Vindicator

Chapter 57

Of all the things that Karma expected to happen in that moment, all of the anxiety and stress she poured into this moment...How could it all be for nothing?

"What does this mean?!" Alessia howled in shock.

"I don't know" Karma admitted, subtly sniffing the air. That alluring scent that was promised as a signature identifier of one's mate was not currently present. Was the Moon Goddess wrong? The very creator of werewolves mistaken?

Chance, oblivious to Karma's current anxiety, didn't greet the she-wolf. He merely dropped his head back into his hands to return to his depression. Like Karma, he wasn't feeling any indication of a mate bond; the difference was the he didn't realize there should even be one.

"Ask him!" Alessia insisted.

"No!" Karma snapped. "He clearly doesn't sense a mate bond, and neither do we. The pull is gone, perhaps it shattered with Theo's rejection. We can figure it out later, what's important now is getting the Prince to safety."

Alessia paced in irritation, grumbling out her irritability. Karma merely ignored her wolf, focusing on the task at hand. Her stomach was twisted into knots at the expectation of seeing her mate; however, having no indication of a bond with Chance didn't alleviate her concerns as she'd expect. She decided not to focus on why that might be.

"Hey...I heard about Theo...I'm sorry" she offered cautiously as a start.

Chance didn't respond, and just remained as he was. After giving him a few moments of silence, hoping he was going to respond, Karma had to try again.

"Your highness? I know you're hurting right now...But can we get you back to safety at least? I promise I won't let anyone bother you, if you'll just return with me" she tried.

Still, he remained unmoving.

"Something is very wrong" Alessia whimpered.

Karma agreed, but she wasn't sure what it was. She cautiously approached Chance, as if approaching a dangerous wild animal...And truly, she likely was. Any wrong move could instigate an attack. Still, she was able to approach him so that the toes of her shoes nearly touched his bare toes. Next, she knelt down as slowly and cautiously as she approached, always anticipating an attack. Honestly, the closer she got without a reaction from Chance, the more anxious for him she became.

"What if someone figured out how to control him, like you did to Tiffany?" Alessia asked suddenly.

"Stop it with the ridiculous questions. They would need to be blessed to do that...And we'd have encountered them in the Lupine Realm" Karma reasoned with her wolf.

"There is an entire Earth's worth of Lupine Realm" Alessia shot back. "We could just be missing them."

"No. The Goddess surely would have told us about that" Karma insisted.

Alessia simply gave a snort, as if she didn't entirely buy the truth of that statement. She wouldn't openly speak against her deity, though, so left it alone.

Returning back to the reality of her situation, Karma was now kneeling directly in front of Chance. "Hey...Look at me..." she encouraged gently.

When Chance still didn't move, she reached out to take his chin in her hand. Part of her was anticipating this touch to be the straw that broke the camel's back, both for his patience and for their bond. Disappointment surged through her, though, when Chance didn't react in the slightest. Likewise, she felt none of the electricity of the bond that she'd heard about, cementing the fact that the bond wasn't there. What kind of game has the Goddess been playing at?