“We kissed once,” he admitted.
Madeleine wiggled her eyebrows.“From what I heard, it was a longonce.”
“Seriously, who have you been talking to?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does.I want to know who was spying on us.”
“Can you call it spying if you were making out in the middle of the forest where anyone could see you?”
“Only one person saw us.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Ryan’s shoulders slumped.No, he wasn’t sure.He and Seth had noticed Thomas only because Thomas had made sure they did.Anyone else could’ve walked by while they’d been kissing, and they wouldn’t have known.They’d been too focused on each other.
“I’m happy for you,” Madeleine murmured.“I can’t say I ever imagined you ending up with a polar bear shifter, but then, I never imagined any of us ending up in this situation.I thought we’d be stuck with the coven forever.”
“We all did.”Ryan had never imagined that he could have any kind of real future, but it was here, just out of reach.Hell, maybe it wasn’t out of reach at all.Maybe he just had to take it.
It was terrifying.He couldn’t help but to be afraid that the coven leaders would find a way to fuck this up for him and all the other mages who’d left the coven.He hadn’t seen them or heard from them since he’d arrived in pack territory, but he knew them.They had to be pissed and viewing the mages who’d left as traitors.To the coven leaders, that was unacceptable.Hell, it would be unacceptable in any normal coven or pack, but Ryan didn’t feel guilty in their case.He and his family wouldn’t have left if the coven leaders hadn’t behaved like they were gods and their coven members their minions.
He wasn’t short and yellow, dammit, and he didn’t think he’d look good in denim overalls.
“Why don’t we go for a walk?”Madeleine suggested.
She kept glancing in the direction of the living room.It was clear that she didn’t want their parents to hear, which was a relief.Ryan wasn’t ready for them to find out about Seth.He wasn’t ready to talk about him.
“Alyssa?”he asked.
“She’s still asleep.Mom will take care of her if she wakes up.”
It took them a few minutes to talk to their parents, but Ryan breathed easier once they were out of the house.He loved his parents, but the weight of making sure they were safe with the pack and to not fuck things up was heavy on Ryan’s shoulders.He couldn’t afford to make mistakes, especially with someone as close to the alpha as Seth was.
“So, what’s going on between you and the alpha mate’s brother?”Madeleine asked.
They were walking past the spot where he and Seth had made out.Ryan tried very hard not to glance at it.“Honestly?I don’t know.”
“That’s bullshit.It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, but I know you.You wouldn’t leave something like this up in the air.”
She was right.“We agreed that we like each other and that we want to see where this goes, but that’s it, I swear.Seth’s story is as complicated as ours, maybe more.”Because Ryan and Madeleine had their parents.Seth had lost all the trust he ever had in his parents, and that couldn’t be easy to deal with.Ryan couldn’t even imagine not trusting his parents.He was keeping things from them, but it wasn’t because he didn’t trust them.
Madeleine smiled.“Oh, that’s a nice first step.”
“I don’t know if it’s a first step.”
“It sure feels like it is.You’re taking things slow, and that’s all right.Neither of you has a reason to rush into this.”
Part of Ryan wanted to rush into it, but Madeleine was right.There was no reason for him to.
They continued walking for a bit.Ryan had missed this.He and his sister had always been close, but with everything that was happening when they lived with the coven, it had been too easy for them to stop talking to each other.That was over, though.A lot of things were.
A branch cracking made Ryan look to the side.He groaned when he saw a woman striding toward them.He could already tell from her expression that he wouldn’t like what was about to happen.
He glanced at Madeleine, whose expression told him she felt the same.The woman was alone, which was good.Ryan didn’t want a repeat of what had happened with Tim and Christian.
“We’re not going to like this, are we?”Madeleine asked in a whisper.
