“Maybe you need a break,” Austin said.
“You need a break, old man.”
“Old?” Austin said in a mock-hurt voice. “I’m not even forty. And you’re the one who’s gone all soft.”
“Will you two stop yammering and get to work?” Jack waved the metal shears in her hand menacingly at them. “It’s almost dark, and I wanna get home.”
“So bossy.” Austin ruffled his sister’s hair, which only seemed to annoy her.
“You heard her.” Lucas picked up the discarded hammer.
“Need me to hold your hand, princess?”
Lucas lifted his middle finger toward Austin, which earned him a laugh. Their banter brought back a lot of good memories, and he realized how much he missed this place. It had been his sanctuary, a second home to him when he was troubled. Jackson had been so patient with him, even though Lucas had been resistant to the whole rehabilitation thing. Plus, everyone here felt like family. Austin was like the big brother he never had and was someone who could understand the pressures of what it was like to be heir apparent, since he was next in line to be Alpha after Jackson. He never judged him and shared his owns doubts and apprehensions about the responsibilities that came with being future Alpha and the long shadows their fathers cast.
“You boys done yet?” Noah asked as he approached them.
He was glad his grandfather had found a place here too. Noah was a man of few words, but the look he gave Lucas conveyed love and concern.
“Almost,” Austin answered. “Let’s finish up and head back.”
“Sure.”
Lucas tried to take his time doing the work, not just because he wanted to do things right, but because he was almost dreading being idle. The work kept him and his wolf busy, though every moment he had to spare to think was spent on Sofia. He desperately wanted to know how she was. She was alive at least. But what would happen now? If he wanted to keep her safe, he would have to tell her they couldn’t see each other anymore. But the more he thought about her, about all the times they’d been together, he wasn’t sure if he had the strength to give her up.
When they finished their work, they all headed back to the ranch on foot. Jackson, Noah, and Jack had all hurried ahead, probably eager to get cleaned up and have dinner. He and Austin hung behind.
“So,” Austin began as they trudged across the field, “Who’s Sofia?”
The sound of her name made him stumble, but he recovered quickly. Putting one foot in front of the other, he just kept walking ahead and remained silent. Maybe Austin would drop it.
“You were calling her name a lot while you were sleeping.”
Maybe not.
Austin continued. “And she was the first person you thought of when you woke up.”
He kept his stare focused ahead, trying to see if the ranch house was in sight. They were still too far out, and the only thing he could see in the darkness were trees and the rolling hills of the Shenandoah Valley.
“Is she like Caroline?”
The question made him stop walking. Austin knew everything, of course. They all did, save for Katie and Jack. It was one of the conditions of being accepted into the rehab program. “No,” he found himself saying. “She’s not like Caroline at all.” Caroline was beautiful in an ethereal way—unreachable and cool. He thought himself in love with her, but she never saw him as anything other than a childhood friend. Once, he thought she would have been the perfect Lupa, someone who could be a good partner when he became Alpha. Maybe he had been more in love with the thought of her, or having something his own parents had—a perfect partnership, complementing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
“Then what is she like?”
“What’s the point of this, Austin?” he snarled. Austin was torturing him with all these questions. He didn’t want to think about her. What he couldn’t have.
“Hey, calm down, Lucas.” Austin stopped and pivoted, facing him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I just want to talk. To know more about your Sofia.”
“She’s not my Sofia.” And she never will be. He pushed Austin’s hand away. “She’s human, and she can never know about us.”
“Now that’s just not true and you know it. There are plenty of humans in the know, like those who marry Lycans.”
Lucas sidestepped and marched away from him, his teeth grinding together so hard that his jaw hurt. He heard Austin’s footsteps behind him, running up to keep pace. Thankfully, the other man didn’t say another word, seemingly content to just keep pace. Finally, he saw the ranch up ahead, and all the lights were on, the house like a shining beacon.
“If you care for her so much, then why are you just letting her go?” Austin said in a quiet voice.
God, he just wanted to get inside and lock himself up in his room, away from Austin’s nagging. “They’ve probably already erased her memory.”
“Lucas—”
“And the best thing I can do is let her go and let her lead a normal life.”
A hand grabbed Lucas’s shoulder, spinning him around. “And what about what she wants?”
“She won’t want me
