Matilda let out a bitter laugh, the sound hollow and humorless as it escaped her lips, carrying years of pain and resentment, the kind of laughter that held far more grief than amusement.
"Mate? No. We female Lycans can feel the mate bond, but it has always been useless to us. They use sorcery to suppress the mate bonds of the male Lycans so they can accept whoever the elders choose for them."
Ravyn found the revelation increasingly difficult to digest, disgust and disbelief twisting together in his stomach as though a knot were tightening with every word, making it harder for him to breathe.
He knew the history of the werewolves, how their ancestors had once begged the Moon Goddess to take away the mate bond because they believed it brought them more pain than happiness, but the Lycans had taken an entirely different approach.
