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Eva stayed quiet as she sat next to me. Too quiet. I could almost hear her thoughts churning in her head. As Cole suspected, I hadn’t explained exactly what had happened last night. She thought we’d had sex - her first time, to my surprise and delight - but it was way more than that.
“You fucking bastard!” Cole snarled when I shook my head, my hand resting on Eva’s leg in a not-so-subtle sign of ownership.
Before I could snap back at him, he shifted into his wolf and lunged for my neck. This was surprising, but not wholly unexpected. My wolf came forward. We met in mid-air in a clash of teeth and claws. Eva screamed with shock, which distracted me enough for Cole to sink his teeth into my throat.
We’d fought before, but never at this level. Thankfully, Silas had the good sense to pull Eva out of the way. My wolf snarled when he saw our brother holding our mate in his arms, but I was too busy fighting a homicidal Cole to do anything about it. He’d get what was coming to him later.
Cole and I fought like the feral beasts we were, with pure savagery and testosterone. The problem was, neither of us could gain the upper hand easily. Furniture broke and the Christmas tree got knocked sideways, narrowly missing the fireplace.
Silas opened the door so we could take the fight outside, and when I got hold of Cole’s scruff, I dragged him out into the snow. He swiped me with his claws, drawing more blood, but I didn’t feel a thing. I managed to gain the upper hand, and this time, I didn’t let go.
From the fury in his eyes, he was pissed off with me, but then the fight left his eyes and he submitted.
We lay in the snow panting and bloody, steam rising from our sweat-slicked bodies. Deep gouges across my ribs stung, but I smirked when I saw the bite marks around Cole’s throat. He liked to think he could best me, but I was stronger than him.
“Are we done here?” I asked nonchalantly. “My mate needs me.”
He growled but didn’t bother shifting again. What was the point? I’d beaten him once already.
“You need to fucking tell her, Tanner.”
I sighed. He was right. I needed to tell her, but a big part of me was worried she’d reject me when she knew the truth. Not just about what we were to each other, but also what had happened to Jessie-Lynn. Although, as far as I was concerned, she didn’t need to know that bit. It wasn’t relevant to our current situation.
“Fine,” I huffed. “Let’s get cleaned up and we can all sit in a prayer circle, braid each other’s hair, and have a cozy little chat over mugs of cocoa.”
Cole didn’t appreciate my sarcasm. He punched me in the face and smirked when I winced. The guy might struggle to beat me in a fight, but he still had fists like concrete.
Silas
Eva sat huddled in an armchair by the fire, shell-shocked, as I picked up the Christmas tree and attempted to clear away some of the mess. This wasn’t the first time we’d fought each other. And it wouldn’t be the last. But it was the first time Cole had lost his temper quite so spectacularly.
I had to admit, I’d come pretty close to losing my shit too, but the sight of Eva’s panicked expression when Cole attacked Tanner was enough to restore my sanity. She had no clue what was happening and one of us needed to make sure she didn’t try to run away.
“It’s all my fault,” she muttered, distressed.
“No, it’s not.” I lifted her small body and sat her back down on my lap. Tanner’s scent was all over her and my wolf wasn’t happy, but I pushed down the instinctive need to add my scent to the mix. “There’s stuff Tanner hasn’t explained, which you need to know about,” I told her, grinding my teeth with irritation.
It was so typical of Tanner. Act first, ignore the fallout. He never listened to us - or anyone. Just did whatever the fuck he wanted. Damn the consequences.
“I’m sorry.” Tears trickled down her cheeks and my heart stuttered in my chest.
“Sorry for what?” My wolf whined miserably. He was upset because she was upset. And also pissed that Tanner had mated Eva first.
“Sorry for messing everything up. Me being here is causing problems with you guys. I don’t want to mess up your friendship.” She tried to get up, but I held her down firmly.
“Eva, none of this is your fault. Like I said, there are things going on that you don’t know about, which Tanner will explain when he stops being a dickhead. You being here isn’t the problem. We want you here.” I stroked her hair with my other hand, and she relaxed a bit.
“I don’t like it when you fight.”
“Sugar, fighting is normal. We fight to establish dominance, resolve issues, and to burn off excess energy. The only serious fights are the leadership ones between the alpha and whoever challenges them. They are to the death if a wolf won’t yield. But they don’t happen often. The days of pack wars are long gone. Most packs get along peacefully, and when there are problems, they get resolved amicably.”
“Still don’t like it,” she muttered.
I got it. I really did. Eva hadn’t grown up in our world. To her, fighting was pure aggression, where one party was trying to hurt the other. It was for us too, but not all that often.
A good tussle was a fun way to let off some steam, and also a precursor to mating between two unattached wolves.
Eva flinched at every vicious growl and snarl that echoed in from outside. I just hoped Cole was tearing chunks out of Tanner’s ass. He deserved it.
