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Amusement twinkled in his silvery eyes as he climbed to his feet. "Worth a try, I guess."
"So I can go?"
"That was the deal." He rose and walked across to the side of the arena to grab the towel he'd draped over the railing earlier. "But you're back here tomorrow morning at six sharp."
I groaned. "That's just plain mean."
He ran the towel across his spiky red hair, and even though I couldn't see his expression, I knew he was grinning. Sometimes my brother could be a real pain in the ass.
"Maybe next time you'll reconsider the option of cheating."
"It's not cheating if it works."
Though his smile still lingered, little of that amusement reached his eyes. He was worried, truly worried, about my part in the mission we'd soon embark on. He didn't want me to do this any more than I'd wanted him to become a guardian. But as he'd said to me all those years ago, some directions in life just had to be accepted.
"You're here to learn defense and offense," he said. "Inane tricks won't save your life."
"If they only save it once, then they're worth trying."
He shook his head. "I can see I'm not going to talk any sense into you until after the sexfest."
"Glad you finally caught the gist of my whole conversation for the last hour." I grinned. "And hey, look on the bright side: Liander's going to be mighty pleased to see you at a normal hour for a change."
He grunted. "Well, if he wasn't so damn clingy, he might see me early more often."
I raised my eyebrows at the annoyance in his tone. "He gives you free rein to be with who you want. I hardly call that clingy."
"I know, but - " He stopped and shrugged. "I don't know if I can give him what he wants. I don't know if I'll ever be able to."
Which was almost exactly what I'd said to Quinn two months ago. It was amazing how our love lives seemed to be following similar lines - although my reasons for saying those words to Quinn were entirely different than my brother's statement. Rhoan actually loved Liander. I couldn't say the same about Quinn. Hell, we barely even knew each other beyond the realms of sex.
And at least Liander had stuck with Rhoan, through good times and bad. Quinn had done a runner yet again, despite his declared intention of not letting me go until we'd fully explored this thing between us.
How he intended to do that from Sydney was anyone's guess. Maybe he'd simply decided I was just too much trouble and it was better to walk away. Though given we were sharing some mighty erotic dreams, I doubted walking away was a real option for either of us right now.
I touched a hand to my brother's arm, and squeezed lightly. "Liander loves you. And he'll wait for you."
Rhoan's gaze met mine. "I'm not sure I'm worth such devotion."
I raised my eyebrows. "I'm that devoted."
He flicked my cheek lightly. "Yeah, but you're my twin and my pack-mate. You have to be."
"True." I studied him for a moment, then said softly, "Just because our pack didn't love us doesn't mean we're unworthy of love."
How many times had he said that to me over the years? And yet now, when the crunch came for him, he wasn't truly ready to believe it himself.
His smile was sweet, but sort of sad. "The difference between you and me is the fact I don't want to settle down. At all. I want to be free to be with whomever I choose, whenever I chose."
"Whomever?" I interrupted, with more than a little annoyance in my voice. "Don't tell me you're still seeing Davern?"
Rhoan had the good grace to look uncomfortable. "Only when he's in town, and that's not often these days."
"But didn't you tell Liander you two were no longer an item?"
"Well, we aren't. We're more occasional lovers."
"A nitpicky difference Liander will not appreciate."
