Our mating was only half of what fate had in the cards, but I couldn’t help but be a little jealous now and then.
Samson should get his head out of his ass. Christie was everything, and I couldn’t imagine letting anything stand in the way of being with her every second I possibly could. Pack. Oaths. Pride. None of it would stand between me and this gem at my side.
A soft snore came from her mouth before I’d found a movie to watch. She nestled into my embrace and put her hand on top of my chest underneath my shirt.
I thought about going to Samson myself and demanding he end her pain, but that would only make him build his wall higher.
He needed to give this up and fast. My father had been a brute who cared about nothing but pack hierarchy and pride, his own egotistical ways.
If Samson wasn’t careful, he was going to be the same. I could already see my father’s tendencies growing in my brother, and it scared me, not just for Christie, but for him. I would always love my brother no matter how much he put pack before family.
The reason I’d joined the Navy was to end the constant rivalry my father put my twin and me through. If he’d been willing to listen to a word I said at the time, he’d know. I think he believed it was rebellion, and it was, but not in a negative way. If our father had his way, we’d have ended up in a challenge to the death. What kind of alpha behaved that way?
I hated to think of it, but it was true. Did Samson know?
“I love you,” Christie whispered as she slept, and I hugged her tight.
“I love you,” I told her and put on a movie I’d seen a thousand times, just to pass the time.
A text message came in on her phone. She’d put it on the nightstand, and I reached to get it. It was Samson asking her to come see him again under the guise of a pack meeting. Fuck. Jealousy raged inside me, quelling any tender or even civil feelings toward my brother. Once she saw this message, she would jump out of here, sick or not, stressed or not, just because he’d called.
My thumb hovered above the buttons, wanting to hit the Delete so she would stay here with me and I could pretend she was satisfied and content having me as a mate.
I really had to get over myself. My need for my mate to be truly happy trumped the green monster inside me, and I woke her up a few minutes later with a kiss to her pouty lips.
“What is it?” She was so goddamned sexy when she first woke up. ’That was why it was always so hard to let her go.
“Samson texted. Pack meeting.”
I couldn’t do it. It would’ve been so easy to delete the text and make him wait for once, but I wouldn’t do that to her. Not only would she be hurt, but it would feel like I was betraying her trust.
“Okay. I’m getting up.”
She practically flew out of bed and put her clothes on. I picked up a book and pretended to be occupied.
“Tris?” Her voice was not much more than a whisper.
“Yeah?”
“It’s a pack meeting. I have to go.”
I nodded. “Christie, you and I both know it’s more than that. There’s no reason to say anything else. Go get your man…well, your other man.”
I sounded pathetic.
“I’ve never hidden the fact you were both my mates.” She paused at the side of the bed and put her hand on mine.
“I know. But I hate the way he strings you along. And I miss you when you’re gone. I’m fine. Just go. He needs you.”
She blew out a long breath. “The pack needs me.”
“I love you. I’ll be here when you get back.”
“I love you.” She bent down and gave me probably the longest, deepest, sexiest kiss we’d ever shared. “Save the thought. I’ll be home soon. Where in the hell is Gigi?”
“At the thrift store. She left a note.”
“I have to stop and get her. Samson wants her there, too.” She grabbed her phone and started to leave.
“Christie?” I shouted, and she came back.
“What?”
“It’s going to be okay. All of this. Trust me.”
Chapter Eighteen Christie
I found Gigi at the thrift store in the book section and practically had to drag her out of there to get her to the meeting on time. She had her nose tucked into a Fabio romance and had a cart full of them when I interrupted. She gave me a verbal lashing for stopping her from reading her stories, but when I told her about the meeting, Fabio and all his wind-blown-hair lovers were forgotten and she told them goodbye.
“What’s the rush?” she asked as I tapped my foot, waiting for her to get into the car. “That jerk of a man has made you wait all this time and you just rush over there when he makes a peep. Well, not this old girl. He can wait a little.” She grumbled on the entire ride about entitled alphas and egos and kicking Samson in his balls. Then she told me a story about how one of her mates was considering challenging another nearby alpha simply because he wanted their land. She nipped the stupid notion in the bud immediately. By the time we got to the pack lands, tears were coming down my face, not from sadness but from laughing too hard.
“Let’s see what
