Everyone just stared at us. Even Gabel's packmates seemed shocked.

With werewolves, the male could sense females he could potentially bond with. He was always looking for the best possible match. When he found her, he Marked her. Marking wasn't done casually. This ripped open the bond (like ripping open a gift) and forged the two together. It didn't complete the process but it was basically like getting engaged and setting the wedding date and hiring the planner all at once.

There were ways to break the Bond but it wasn't easy and could be deadly.

Marking was never done on a first meeting, and Marking a female by force was not allowed.

Many males said they knew "the one" when they met her, but because females couldn't sense it, the male had to spend a lot of time courting and convincing the female (and her family, and maybe her pack) that he was "the one" for her.

Gabel had just swooped in and bitten me like a crow stealing a bag of chips.

But try to tell Gabel what was and was not allowed.

None of this was what was truly crazy. Opening the Bond meant the mates were tied together. Their souls were joined. I would be loyal to him and to his pack. That was the smart part.

The part I could not understand was this made him loyal to me. That was crazy. Why would Alpha Gabel want to risk tying himself to someone he barely knew?

The only possible explanation was he was truly insane.

He just smirked, swollen on his own smugness. "I've been accused of that before."

My mouth unhinged.

Gabel turned to Jermain. "We have nothing more to discuss, Alpha Jermain. My business here is done and I have what I have come for."

Then he turned to me. "I believe," he turned and grinned at me with gleaming, bloody teeth, "That the tribute of a Seer and a potential Mate will fulfill your obligations to Iron Moon the next twelve moons."

Potential! He had Marked me and already was talking like he wasn't going to carry through with it?!

Already, his words made me ache. I was Bound to him, so the mention of him discarding me made my soul ache in protest. It had to have hurt him too. So why did he say it?

Because he was crazy.

He stood back and waited while I bid my pack farewell. I don't remember the goodbyes. I drifted in a fog of shock and grief and a newly-rended Bond.

I didn't have much to take with me. Just two duffel bags of clothes and my precious scrying bowls and orbs. One of the Iron Moon enforcers stood at the doorway and watched me, and then insisted on carrying my things. He addressed me as "ma'am", but not Luna.

There were two more things Gabel and I would need to do to be fully mated: actually well, you know... mate. After that, he would have to re-affirm the Mark under a full moon, in front of the Moon Goddess and as many of our pack as possible. After that the process would be complete.

But he had done the biggest and most important step.

He couldn't force me to do the other two. The Bond would prevent him from forcing me to do the last two.

But the Bond would also work against us and make us want to do those last two things. The Bond made you do stupid things. The Bond wanted to be final and complete. The Bond was a living thing. It was like your lungs. Lungs wanted to breathe.

No matter how hard someone might try, they couldn't force themselves to not breathe. Eventually their most basic instincts would kick in, and their body would force them to take in a big deep breath.

Even if whatever they breathed in would kill them.

That's what the Bond was like. That's what the Bond did. It was alive and sacred. It couldn't be created from nothing, so clearly there had been some potential between Gabel and I. That was a horrifying thought. I didn't want to have anything in common with him.

The next thing I remembered I was in the back of a luxurious black car with Alpha Gabel. It was just him and I. I didn't want to be near him. But I was. One of his goons drove, and there was another car in front and behind us.

Gabel ignored me and paid a lot of attention to his phone.

I was too frightened to say anything. He was a crazy sadist with delusions of grandeur and he scared the crap out of me.

And now I was bound to him. I could have run to the ends of the earth and jumped into the abyss of space and still wouldn't be free of him.

But after two hours of driving my fear had dulled to something like a toothache and I got up the courage to ask. "Why?"

He looked up from his phone. "Why what, buttercup?"

Buttercup? When had I gotten a pet name? I didn't want a pet name. Especially not that one. "Why did you Mark me? You've given me power over you and you don't even know who I am."

He smirked. "I wanted a challenge. I want to see if I can resist the lure of the Bond."

Confirmed: he was crazy.

So that begged a question. Resisting the Bond drove a wolf crazy. If Gabel was already crazy, did that mean the Bond wouldn't affect him?

It was a terrifying thought.

Worse yet, would I go crazy? If he was resisting the Bond, and that denied me the Bond, could it drive me insane? We were bound together now, at our very souls, and we could affect each other. We would soon become distantly aware of the other's emotions, or how far away they were, or even feel pain if they were in great pain.

I don't know where my courage to keep talking came from. Maybe it came from him. "So torturing dozens of packs isn't challenge enough."

"It's gotten a little too easy. As you can see. I just picked up my phone," he put his phone to his ear like a toddler playing with a toy telephone. "And called Jermain and said I was on my way."

Bond or not, I despised him in that moment, and I'm sure he felt it. "So it's true. You want to be a King Alpha."

Another satisfied smirk. "My secret is safe with you, buttercup."

Cursed Bond! I couldn't betray him without condemning myself. But I could still think he was a cruel, depraved monster. I didn't have to love him. I would not love him. I would not love him.

"Don't you want to know about you and I, buttercup?" he prodded.

"No." I ignored the sensation of a sore tooth deep within me.

He kept talking. I wished he'd shut up. "We'll let everyone think you will be my Queen. So you can get comfortable in case the Bond wins."

"If you thought the Bond might win, why'd you take the chance?"

He was using something sacred, a gift from the Moon, for his own personal amusement. It was blasphemy.

Another grin. This one made my blood turn to ice and a little corner of me shriveled away from him in fear.

He felt it. He liked it.

He liked feeling my terror. And because of the Bond, I enjoyed his enjoyment. I enjoyed him torturing me.

This was blasphemy. This was a pervision. This was anthema. This was not what the Bond was for!

He just smiled like slow honey pouring over his perfect lips. "Because that's what makes it fun, buttercup. A fight you know you'll win isn't interesting. I smelled that scent on you. I've smelled it at least a dozen times before. I could have had a dozen Bondmates by now. But you are a Seer. You'll be useful either way. My own personal pet Seer."

He cupped my chin in his fingers. I yanked away, "Shut up! This is blasphemy!"

"Don't growl at me, buttercup. That's not very nice." His eyes darkened like a storm to a burning green-blue shade and his lips curled over his teeth.

I cringed and pressed myself backwards into the car's door, as far as I could get from him. His violent intentions burned through the Bond and grabbed my heart with fear. He was a monster.

Then he hesitated and cocked his head as if he heard something. Then he chuckled, low in his throat. "So that is the Bond." He looked back at me with sharp eyes. "You feel my malevolence. You feel my enjoyment. I feel your terror. Do you think that is the same sort of terror I make others feel?"

My voice quavered and fat tears rolled down my cheeks. "What's wrong with you?"

He just laughed at me.