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"Have you found a way to break my bond with Ian?" I asked nonchalantly It was pointless though, Aiden could probably feelto meet with an old friend in two days"

"You can’t break it yourself?"

Aiden was quiet for a few moments before he sat up and looked over atthe sheet around uilt in his eyes and that worried ht

"Why do you ask?"

"Ian told me you could break it if you wanted to," I reluctantly told hier He hopped out of bed and stalked across the room to where his clothes sat in a messy pile

"Is it true?"

"Seems like your mind is already ot out of bed and wrapped the white sheet around my body I placed my hands around his waist and met his eyes "I just want to know, if you could break it, then why haven’t you?" A small part of me worried that in order to break the bond with Ian; I’d have to bond with Aiden The scenario didn’t sound bad, but I was concerned that Aiden was bothered by the idea Perhaps he didn’t want to be bonded to s if that was the case, even if it hurt ht now, but there would be repercussions and Ian knows that" Aiden’s arhtly

"What kind of repercussions?"

"Once a vampire bonds with someone, they’re considered their property If I were to replace Ian’s bond withone of his possessions and the vampire council would order a warrant for uiltthe bond so the council would kill me Vampires are very territorial, as you know, and for all intents and purposes, Ian owns you"

My heart pounded in h my veins I hated va person as their own, and most of all, I hated that my supposed oas Ian Despereaux

"What if I appeal to the vampire council? Tell them he tricked me into the bond?" I asked hopeful

"Vaoing to care that Ian claimed you without your consent I’ll find a way around this, Gwen I promise"

I knew I should believe Aiden’s promise, but my pessimism refused to let me be hopeful

5

I walked up the stone steps in a daze of confusion and anger My life had twisted so far from the norm that I didn’t knohat to think of it anyhout the castle and hter and happiness when my own existence was doomed to be miserable My felloitches and warlocks didn’t have to deal with an ounce of the grief I was dealing with, and it onlyaith Aiden popped into my mind, but even that was squashed by the fact that no matter how far I ran, Ian could always find me I didn’t understand his fascination with h potency because of my spirit walker status Did he want to ownbonded to ame for him? Or did he have another trick up his sleeve? I didn’t know any of the answers and I was getting tired of being in the dark about ed into my bedrooers through her long black fur, and she quickly went back to sleep I envied her, to be able to sleep all day and not have a care in the world "You’re one lucky girl, you know?" I said to ht like a hu a cat as I would be

Two soft knocks brought my attention away from my cat "Come in," I called My door opened, and I sat up when Kye enteredfor so, or someone

"What do you need, Kye?" I didn’t bother to mask my annoyance He crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Holly has sohed bitterly "Don’t you get tired of being her lapdog?"

"No," he said simply I shook my head at his lack of backbone and hopped off edwith Aiden but that would have to wait I grabbed a rubber band off of my dresser and put my hair into a ponytail

"Lead the way," I told Kye