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“I’ll see you inside,” Atticus says, giving Cevon and I a nod before he heads into the house. We’ve walked for about forty-five minutes, truly airing out our shit.
The bonds between us aren’t as strong as I’d like, but there’s a foundation here now. We can build, repair.
We can heal.
“I claim her left,” Cevon calls, and Atticus laughs as he closes the front door. Cevon turns to me and takes a deep breath. “I’m not sorry.”
“Okay?”
He sighs. “I’m not sorry I put Lainey before our friendship,” he says. “I’m not sorry that I put her needs at the top of my priority list.”
“I hated you for a long time.”
He laughs bitterly. “I hated myself more.”
“But now that I have Nora… I get it.” Even if I don’t think the traitorous tiger bitch deserves it.
“Yeah. I’m not sorry she came between us... but I am sorry that happened,” he says. “I’m sorry that our friendship was lost. That I didn’t try harder to keep you.”
“I didn’t try much, either.”
He nods, and his whole body shudders. “Fuck, I wish you were by my side.”
“I could be.” If I wasn’t keeping secrets from him, maybe we’d be back to normal faster. “But that means you need to try, Cev. It’s not you against the pack—you need to work with us and not against us.”
“I’m not against you.”
“Fighting for no reason? Keeping secrets about the hunters that are after Atticus and Nora? You need to put her first—us first. Like you did with Lainey.”
“Fuck you,” he says, but there’s no heat to his words. He knows I’m right. He’s just pissed about it. “Lainey was a different world. A different me.”
“You’re not that different,” I say. “You’re jaded, darker... but the man I knew—the boy I grew up with—isn’t gone. You just need to trust—”
“Trust?” he snarls, clenching his fists. “Trust is earned, Malachi, or at least that’s what they say. And other than losing mine, nobody has gotten close to gaining it in the last five years.”
“Did you let them?”
He grips his blonde hair, anger in the swirling colours of his eyes. “Who was I meant to let in? There were snakes everywhere.”
“But there doesn’t need to be anymore,” I say, pleading with him. “Let us in. Do you trust us with Nora?”
“Of course.” There’s no hesitation in his words there, no worry or concern.
“But not with you.”
“No,” he replies, shaking his head.
“You’re one insult away from starting a war we can’t come back from,” I say, and he frowns. If he continues with the instigating of fights, we’re going to lose our pack. There’s going to be no stability, no structure, no fucking safety. “We need you by our side, Cev. Nora needs us there. You and Atticus are mending things...”
He roars loudly, his eyes turning amber, and, annoyingly, my tiger breaks through my hold to join in.
“I fucking hate myself,” Cevon says when his claws rescind. “I’m pathetic.”
“Are you? Or is that what your mind is telling you?” I ask. “You said you wanted help, well we can get it for you. George—”
“No,” Cevon says, shaking his head. “I can’t do that again.”
“What about Fin’s mum? Shit, what’s her name?” I say, tilting my head as I try to remember. “I can’t remember. Names aren’t my strong suit. But she does like alternative therapy things that might help you.”
