Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future

Bronx's POV

Halloween comes and goes. Thanksgiving comes and goes. Winter Solstice is only a couple of weeks away. The frigid Montana winter trudges on. The world keeps turning as if Kas never existed.

Last week, I heard Katherine Santoro’s abandoned estate in Greece burned down to the ground. No fatalities and no signs of the other residents and staff who lived there several days prior. A few days later, hunters found Katherine’s naked body, along with an unidentified woman, both mauled by wild animals in a wooded area of Mongolia. The artist's sketch of the other woman is clearly Cora.

As soon as they confirmed Katherine was dead, I had my people get to work on acquiring Santoro Enterprises. Within several months, I will be the CEO, absorb the company into MasonCo and create a logistics division. If there are any Manae hiding among Santoro Enterprises staff, I will flush them out and throw them into the dungeon to rot. It's what they deserve.

If Kas ever dares show her face again, she will get the same treatment. She will pay for having my sister murdered, abandoning the Blood River pack, then hiding Goddess only knows where, like the fucking coward she is. °

Saint is pacing in my mind like he has been since the day Kas walked through that fucking portal. Every time I let him out for a run to calm him down, he goes straight to Jimmy’s BBQ. He thinks we are going to find Kas anywhere, it will be there. It doesn’t make any sense, but he has become obsessed with the place. :

I went to the therapist, who gave me medication to calm him down, but it didn’t help. He would just wander around more confused until we ended up at Jimmy’s, so! stopped letting him out. Now he just spends his days torturing me by pacing back and forth, making me anxious. If I drink enough, it helps block his antsy demeanor out. *

I take a sip of bourbon from my glass and set it on the side table. I never used to allow food or drinks in the archival library, but it’s the only place I have found where pack members will leave me the fuck alone, so 1 have made an exception for the three bottles of liquor I drink a day.

The snow is falling heavily outside. It looks beautiful, but I know less than twenty minutes in human form could kill you out there. Beautiful but fatal. Just like Kas. I close my eyes for a moment and envision her beautiful violet eyes and her sparkling silver hair. I can practically hear her sweet little laugh. The pain of being away from her overwhelms me again. I take another sip of my drink to stave it off. There is a small knock at the library door. I consider not answering for a minute until they knock again. I roll my eyes and pick up the remote control to open the door.

“Come in,” I say when I hear the door slide open.

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“Alpha,” Ashley’s quiet voice comes up from behind me and she stands next to my chair.

“How can I help you Ashley?” I ask, without looking away from the window.

“Bronx, it’s Musu. She went into labor this morning. I was hoping we could let Marco go be with her when the pups are born?” She sounds calm, but I can hear the fear in her voice.

“No.”

“Bronx, please. This is for Musu. She has done everything you asked of her. Please give her this one thing,” Ashley steps in front of me and puts her hands over her large belly, “Bronx, don’t let your feelings about Marco take a father away from his pups. Just for one day.”

“No, Ashley. He didn’t just betray me. He betrayed our entire pack. I would be stupid to trust him again. Musu is going to have to be disappointed because he isn't getting out of the dungeon anytime soon. Not even because his mate is giving birth,” I try not to growl. I’m not mad at Ashley, but I'm sure as fuck mad at Marco for knowing Kas was planning on letting the Mavri Magea into the packhouse and not saying anything. He is just as much of a traitor as she is.

“Bronx, if you would just listen to-”

“Ashley, get the fuck out of my library,” I snarl, slamming my glass down on the table. It shatters into a thousand pieces, cutting my hand.

“Serves you right, Bronx,” she sniffs and walks out.

“Shit,” I shake my hand while I wait for Saint to heal it.

“No. Fuck you. I'm not healing your stupid ass,” he seethes at me, “You've been blocking me out for weeks. You want me blocked out fine. I don't owe you shit. All you do is make my life miserable. Heal yourself, dummy. See what happens when you block your wolf.” :

Before I can argue with him, he goes to a far corner of my mind and blocks our connection.

Fine. I get up and go to my office. I grab a napkin from the table and press it to my hand before I realize Ashley left the door open when she left. Milo and Reggie walk by with a binder in their hands, speaking quietly.

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“Hey, what are you guys doing up here?” I call into the hallway.

They stop in their tracks and look at each other before they look at me and turn around.

“We were in her office looking for clues,” Reggie says, holding up the binder.

“What did you find?” I ask. Whatever it is, it's probably another trick. Another distraction to lead us away from wherever she is hiding, “You know what, I don’t want to know.”

“Bronx, we wanted to wait until our regular weekly meeting. You know, the one where you aren't supposed to be drunk at eight a.m. on a Monday morning, but if you want to look at it now,” Milo says, elbowing Reggie. Reggie looks at Milo tentatively, then hands me the blue binder. The front has a sticker adhered to the front that says ‘ Manae Notes’ in Kas’s curly handwriting. I flip it open to find plastic sleeves full of note cards, pictures from home decorating magazines, clips from newspapers, photographs, and other colorful bits of paper sticking out at all angles.

“What is this shit?” I flip through the pages and look up at my Beta and Gamma.

“It’s everything. It has all the details of her plan,” Reggie says, holding his hand out to take the binder back. I look at him blankly. He must be crazy. There is no way she didn’t put some sort of dark spell on this binder.

I turn around and walk into the library. Milo and Reggie follow me.

“Bronx, what are ya doin’ buddy?” Milo asks, “You wanna sit and read that all now? It’s gonna take some time to get through.”

I make my way to the enormous fireplace and throw the binder into the crackling flames without a second thought. ~

“What?! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!” Reggie snarls. He tries to grab at the binder, but it's too far in the fireplace for him to reach without getting severely burned.

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“Dude. What the fuck? That was everything. That's all we had,” Milo looks into the fire sadly.

“Welp, I probably just saved you from being cursed. You're welcome,” I say dryly before I pick up a fresh glass and pour a drink.

“Bronx, that binder had Kas’s plan all spelled out. She wasn't-”

“ENOUGH!" I roar in my Alpha voice, “I never want to hear that name again. Do you understand?”

My Beta and Gamma look at each other again.

“ANSWER ME!” I let my anger boil over.

“Yes, Alpha,” they answer in unison and walk out of the room without another word. °

I put down the glass and pick up the bottle instead, taking a deep swig. I go back to looking out the window.

As the sun sets, the snow stops and the clouds clear away, exposing the night sky full of stars. I look at the bottle in my hand. Only a few gulps left. I turn around and accidentally kick the other three bottles on the floor. When did those get there? I shuffle around them and make my way downstairs and out the back door.

My mind swims as I look out over the sky until I find the moon.

“Leni, if you're out there, I know you're gonna be mad at me, but I gotta do it. I can’t live like this anymore,” I whisper to the large white orb.

I take the bottle to my lips and drink the last few gulps down before I throw it to the ground.

“Bronx, what are you doing?” I hear Saint say, “What the fuck do you think you're doing?”

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I look up at the sky and raise my voice, “ I, Bronx Andreas Mason, reject the goddess Kas Latmus Mason as the fated mate bestowed upon me by Selene, God dess of the Moon. I break the sacred bond between us and release her. We shall no longer be bound to each other i n the eyes of the Mother of Werewolves.” ' The gaping hole of the mate bond breaking instantly consumes me from the inside out. I drop to my knees and clutch my chest, letting out an earth shattering roar.

“You killed us. You just fucking killed us!” Saint howls over and over.

I rock back and forth as I hear people run up from behind me. Milo’s face appears in front of me.

“Bronx, what are you doing out here? What did you just do?” He asks, with a concerned look on his face.

“I let her go, Milo. I broke our bond.”

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