Menagerie

Chapter 14 - Penny

I released Owen's hand and stood up from the breakfast table. "I'm going to grab some food," I said. I tugged Serena up as I walked past her chair. I trusted her perspective on men. Maybe she would have a theory that would make me feel less like I was going to vomit. If she didn't, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it through this breakfast without confronting him. It was the last thing I wanted – our big meal didn't need to be more of a disaster than it already was.

"I don't know what's happening," I whispered to Serena as we walked toward the buffet.

She threw a glare over her shoulder at Owen and his friends. "I don't know either, but something's definitely going down," she said. "They're all acting suspicious, as if this morning wasn't already weird enough."

I exhaled in a rush. "I hoped I was being paranoid."

"Nope," she said, popping her P. She pulled me off to the side and looked me dead in the eye. "Listen... this is definitely a huge overreaction at this point, but I need to know that you can take care of yourself. Do you know how to break a mate bond?"

I gasped and stared at her in horror. "Serena, I couldn't."

Her stare was unflinching. "Penny, I'm not saying you should. We have no idea what's happening and there are too many possibilities to even try guessing right now. But we don't know this man and I think we have to face the reality that this could be something bad. We might be leaving without you this morning and I'm not leaving you alone with him if you don't at least know how to break the mating bond if you need to."

I shuddered. "I don't know how, Serena, and I really don't want to. It's not something I could ever do. Owen and I are just going to have to get past... whatever this is."

Unless he wanted to break the bond. Maybe he was just trying to spend as little time as possible with me since he was already planning on leaving me. But why would he have forged our mating bond only to turn around and snap it the next morning? It didn't make sense. "It can't be anything that serious, Serena."

She shook her head and her eyes softened with sadness. "Look, where I'm from, this is something we're all taught about, just in case. All it takes is willpower. You can feel the bond already. All you have to is focus on it, and focus on uprooting it. Dig out the ties within yourself. It's supposed to be agonizing, like pulling out your fingernails. You'd lose your ability to shift until you recovered – days or weeks, it's different for everyone. You can pass out from it, so only do it if you're in a safe place away from Owen."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," I said, feeling dazed.

"It's just a backup plan, and I hope you never have to do it. I just know you werecoyotes like to pretend your bonds are completely unbreakable and that you've probably never heard about this before."

"Well, you're right. I haven't." I stepped back toward the buffet, desperate to carry on like nothing had happened. How had it come to this? Our breakfast was ruined and Serena thought I needed educated on breaking mate bonds, the most sacred thing in any shifter's life.

This was not how my morning was supposed to go.

I glanced back at Jasper, who was listening as Logan spoke. He didn't look happy. What would Char think? She and Simon had been so happy with each other their first morning together. Maybe something had happened since then, something that would show me these issues were just growing pains and nothing to be worried about.

Then I felt bad for hoping Char and Simon had issues.

No, this was my own fault. I had picked Owen and chosen to bind us together. Whatever was happening... well, we'd have to figure it out.