jabbed into my hands as her claws descended. Gritting my teeth, I ignored the inconvenience, continuing to massage a circle into her skin.

“No. And don’t try and act like you don’t know the real reason.”

As an outsider looking in, the Skyjades looked genuinely confused, but Bree knew her parents better than I did. If she said they screwed her over, then that was that. I didn’t need proof.

“Do you want to get out of here?” I asked, not bothering to lower my voice. They’d hurt Bree, so they could go to hell for all I cared.

“Yes.” Her answer came out on a breath, as if all the air had been squeezed out of her body.

Flashing her a small smile, I turned to leave, placing my body between the two warring sides.

“Wait. You can’t leave! We’ve only just found you again.”

Bree gritted her teeth, her jaw working back and forth, but kept walking.

“Lucky, who is this man?” Sylvia was persistent, I had to give her that.

Bree stopped, turned around, stepping into my body as if we were joined at the hip. “He’s my husband.”

“Your what?” Gareth barked out, his brow wrinkling.

A sneer painted Bree’s face in anger, but her eyes were clouded with so much pain, it darkened her eyes to a swirling storm cloud of green. “Yes. I’m married now, which means you can’t just give me away to any man you fancy anymore. Or sell me, is that what you did? I never could figure it out.”

What. The. Fuck. Only Bree’s hand clamping down on my chest prevented me from striding over there and tearing into them, her fingers spreading and pressing over my heart. But my growl was heard loud and clear.

“What— We didn’t—” Again, it looked like genuine confusion and shock. They were grade A actors, that’s for sure.

“Sure you didn’t. You really think that I wanted to mate with a man twenty years older than me? That I’d spoken less than five words to in my entire life?”

Sylvia took a step forward, but Bree stopped her with a sweep of her hand. A hand tipped with claws.

“Fine,” Bree spat out, “We’ll do this here, shall we? Just so I never have to see you again.” She held out her hand, raising her fingers as if ticking off a list. “First of all, you trained me as council enforcer, then to take over your position when you retire.”

My eyes widened. Well. Holy shit.

“Secondly, you then forbade me from fighting or training, trying to make me into a good little obedient woman. Third, you then arranged for me to mate with a man I didn’t love.”

The Skyjades opened their mouths, but Bree beat them to it, her voice carrying the weight of her hurt, “Without even asking me.” Her hand dropped, her shoulders slumping for the first time since the confrontation had begun, and that’s what stabbed me in the chest. Seeing her defeat. Her intense pain radiating in every move that she took. “You just arranged it all and expected me to go along with it.” She took a step forward, jolting to a stop as if pulled by invisible strings. “You took the life I enjoyed from me and reduced me to nothing but an object to be bartered.” She cursed, her chest rising. “I trusted you.”

And they’d failed her.

Her laugh was bitter, a sound I never wanted to hear come out of her mouth again. I silently swore it wouldn’t, not so long as my heart was still beating, pumping blood through my veins. “Oh, and fourth, you’re not even my real parents, so what right did you have to give me away? Huh?”

I let her pull me away with her. Shit, I’d follow this woman anywhere. Away from Heartsridge. My pack. My family. I’d follow her anywhere, even if all I was good for was standing in front of her, so I could shield her from any blows that came her way.

“It’s over, you’re okay.”

Her hand squeezed mine, acknowledging my words, but she didn’t speak. Just kept on walking.

“Wait! We didn’t know,” came from behind us.

“Bullshit,” Bree muttered, shaking her head, as if to dislodge the lies. She didn’t look at me, her eyes blinking as she chewed her bottom lip. Then she sighed, her voice barely above a whisper, “Take me home, Owen.”

“Anything for you, sugar.”

* * *

I still wasn’t sure why the council had turned up. Carter had sent a message about them visiting to lay groundwork for something, and that they would be returning soon, but honestly? I didn’t care. My sole focus was the woman who hadn’t moved an inch from our bed since lying down on it over four hours ago. Hands tucked under her chin and knees pulled up to her chest, she was an island isolated by her emotions which churned under her skin and leaked out of her stormy eyes.

