“I’m done with that life.” Azrim gazes off into the distance. “I don’t want anything anymore.”
“You think I didn’t feel like dying when my family got ripped apart? Not to mention you when all you did was try to protect her pack and love yours? They didn’t listen.Theydid this to her. You know who helped me see that? Tessi. Damn it, brother!”
I rub my pounding forehead. “All I wanted was my brother back. How have you not seen that for years? You forgot about me when you were with her. I get it. But we’re the last of our family. Without each other, we’re destined to die off.
“We protect this world, sometimes from itself. But I need you. You need Rhysan. We need Tessi for us to bring our family back to life. And just because you’re done, doesn’t mean life is or the universe is ready to let you quit. So get yourshittogether! I don’t know where you’ve been camping out, but get your things and get your drunk ass back here, tomorrow!”
He bares his teeth at me.
“You gonna fight me while you’re this wasted?” I challenge.
“Why can’t you let me just die in peace?”
“Because you won’t die in peace, you will die in sorrow and self-loathing.” I tilt my head. “M-pack needs their alpha. Pull yourself together, or I will hunt you down and straighten you outmyself. I had just hoped not to be a bloodied mess for my new mate.”
He sniffs the air. “She is not yours yet. Why have you not claimed her?”
I brace my hands on my hips and look back at my house where Tessi now stands in the doorway. “I can’t until we know she is safe.”
He makes a strangled noise.
“Because she’s half Isonian, okay?”
“I know.”
“Of course, you do. She’s also Circidian-blessed or something, so we think that’s why the Nebs have been hunting her.”
Azrim’s eyes widen. He swears and runs a hand through his dark hair. “Circidian? This can’t be happening.”
“What?”
“I just killed six in the lower valley. You need to keep her inside, better yet at the base. At least their protocols will put her underground if there’s debris falling or an attack.”
“And what if I want to keep her out here? Would you protect her because she is mine?”
He inhales deeply.
“I protected Jezza when you weren’t around.”
Azrim turns toward the forest. “I need time.”
“We don’t have time.”
He tenses to snarl at me when Radar appears beside him, pawing at his leg. Azrim peers down at him. “What do you want,dog?”
Radar hops and lands in a playful down stance, panting. He bounds around like he wants Azrim to chase him. Radar finds a stick nearby, snatches it up in his mouth and takes off in circles around us.
“This animal is strange.” Azrim squints like he’s getting dizzy.
“No, he’s happy. Something you have forgotten how to be on your quest to destroy yourself out of guilt you shouldn’t carry. Emptiness, yes. Pain, rage, and a desire for vengeance, yes. But this creature is basically the embodiment of love. And Tessi raised him. She is willing to raise your son, to bond with usboth.”
Azrim shakes his head, looks back at her, then walks away from me. “No.”
“Brother…”
He points back at me. “You want to raise my son, fine. But I am not going to dishonor Jezza with another mate. Tessi is not mine. She is yours.”
But even as he tells me he doesn’t want her, I see it in his eyes. He is agonizingly lonely. And the way he grinds a fist into his chest tells me his Shifter is not as repulsed as Azrim would have me think.
