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Well, maybe not just like when I talked to Cole. Cole was intimidating. Stone was downright terrifying, tall and powerful and commanding. There was a deep timber to his voice that made almost anyone jump, seemingly eager to obey him.
And the fact that my body responded that way made me fantasize about murdering him. In his sleep, most likely, because that was the only way I ever could. I didn’t want to bow to another man ever in my life the way I’d bowed to Nathan to survive.
“Let’s run,” I said, turning my back on him and heading toward the forest.
CHAPTER29
Stone
Amelia triedto walk ahead of me, but I caught up to her in a few quick strides.
“Do you remember the time we met before?” I demanded.
Her eyes widened as she looked up at me. She looked as if the word was being wrung from her body before she admitted, “Yes.”
“Not that it was much of a meeting.”
I’d tracked Brennan down. He’d been disappearing at night, and stupid me, I’d thought he was casing the Longroad pack for a takeover. Our pack wasn’t strong enough then to face them, and I’d worried my brother would do something stupid and plunge us into a war.
I’d been right to worry. He was doing something stupid that could easily start a war. But he wasn’t planning an attack.
He was planning dates.
My brother, the fearless alpha who had taken down our father, was packing picnic baskets and carrying a second motorcycle helmet and buying a fuckingcottage.He’d been sneaking away with Amelia to have sex.
We’d argued that day, standing out in front of the cottage. I’d thought he was getting distracted by some human.
That would’ve been bad enough.
But then I’d seen her, hiding behind the door. I’d breathed her in, that scent like the ground after a fresh rain, mixed with the citrusy scent of her slick.
As soon as I scented her, I’d known two things. My brother had just fucked her. She was from another pack.
And as pissed as I was, I could understand why he’d been tempted.
When I caught her peeking out from behind the door—that thick auburn hair, her big, innocent blue eyes, the sweetness in her face—I’d felt an immediate surge of desire. Which was followed by a painful lurch of jealousy.
Just like I felt when I saw her with Cole.
She was Brennan’s, I reminded myself.
And she was walking away, plunging through the forest to get away from me. She was always running away.
“I should have stopped you then.” I called after her, but I hadn’t been able to stop Brennan. He’d sworn me to secrecy about Amelia, reminding me he was the alpha—unless I wanted to challenge him.
I’d never wanted to be alpha. But even if I had, I sure as hell never would’ve hurt him.
“I didn’t know it was you for sure,” she called over her shoulder. The breeze whipped her reddish-brown hair around as she stepped into a sun-dappled clearing between the trees. “I just knew it was one of his brothers. You all look so alike, it’s…”
Her voice shook, and she stopped.
I stopped too, a few feet behind her. Had I made her cry?
Because I didn’t just look like Dad. I looked like Brennan, and that made her miserable.
Was she miserable when she saw Brennan’s ghost because of grief? Or because of guilt? Or both?
“But of course it was you,” she went on. “You’ve hated me since the first time you laid eyes on me.”
