AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He stops with a sigh, stuffing his hands in his pockets, and turns back to face me.
“Spit it out,” he tells me.
Easier said than done, though. How do you ask someone if they started a mate bond and if it was by accident? How do you ask your brother if he actually even cares to be mated to the girl you love and not offend the shit out of him?
You don’t.
This might end like shit, but I have to know.
I pull myself to stand at my full height and look him dead in his eyes.
“Was it really an accident? Did you mean to start a bond with Serena? And why? Since when do you have any feelings for her that would make you do that? You’ve never seemed to care about her as anything more than a friend, so why bond?” Once I start, I can’t seem to stop, the words falling from my mouth in a rush so I can say everything before I chicken out.
For a second, he simply looks at me. I see the change as my words sink in. His eyes harden, and his lips pull down in a frown.
Funny enough, this makes him look more like his usual self. Too bad, because judging by the way he pulls his hands from his pockets and curls them into fists, I’m pretty sure he’s about two seconds from decking me.
He steps toward me, but I hold my ground. Storm and I have had our fair share of fights. We’re brothers, after all, twins at that. We didn’t always get along growing up, but at the end of the day, he’s always been honest with me. Even when I might not like the answer, he was also my protector when we were younger, before I knew who I was, back when other people thought it would be fun to pick on me because I was quiet and liked to read.
Back then, I was smaller than the rest of them. I didn’t hit my growth spurt until high school. It made me the easier target in our group, but Storm never let them get to me. Hell, Serena didn’t either. We wanted to protect her, but despite what she might believe, she did her fair share for us, too.
Storm grips my shirt, jerking me toward him until we’re damn near chest-to-chest, and I can see the anger burning in his eyes.
“Are you fucking serious?” he spits, but he doesn’t give me a chance to answer.
“Do you really think I would have intentionally started a bond with her without her consent? Do you think so little of me that you think I would do this to her, to myself?” He seethes. He’s not yelling, but I almost wish he were.
I thought he was angry at first, but now, looking at him and hearing his words, I don’t think that’s the case.
I think he’s hurt.
Fuck.
“No, I—”
“Shut up!” he snaps, shaking me.
“I care about Serena too much to hurt her like that, to take her choice away, and if you don’t know that, you must not know me very well.”
“No! I didn’t mean it like that.” I hold my hands up, hoping to appease him as I scramble to find the right words after wholly putting my foot in my mouth. “I just didn’t think you cared about her like that. You never seemed like you wanted a mating bond. A pack, yeah, but that was because it made sense,” I ramble, not really explaining shit but hoping he can understand, regardless.
“I love her!”
His words hit me like a punch to the gut, stealing the air from my lungs in a whoosh.
“Wh… What?” I stammer, unable to think of anything else to say.
“I. Love. Her,” he repeats, slowly but with force, so that I can’t possibly miss them.
“It might have taken me longer to realize it, but that doesn’t make it less true. You’ve loved her for years and have never said a word, but that doesn’t make what I feel any less real just because it took me longer to figure it out.”
“What? No! I don’t…” I try to deny my feelings but can’t bring myself to say it.
I’ve never told anyone, though I’m almost positive Blair knows. He has a funny way of knowing fucking everything. But I’ve never said it!
Something about hearing him say it soothes something inside of me. My beast settles for the first time in days, and it’s almost… freeing.
I love Serena.
