AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Shaw shook his head.
“Where did you find him?” I asked softly. “Nathan dragged me out of the motel that night and he put me in a car. I didn’t see Brennan again.”
“We never did. It’s an empty grave.” Shaw glanced away, the wind blowing his dark hair above his high brow. “Someday, we’ll bring him home.”
The words were laden with emotion, and for the first time, I saw Shaw’s tender, aching heart under the easygoing façade. It made me want to hug him and comfort him.
“I’m sure you will.”
“How did you meet my brother?” Shaw raked his hand through his hair. “He kept you a secret. Probably wanted you all to himself.”
“He didn’t mention he had so many cute brothers,” I agreed, and he laughed. The genuine, surprised sound of his laughter made me smile too, and the pain of the last few minutes shifted into something different.
We had our grief, but we had life and laughter too, at times.
“Don’t get my hopes up, Amelia,” he teased, and there was a faint smolder in his gaze to go along with that easy smile.
“We met at a bonfire.” I would never forget the moment my eyes met Brennan’s across the blazing fire. “I was trying to enjoy one night out and pretend to just be human, and instead I ran into a wolf.”
“Did you know he was your mate from the first time you saw him?” Shaw’s eyes were curious. “What does that feel like? The moment when you know someone is your mate?”
“You haven’t found yours.”
Shaw didn’t answer. “Tell me about your version of Brennan.”
He sounded as hungry to talk about Brennan as I felt, and it made something loosen in my chest, a tightness that had become so much a part of me I’d no longer noticed it. Until now, face to face with this man who felt the same pain.
“I kept Brennan a secret because no one would approve of me dating someone from the King pack.” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “I was just a kid, really. So clueless.” Nathan had been obsessed with me, but I hadn’t understood then how much danger was in that obsession. “He was so kind, so generous. He taught me to ride his motorcycle, and he…”
I trailed off. I couldn’t talk about the cottage in the woods where Brennan had marked me, where we had kissed and touched until Brennan’s body was as familiar as my own.
“He probably was afraid of getting caught too,” he said with a shake of his head. “God, we thought he was casing out your pack for a takeover. I was trying to talk him out of it, we weren’t strong enough to take your pack down then. But I guess he was just slipping off to see you.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m the one who’s sorry. I must have done something wrong that my brother didn’t trust me with his secrets.” Shaw’s voice turned raw. “If you two had come home here instead of running away, he’d be alive.”
“He loved you all so much,” I assured him, thinking of the way his eyes had lit up when he talked about his siblings. “I don’t think it was about you or Stone… I think he just wanted the life we’d planned. The life that was the two of us.”
Even as I said the words, I regretted them. Brennan’s plan sounded harsh. How had Brennan left these brothers of his behind?
“Maybe.” He smiled, but it came out lopsided and endearing. Shaw obviously ached over not just Brennan’s loss, but his guilt. Did Stone feel the same way? Did they ever talk about their feelings?
“I miss him so much. I never get to talk about him, and now—” My voice fractured, and I broke off, crossing my arms. Trying to hold myself together. For the past few years, I hadn’t dared to open the box that contained my memories of Brennan. I’d known someone loved me once and that had sustained me, kept me filled with hope that Dylan could live a life full of love. But I hadn’t dared to feel my grief.
And it felt as if all those years of grief were rising now, choking me.
“Now you have me,” Shaw promised, resting his hands gently on my shoulders. When I looked up at him, all the usual playfulness was gone; he looked kind and serious. “I will always want to talk about Brennan. I want to hear your stories, and I want to tell you mine.”
“I’d like that,” I whispered.
He pulled me into his arms, cradling me against his chest, his strong arms wrapped tightly around me.
“I didn’t realize what was going on then,” he murmured into my ear. “But he’d been so stressed out all our lives, it seemed like, trying to get Liam back, trying to get our Dad to change… then being the alpha. But those last few months before you two disappeared, he was like… the old Brennan, the one when we were kids.”
I smiled against Shaw’s chest. That was a nice thought.
“He’d even sing around the house, and that asshole was totally tone-deaf, so it was a real treat, let me tell you.” Shaw went on drily, and I let out a little laugh that was half a sob.