And all I could do was sit next to her, waiting for her to come back to me. But I had plenty to think about. Fuck. My brain was working on overload at the moment, trying to process the influx of new information and connect it with the woman I knew lying next to me. I made myself go through it logically, point by point.

Trust. She found it hard. Obviously, she had good reasons and, damn, there were a lot of them. Too many to count.

Men. I didn’t even want to touch that one; just the thought of another man putting his filthy hands on her… But, yeah, now I knew why she was averse to commitment.

Strength. If she’d been a man, I would have said they’d emasculated her. They’d forced her into a role she didn’t want, taking something away from her that she was obviously born to do.

The lack of female dragon shifters. Now, this one was tricky for me to wrap my head around. Was it the reason they’d stripped Bree of her dreams or was it not connected at all? Was the man she’d been promised to influential? Rich? What did her parents get out of this?

“I can hear you thinking from over here.” Bree’s voice was hoarse.

I forced a chuckle. “That’s because I’m clinging to you like a barnacle.”

“Or a leech.”

“But there’s no sucking going on…”

She rolled onto her back, shoving me over a bit. “One track mind.” She scowled, but it didn’t have any heat. She looked broken. Empty. And it fucking killed me.

“Bree—”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” The soft plea was accompanied by eyes silently begging me. Her walls were going back up, brick by brick, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

I made myself nod once and she relaxed, her eyes fluttering shut as she made to roll away from me again.

Nope. Not happening. I grabbed for the idea that had flitted through my mind and jumped with it. “Hey, so it turns out you’re a little more qualified than I’d been led to believe.”

She halted mid roll, squinting at me.

Progress… “And, you know, I was thinking about promoting you.”

She blinked. “Huh?”

Time to go all in. “So, get your cute ass out of bed. We’ve got work to do.” Giving her a slap on the previously mentioned ass, I rolled off the bed and stretched, waving her to get a move on.

“What the hell are you talking about?” She might be grumbling, but at least she was now sitting and not stewing.

I rubbed my jaw, narrowing my eyes. “And here I was thinking you were a woman of your word.”

“Hey, screw you, wolf.” She was pissed now, but at least she was out of bed, shaking her finger at me.

Grabbing her finger, I kissed it. “I will. Later. For now, we have work to do.” Giving her hand a tug, I half dragged, half cajoled her out of the bedroom, leading her downstairs and into my office. Pulling out the chair from behind my desk, I performed a low, sweeping bow. “Sit.”

She scowled, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m not a dog, you are.”

“Your words cut deep.”

“Not deep enough. You’re still smirking at me.”

“I can continue to smirk at you while you’re sitting in the chair.”

With a humph, she flopped down. “Happy now?”

“I will be when you’ve dealt with this.” I dragged over a stack of papers and dumped them in front of her.

“What am I, your secretary now?”

Bracing my hands on the desk, I shook my head, slow enough that the message would be received loud and clear. “No. You’re the joint alpha of this pack and we’ve got a shit ton of work to get through today.”

Then I straightened, waiting for her response and holding my breath.

She stared at the documents, then back at me. “But—What?”

“Eloquent as always, sugar.” I strode toward the door. “Don’t forget to inform the relevant parties once you’ve made your decisions.”

“You’re not staying? You don’t want to check everything?”

I paused with a frown. “Why? Do you need your hand held?”

“No.” The first stirrings of excitement simmered in her eyes.

“Then I’ll leave you to it. I’ll deal with the other half of the list and we’ll meet back here for dinner?”

She looked up from the papers, which she was already scanning. “Sure,” she replied, but it was absentminded.

Mission Distract Bree accomplished. I let the door close behind me, my exhalation noisy in the corridor as I waited for the panic to grip me at the sudden loss of control.

But it didn’t.

It fucking didn’t.