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That does it. I frown at E.A., seriously holding myself back from lunging at him.
“What the fuck happened?” I growl at him.
“It wasn’t anything bad,” Echo says quickly.
“I don’t think he’s asking what I did to upset you,” E.A. tells him. “Go eat with Leanne and Toshi.”
Echo looks back at me.
“Go eat with Leanne and Toshi,” I repeat E.A.’s instruction.
He doesn’t look happy, but he does what we ask.
The door closes. I stare at E.A.
“You’re angry with me,” he says.
“For once, you get it. What the fuck, E.A.? You’ve been so fucking gone, and now …” I shake my head. “Leanne comes along and what? Suddenly you’re pulling yourself together like you’ve got a reason … Why the fuck weren’t we enough? Why did it take …”
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I don’t know … No, that’s not true. I know why I’ve been … gone. I found out my father sold my mother to Harlan West.”
I blink at him. “What?”
“I suspected for a while, and it was killing me inside. Then, a few years back, I checked his bank accounts. Knowing only made things worse. I don’t know how many nights I lay awake, thinking about confronting him. In the end, I couldn’t stand the thought of hearing him admit it.”
“That’s why he stabbed you when you tried to tell him about Harlan.”
He nods. “I’m sorry it took so long to work through it, but it took realizing I couldn’t risk Leanne’s life to make me understand I couldn’t keep working on the case. It’s been tearing me apart for so damn long, I couldn’t see what it was doing to us.”
Damn it. He would have to have a good reason, wouldn’t he?
My anger has nowhere to go. It has no one to fight.
“Fuck,” I snap.
“Punch me if you need to. I probably deserve it.”
He steps closer, waiting, not flinching.
I can’t fucking hit him. He just told me his dad sold his mom to the Omega trafficker who killed her.
That’s fucked up in so many ways.
“You should have told us. We would have understood.”
He nods slowly. “I know, but I couldn’t. Saying it out loud would have made it real. I was barely hanging on without having to accept it like that. I wasn’t ready.”
I let out a sigh. “You have to tell us when something’s wrong, E.A. We’re a pack. We’re supposed to deal with things like a team.”
“I know,” he says, giving me a wry smile. “That’s why I think you should be our leader. I’m not always going to make the right decisions, but you always do. You were made to be our leader, Spencer.”
He shows his throat, and I blink. He has marks from Leanne and Toshi.
Now he’s asking for one from me.
He just told me he wants me to lead this pack.
“I think we should get you checked over by a doctor,” I murmur.
