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I’d fallen asleep in his garage, thankful to be out of the snow for a bit, only to be woken up with a kick in the leg by Denis himself. After making me a very strong cup of coffee, he admonished me for not building the porch properly when me and my brothers had literally destroyed his house when we were kids. He’d shown me the porch, which I had been tasked with fixing, and saw that it was still standing, but barely. Shame washed over me at the remembrance of only putting in half the nails I was told to. I would have done anything to finish the work earlier. After promising that I’d come back to help him rebuild it, he let me leave in peace.
And now I stood in Jacob’s kitchen, knowing I couldn’t keep this secret about Millie from my brother any longer. No matter how I hashed it out in my head last night, I couldn’t think of any way around it. I had to come clean because only one of us was claiming Millie, and that person was going to be me.
“Bruno, either you tell me what’s going on or I’ll go find Luc and Brandon, and we will all corner you until you cave.”
Jacob looked serious. Not wanting the rest of our family to get involved, I decided there was no use dragging this out. “You really want to know what’s going on with me?”
“Yes! You’re my brother and my best friend. We never keep stuff from each other.”
“Even if it affects your mate?” I asked carefully.
I saw his demeanor transform instantly and prepped myself to be attacked.
“What is it about my mate, Bruno? Has she been harmed? When you saw her yesterday, did you notice something? And with that said, how did you get the wolf painting?”
“That painting looks really familiar, doesn’t it?” He knew full well what I was talking about, but he pretended he hadn’t heard me. That was fine with me as it wasn’t the point of this conversation anyways. Might as well pull the Band-Aid off now.
“She’s my mate, not yours,” I said firmly and succinctly.
It all happened in a blur. One second I was standing there looking at Jacob in his human form, and the next thing I knew, he had shifted and was on top of me. It was all I could do to keep him from breaking every bone in my body. Thankfully, he was soon dragged off me, and I saw Dad and Dredge standing over me while Luc and Brandon stood over Jacob. My relief turned sour, because I knew the family was going to find out about this situation sooner than I would have liked.
Feeling a little lightheaded from the blood trickling down my face, I decided to make this quick. “We have the same mate.”
At this, my family gasped, and Jacob’s wolf made its presence known by trying to come for me again. Brandon and Luc held him back.
Somehow, I remained calm. Very unlike me. But one of us needed to keep a cool head. “Jacob met his mate at an art gallery this week,” I said. “I went to see what the big deal was, as we all know Jacob’s life plan doesn’t include a mate this soon. Well, the girl I met at the gallery yesterday can’t be his; she’s mine.”
“How dare you!” Jacob said. “You knew full well going in that she is mine.”
“But you didn’t get the painting,” I said.
“She said it was sold,” Jacob said, his voice dropping into a warning.
Dad growled, “Someone better clear up what’s going on right now.”
“The painting itself is not important,” I said. “What’s important is that I got it and Jacob didn’t. She saw something in me that she didn’t see in him.”
“Why you—?!” Jacob tried to break the hold Luc and Brandon had over him, but they weren’t budging an inch.
My wolf reared its head at Jacob’s challenge, but I was amazed at how calm I felt. “Did she flirt with you, Jacob? Because she laid her hand on my arm while she guided me around to look at the paintings.”
That really made Jacob mad, and I couldn’t help laughing when he bucked against Luc and Brandon’s hold. Dredge stared at me and shook his head, and I took that as my cue to leave. But as I turned and started to walk away, I felt a hand on my arm. It was Dredge; Dad was now helping Luc and Brandon with Jacob.
“You need to come with us to see Miti. You’re hurt a lot more than just a few minutes of healing,” he said.
I tried to shrug him off and walk away, but Dredge held firm to my arm. That was when I realized how hurt I was. I winced and almost fell over with the pain.
Dredge repeated, “Come with me. You need to be looked at.”
This time I didn’t argue.
Bruno
Miti released me from her care a couple of hours later, but not before telling me that Millie was coming over tonight and might join us for dinner. I only grunted and went back to my place, but the whole time, my wolf was running in circles, yapping at me that my mate was coming.
But now that I had calmed down, I slumped onto my sofa, shaking my head at the thought that Jacob and I had fought. We rarely fought. I couldn’t even remember the last time we did. It was usually Luc and Brandon who were at each other’s throats. Jacob was my best buddy. We might as well have been twins. A tear rolled down my cheek at the thought that Jacob had been physically hurt by me.
With that thought in mind, I decided I was not going to dinner tonight. I’d be the bigger person and sit this one out. I had Millie’s number; I could call her later. Maybe by then I’d get the courage to explain the situation to her, and she could decide for herself which brother she wanted.
