AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You can tell me if my brother’s a dick. I’ve been his brother for twenty-two years; I have a lot of firsthand experience. You’re not going to shock me.”
As always, Shaw surprised me and made me smile. And it made me want to be honest with him. “Stone and I had sex.”
“Neither of you look very happy since.” His tone was carefully neutral.
“He may have cried and run out of the room after,” I said dryly. The sarcasm helped shield my hurt feelings.
Shaw nodded. “He must feel like he betrayed Brennan.”
I licked my lips. “How do you feel?”
Shaw stopped and turned to me. The two of us were alone on the forest trail. “I want you to be happy. And I don’t know if Stone is capable of making anyone happy, it’s certainly never been his priority. He just wants us safe.” He hesitated, as if he was searching for the right words. “If he’s your mate too, somehow, then I hope he’ll stop being stupid.”
“I don’t think it works like that. Having more than one mate.” I tucked my hair behind my ears, feeling butterflies in my stomach. I didn’t know what the right things were to say to Shaw. There was too much that I felt and I was too shy to put any of it into words. But I knew he made me feel safe and comfortable. “Thank you.”
He touched the small of my back, the weight of his hand sending sparks flying across my skin, and the two of us continued together down the path.
The mystery of if I could find love a second time, when I’d lost my mate, weighed on me. But then, I was living with a lot of mysteries.
The days passed.Cole and I trained. Shaw and I flirted. Karissa and I made meals together, or at least, I talked to her while she cooked since she was a control freak.
Stone avoided me.
And Dylan danced through those fall days, lit with joy and excitement, throwing leaves with his friends and relishing his childhood. I’d known how much the dark storminess of Nathan’s house had affected him, but I hadn’t known what he would be like with that burden lifted from his thin shoulders.
One night, Karissa and Cole lit a bonfire in the backyard, and it reminded me so much of Brennan that it twisted at my heart, and yet… when I put a marshmallow on Dylan’s stick and held my hands over his, making sure he didn’t turn it into a flaming inferno of sugar, the fire was reflected in his eyes along with delight. He hugged me afterward with sticky hands, then ran off to play flashlight tag with some of the other little cubs in the front yard. For the first time, afterward, I stood there and relished the good memories I had of Brennan from the night we met, and they didn’t make me feel sad or hopeless. The scent of decomposing leaves and smoke drifted in the night air, and a sense of joy and well-being filled me.
And so even as I felt like I was on a knife’s edge, not knowing what would happen next, part of me was happy.
I couldn’t shake the feeling something would change, but I wished that we could just stay in these long moments of fall forever.
CHAPTER39
Stone
I wantedAmelia so badly that it was making me crazy. But Brennan’s mark was on her. Even though he was dead, she still belonged to him. And so did Dylan.
I could never fill Brennan’s shoes. I could never even try. It seemed like such a betrayal to his memory.
But I also didn’t know how to stay away from the two of them. Amelia was alluring, and Dylan was such a sweet kid who reminded me so much of Brennan. I wanted to protect them both and I wanted to stay the hell away so I wouldn't ruin them.
I rubbed my hand over my face trying to make sense of what to do as I paced my command center. I hadn’t been able to sleep for the last few days.
My selfish actions haunted me.
Most of all, I still didn’t even know if Amelia had been responsible for Brennan’s death. Blinded by my own attraction to her, I’d chosen to put off what I needed to do: have Louisa interrogate her.
I was letting her make me stupid. I’d accused Cole and Shaw that she turned them stupid. But I was the real idiot.
I sent Cole and Shaw on a mission to get them out of my way.
“You’re going to regret this,” Teresa warned me.
“Do I pay you to harass me?”
Teresa snorted. “Maybe you should try paying me more and see if you like my attitude better.”
Still, she went with me along the path toward school, where Amelia would be walking back. I wanted to make sure we were done with Louisa in plenty of time for Amelia to recover and be ready to see Dylan. Louisa wouldn’t hurt her, but the process was certainly… taxing.
