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“Deacon. What. The. Fuck?” Thayer kept his voice low, but Deacon heard the irritation laced in the words nonetheless.
He pulled his eyes from where Jessa had been standing and looked at his brother.
“She’s running from something, little brother.” He had seen it in her eyes, that fear and pain that she tried so hard to hide. Her scars ran deep from whoever hurt her.
That knowledge had his hands tightening at his sides and a rumble growing in his chest.
“She’s been hurt.” He sliced his eyes to Thayer and saw on his brother’s face that he had seen it, too.
“Yeah, I know, and all I want to do is put her in a bubble and guard the hell out of it, but Deacon, this is bad, very bad.” He started pacing, an act Thayer didn’t do unless he was in turmoil. “It’s clear we both feel something for her, but it’s dangerous for her to be here when our emotions are running so rampant. I can feel my animal trying to break through.”
Thayer dropped his voice another octave. “Deacon, it wants to claim her.” Fear laced his brother’s voice for the first time ever.
Deacon couldn’t remember a time when Thayer had let his guard down, had actually revealed the raw, uninhibited emotions that he showed right now.
Deacon took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest. In all honesty he knew having her stay with him was a bad idea. The scent of her alone drove him crazy with lust.
Since he had first laid eyes on her his dick had been hard, the arousal so strong it squeezed his brain until he thought he’d go mad with the need to take her.
“This is bad, brother, really fucking bad.” Thayer, always the logical one.
“I know this wasn’t the wisest move, but tell me how in the hell she was going to leave with no transportation. You know damn well everything I said to be the truth.”
Scrubbing his hand across his face he took a deep, steadying breath.
“Besides, the thought of her leaving makes me want to hurt someone.” It wasn’t rational or sane, but he knew what he felt, and if Thayer felt a sliver of the same emotions, then they were both fucked. “I want to mate her.” Thayer stopped pacing, the look on his face unyielding. “And I know you want to do the same.”
A string of curse words left his lips, and Deacon couldn’t help the amusement that filtered through him.
His little brother was never the one to talk like a sailor, but it seemed a tiny female was enough to undo him… both of them.
“What if—” Thayer dropped his big body in one of the chairs. “What if shit goes down, Deacon? What if you can’t control yourself around her? What if I can’t?”
Not going to fucking happen. Deacon ran a hand over the back of his neck and exhaled.
“I would never hurt her. My animal would never hurt her.” He gripped a chunk of his hair at the nape of his neck. “It’s my beast that is demanding I take her, Thayer. It’s taking everything inside of me to rein it in.”
Deacon pulled up the chair next to him, and the two of them sat in silence.
“I want her, Deacon.” Need coated Thayer’s voice and filled the air. “I mean, I really want her. I’ve never wanted a female like this, especially after just meeting them.” Thayer cast a hopeful glance at him. “Do you really think she’s ours? Is it even possible for both of us to mate the same female?”
Deacon really didn’t know the logistics of that. Their parents didn’t discuss any of that with them, deciding instead that their children needed to learn the hard way about how the world really worked.
Painful memories accosted him, but he pushed them back. He was good at pushing them back. At least Thayer hadn’t been on the receiving end of their fathers “lessons”, well, not like Deacon had been.
With him being the oldest he had to man-up and take the brunt of the shit thrown their way. He had a fucked-up childhood, but he wouldn’t have changed it.
His brother had been spared the horror he had seen, and nothing else mattered.
“I don’t know how that shit works, but it looks like we don’t have a choice. It looks like fate chose for us.” Deacon had never believed in fate or destiny, but after laying eyes on Jessa there were a lot of things he was reconsidering.
“We can’t keep her here forever, Deacon. You’ll fix her car, and then she’ll want to leave.” They heard her in the bedroom, and both of them turned in that direction.
She didn’t come out, and Thayer continued.
“Sooner or later she’s going to see us shift, and then how are we going to explain that? She’ll run away from us so fast and hard we’ll never be able to find her.”
A low growl left Deacon at the thought of her leaving. “I’m not going to let her go, not when she makes the restless energy and my beast calm.”
