She’d called him when her father finally let the mask fall and stopped pretending Lindley was anything but a scapegoat for their mother’s murder. The first, hesitant conversation they’d had boiled down to a yes or no session. The pain that still rippled through them never made it to air.
Until now.
Lindley crossed the distance between them and pulled her into a tight hug. She stiffened, but he didn’t let her pull away.
“We’re not doomed to repeat their mistakes. We’re free, Sage. Roland raised me to be alpha one day, and I’m here playing second. This is where I belong, not at the head of a rotten pride. You? You’re the motherfucking Levine princess. No one can order you around. I think it’s high time that you get to decide what you want.”
Sage frowned. The words were close to Hailey’s the night those tracks appeared and kick-started a new round of worry. She needed something for herself. Some small sliver of life that she could call her own.
They were similar to Rhys’s, too, telling her she should take the respect she was owed and force Jasper and her father to their knees.
Lindley stepped away, clearing his throat. “There isn’t a way to make up for the years lost. I’ve been trying, even when I know I can’t. I just want the best for you. So don’t be stupid, stupid.”
Sage huffed a laugh at the love built into an insult from their childhood. “Maybe I’m just living up to your example,” she teased.
Her brother flashed a smile, then jerked his chin toward the door. “I better get out there before Trent tears me a new one. We have patrols set up to run close to the dens. I’ll be out there if you need anything.”
She stared at the door after he closed it behind him.
What did she want?
A single sending flashed from her inner cat. Clear as day, bright as his white fur, there was no question as to what her other half meant.
She could still feel his lips pressed against hers.
Mate.
She wanted him. Skies above, her knees shook with the admission, but she couldn’t deny it any longer.
She wanted Rhys.
But under that desire was a cold, hard fact. She was damaged. Broken. He said she was on fire, but she barely felt an ember burning in her middle. Something had to change before she could let herself get close to anyone, let alone the man her lioness wanted for life.
Sage lightly touched the raised scar on her skin. She’d let him keep her locked away for eight months longer than necessary. No more. No. More.
She had good people in her life. A pride of assholes, sure, but they were her assholes. And as much shit as they gave each other, they saved their truly savage nature for those who tried to fuck with their loved ones.
Sage ran her fingers over the lioness carving. Rhys saw her as a little badass. She wanted to feel the confidence and power etched into the figurine. Hell, she wanted to feel anything but the terror of being back under Jasper’s thumb.
Something dragged her attention down the hall to the room she tried to avoid. She took a cautious step forward. Her lioness balked and raged inside her, but another step followed. A third. Her hand shook when she wrapped her fingers around the knob and pushed the door open.
It was just a room. No more, no less. Four walls, a bed she’d never slept in, a dresser she’d never filled. She’d given Jasper too much power to let him chase her from the space.
Still, she recoiled at the thought of caging herself inside. Even with the door wide open, the back of her neck prickled with a chill. So easy for it to slam shut and lock her in with the barred window her only glimpse into the outside world and other collared females her only company.
Sage grimaced and marched straight for the bed. She needed something of her own, and the first step was banishing her fears. Barred windows and silver collars were a thing of the past. Her happiness existed in the here and now.
The mattress flipped easily to its side, and she left it propped against the wall while she shoved the box spring out the door and down the hall. More rearranging tightly combined her living and dining spaces, but made room for a bed in the corner.
Excitement bubbled as she flung open her door and marched across the yard. The activity made her hesitate, not wanting to disturb the couple, but the shadow moving across the window filled her with resolve and she rapped on the door.
Murmurs inside reached her ears before the light shuffle of footsteps. She beamed a huge smile and wild eyes at Hailey.
“Do you need all that cardboard?” she asked in a rush, pointing to the broken down boxes in the bed of Trent’s truck. Baby things, from what she’d overheard earlier. The first of many shipments and shopping trips to deck out their nursery.
The alpha’s mate blinked in confusion, then shook her head. “It’s all yours.”
She turned before Hailey lobbed any other questions at her. “Thank you!” she called over her shoulder, wrestling her arms around the first haul.
Two more trips were needed to clear the truck bed, and an additional pounding on Lindley’s door for a roll of tape. Then she got to work flattening out the individual pieces and figuring out the best way to fit them together.
In the end, cardboard covered half the floor.
Private smile hitching up the corners of her mouth, she planted her hands on her hips and studied her handiwork. Not enough room for anything big or bold, but enough space
