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She stormed out of the room, and it took every ounce of self-control not to run after her. But he was done running. He meant to have her, but from this point forward he was done letting her lead in this dance between them. No, he meant to take decisive action and claim what was his for once and for all.
CHAPTER 14
BRIE
Brie fled to her room as though the devil himself was chasing her. How could he have done and said that to her? How had she allowed it to happen yet again? This time he’d ravaged her poor pussy. Did he not know those things were painful? She knew the answers to those questions. The problem was, so did he. He’d meant to claim her fully, to forge the bonding link between them, and she’d pulled away. Had she hurt him any less with her rejection than he had with his coldness in tossing her out? Doubtful. In fact, if she was being honest, she’d probably hurt him more.
She managed to get to her room without bursting into tears, falling to her knees, and wailing. She waited until the door was closed and she could sink onto the thick, soft carpet. Brie allowed herself the luxury of her grief for a few moments before standing and walking into the bath and letting the steam and hard pulse of the shower drown out her remaining tears and wash her clean. As she dried herself, she wondered if she’d ever feel truly clean again.
Pulling on her clothes, she slathered moisturizer all over her face, braided her hair in a low ponytail and joined the others for breakfast in the dining room. She couldn’t decide if she was relieved or concerned that Colby was nowhere to be seen. She joined Winter and Adriana.
“You look,” said Adriana, “for lack of a better word, glum. Have you been crying?”
Winter shook her head. “Jesus, are you ever going to figure this out?”
“Figure what out?” asked Adriana.
“That’s none of your, or anyone else here’s, business,” snapped Brie.
Winter snorted and turned to Adriana. “She and Colby are fated mates. He’s known since they were kids. She’s probably known for almost that long, but certainly since they started fucking each other’s brains out. Only every time Colby wants her to commit, she finds someone else who needs saving and off she runs.”
“That isn’t the way it is,” said Brie, reining in her temper. “Besides, who are you to talk? How long did you hide out at Windsong and play at being Colby’s beta?”
“Until I got my head out of my ass, and I never played at anything. I served Colby and Windsong to the best of my capabilities. While he was off establishing his intelligence network and recruiting people for the Resistance—long before there was a Resistance—I was at Windsong, keeping our people safe and ensuring the money continued to flow. Have you ever asked yourself what it cost Colby in money alone to back the Shadow Sisters?” Winter didn’t wait for an answer. She appeared to be on a roll and wanted to get something off her chest. “Of course you didn’t. You’re so wrapped up in your mother’s drama, you can’t see past the nose on your face.”
“You know nothing about my mother…”
“Don’t I? She set Colby up to take on your father, who was, by all accounts, a battle-hardened warrior and batshit crazy. Did she stick around to find out if Thane and his goons killed Colby?”
“My mother challenged him. Colby stepped up as her champion. The rules state it is to be single combat. He won and took over as alpha.” Brie waved her hand, indicating the room. “It doesn’t look like he’s done so bad for himself.”
“Oh, my god! No one has ever told you. That makes sense, actually. I don’t doubt everyone at Windsong was under threat of banishment if they did. It wasn’t single combat. It started out that way, but while you and your mother were running away, Thane ordered his best warriors to kill Colby. When it was all over, Colby had killed five men. Five. And never saw you or your mother again until you needed his help. Do you have any idea how long he looked for you? Your mother made sure he couldn’t find you—either of you. You had a shitty childhood on the run with your mother? That falls on Gaia and no one else. She could have come back, but she didn’t. No one would have disputed Colby’s right to grant her sanctuary.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” snarled Brie, suddenly afraid Winter might know far more than she had allowed herself to know.
“Don’t I?” challenged Winter. “Maybe I see things more clearly than you—certainly more than Colby. Do you have any idea what it does to him every time you pull this shit? Who do you think sat up with him drinking fine scotch, agonizing over the fact that you weren’t with him? And then he finds you, the two of you finally fall into bed, and you start this dance with him where you get what you want and leave him with nothing. Nothing. If all he wanted was some pussy, trust me, there were plenty queued up for that job. And if he’d shown the slightest bit of interest or I’d thought the guilt wouldn’t eat him up if he gave in to instinct and lust, I’d have shoved every one of them into his bed. But he didn’t. Not once.”
Brie felt as if Winter had slapped her in the face, although Winter would be more inclined to punch Brie in the nose. Shocked into silence, it took Brie a moment to respond. “You don’t know anything. Sure, you and Sean were parted for a while, but then you found one another, and it was cue the romantic music and the happily ever after.”
Winter laughed, although not in an arrogant or bitter way. “You really are delusional. Do you know what I did? Sure, I helped Colby. Sure, he named me beta, which no alpha had ever done before.”
“Really?” asked Adriana.
“Really!” Brie and Winter snarled in unison.
“I did all of that, but I also wounded Sean in ways I’m still figuring out. My mate is a man of courage, honor, and nobility, and I am the luckiest woman on the face of this earth that he never doubted we were destined to be together. Like Colby, from the time I shared Sean’s bed for the first time until we got back together in Alaska, Sean never touched another woman. Now I don’t know about the mating habits of lynxes or what Colby’s libido is like when it’s unleashed, but I can tell you not a day goes by that at the very least I wake up to Sean reaching for me, making love to me until I scream his name. And at the end of the day, he does the same.” A sensual smile broke across her face. “And sometimes one or more times during the day in the most unexpected places. But did he relegate me to the position of lady of the clan? No, he raised me up and proclaimed me to be not only first lady of the clan, but his beta as well. Do you honestly think Colby would do less? Do you not get that he left Alaska and all that he’s known and fought for his entire life for you? Jesus, Brie, get your damn head out of your ass.”
Brie stared at Winter in shocked silence. She’d never known. Her mother never told her. Colby never told her, but somewhere deep inside, Brie wondered if she’d always known. “Let’s say for a moment that I believe you—that everything you’ve said is true. How could I lead the Shadow Sisters and still be what Colby needs? Is he really planning to never go back to Windsong?”
Winter shook her head. “I suppose you two will visit, but no. Finding this place, bringing it back to life, establishing a new clan—most likely a new kind of clan even more diverse than Windsong—has always been his plan. He always meant to support you and the Shadow Sisters. He brought Scott and Kyra back because he knew he could trust them to lead those at Windsong.” Winter reached across for Brie’s hand. “I’ve only known one man in my entire life who loved a woman as much as Sean loves me. That man is Colby, and for better or worse, he is your fated mate and will hold to that for all eternity.”
“But how… I mean are snow leopards so different?”
Winter laughed. “Oh, hell to the no. Lynxes are far more enlightened—at least those who want to be a part of Colby’s clan. Do I know exactly how it’ll work for you two? No. I don’t know you well enough. But you’ll work through it. You’ll work it out. There is a difference between a male beta and a female one. Play to your strengths. You have an advantage; you are alpha of the Shadow Sisters…”
“They’ll see my allowing him to claim me as surrender and weakness.”
“Fuck that,” scoffed Winter. “It takes a strong beta to be able to stand up to his or her alpha and still acknowledge their leadership and follow them through the gates of hell if that’s where they want to go. It isn’t going to be all rainbows and unicorns. There are times Sean and I lock horns and the very walls of Castle Curaidh shake. But our people know we love each other and that we only fight about important shit. And if anyone doesn’t like it? Fuck ‘em. Your relationship with Colby is actually none of their business. But for god’s sake Brie, either commit to him or walk away and never see him again. What you’re doing now is killing him little by little, and he deserves better than that from you.”
