A Broken Bond Read Online Free PDF Page A

had begun to tremble slightly. His fists clenched by his sides. “The cubs?”
    Cash squared himself, his teeth gritted in preparation. He’d known Blaine lo ng enough to anticipate what was going to happen next. Blaine never disciplined with words¯ever. He braced himself and responded with tight lips, “All doing fine.”
    To an outsider, this conversation would be pleasant enough. To Cash, this was nothing more than total hell. Blaine and his conversations never revolved around small talk. Neither cared for it. It clearly displayed the hostility that lay between them.
    Cash glanced back to the car. Rylie watched with her eyes glued to them. He needed to get on with this and face it dead on. If things between him and Blaine weren’t resolved, he doubted Blaine would do all he could to help him. He looked back to Blaine in a challenge. “You have never been one to be tight-lipped, so get on with it.”
    Blaine’s eyes narrowed. “You want to have that conversation?”
    “It’s not a thing of want, but must have.”
    Blaine nodded, his mouth pursed into a thin line, then in a move that was quicker than Cash could even register, landed a hard right hook into his jaw and sent him airborne.
    The air made a whooshing sound as he continued to soar. From a distance, he heard the car door open, then Rylie screamed out his name. His back hit the ground first and his head followed with a sharp pain that stole his breath as a loud grunt escaped his mouth.
    “Cash,” Rylie screamed out again.
    He shot his gaze to her, not blind to the concern rushing across her face. The thought of her being protective over him made him smile. But when he heard Blaine’s pounding footsteps toward him, he shut off all emotion and said, “Get back in the car¯now.” To his total surprise, she didn’t hesitate. Before he even finished his words, she was back in the car with the door closed. Either she had been raised by a powerful male influence, or she was subo rdinate. He wasn’t sure which one he believed, and now wasn’t the time to decide.
    Blaine was now glaring over him. “You are a selfish fuck.”
    “Everyone keeps on saying that,” Cash groaned as he peeled himself off the stone driveway.
    Blaine reached down and yanked him up to bring them nose-to-nose. Their height was equal, and their weight was nearly identical. Blaine had said on more than one occasion that if Cash wanted to succeed him, he could do it easily. The role of Alpha, of course, interested him. The idea of taking it away from Blaine didn’t. “You deserted your pack,” Blaine roared. “Do you know the pain you caused?”
    “The pain I caused?” Cash growled in return. “Whose pain?”
    “The whole fucking pack.” Blaine pulled him in closer now, his breath warm against Cash’s face. “Not only did we lose Jaclyn. We lost you, too. The pack had to deal with that. They depended on you. You were as much an Alpha as I am to them, and you left them high and dry.”
    “They have you. They didn’t need me.”
    Blaine’s glare deepened. “After you left, they pined. The entire pack mourned Jaclyn, suffered through your sister’s pain of losing a sister and a brother, then ached through your abandonment of them.” He walloped Cash again, this time with an uppercut that sent his teeth rattling and the world spinning around him.
    The second Cash hit dirt, he lunged to his feet, not giving into the pain. “Staying here would have been worse.”
    “You think?” Blaine pounced forward, sending them both tumbling backward.
    Cash landed hard on his back, wrestled beneath him and blocked Blaine’s attempts to pummel him to pieces. “I know, dammit,” he shouted, breathless. “I would have only caused more pain.”
    “Fuck that.” Blaine raised a knee and blasted Cash’s stomach. “We all could have been healed together.”
    Cash keeled over and sucked in a breath in an attempt to not vomit. “I didn’t want to be saved.” His voice came out