It hadn’t been my intention to read Sebastian’s private messages, but once I opened a text screen for Bryce, a page of recent notes appeared.
I never meant to hurt you. Please talk to me.
Do you want me to ask you to marry me? Would you feel better if I told you to just leave Cole and come live out here with me?
Blood pounded in my ears as I stood frozen, staring at my brother’s words to my lover. What the hell? Sebastian’s response did nothing to ease my anger.
Of course not. I don’t want to marry you. I don’t want to marry him either. At this point, I’m about ready to leave and let you two have each other. Whatever all of this is, it’s not actually about me and I’m done. Please stop texting me. If you want to help, call Cole.
“Hey, Bast,” I called, not looking up from the message. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
“Like what?” he asked, sounding genuinely confused as he came back to me.
I handed him the cell, staring at him expectantly.
“Why are you reading my texts?” he asked, his voice flat.
“Because that’s the point right now?” I said, through gritted teeth. “If you must know, it was an accident. I was going to text Bryce. I wasn’t snooping. Of course, I didn’t realize there would be anything in there you’d want to keep hidden from me.”
“How much did you read?” There was no emotion in his tone or his body language. We could have been talking about the weather.
“Just that,” I answered, pointing. “I mean, how much worse could it get? You don’t want to marry me. I suppose I knew that considering how many times you’ve turned me down. Am I supposed to be relieved that you don’t want to marry him either?”
“You aren’t supposed to be anything,” he shot back, his eyes flashing and giving away some of the anger he was holding back. “Since you read three out of about a hundred messages, I wouldn’t expect you to fully understand the scope of the conversation. I’ll be happy to fill you in later, but for now, can we please keep looking for Bryce? The sun is going to set soon, and if I’m going to shift, I’d like to be closer to my alpha.”
“Are you going to leave me?” I asked, unable to hold back the question. I’d already lost my brother, I couldn’t survive losing the love of my life, too.
“Damn it, Cole.” Sebastian cupped my cheek in his palm, his actions at odds with his words. “Stop being a fuckwit. Please. My cat is about to crawl out of my skin to get to its alpha, and we don’t have time for this argument right now. I love you. I have always loved you. I’m not going anywhere that you aren’t going to be, too. But at this specific moment in time, we have to move.”
When we found Bryce, I was going to beat the shit out of him. It didn’t matter what else had been said in those messages. He’d told Sebastian to leave me and run away with him. That was unforgivable.
“Bastian, I don’t understand what the fuck is going on between you two,” I yelled, not willing to let it go. “He hasn’t spoken to me in months, but he managed to get a hundred messages to you? You have to realize how fucked up this is. I mean…what the hell am I supposed to think?”
“Cole, we can’t do this right now,” he pleaded. “My beast is about to burst free any minute, and I can’t promise that I’ll be able to control it enough to keep from running. I don’t want you alone in the woods with other weres roaming around. We can fight later, okay?”
Oh, we’d fight. That was for damn sure. Me and Bryce and Sebastian were going to have one hell of a conversation when two-thirds of us weren’t furry. Or maybe, I’d just stay up here with Pops and they could run off and be together.
“How long has this been going on?” I asked as I walked with Sebastian.
“What?” Sebastian asked, his panther’s tone creeping into his voice.
“The secret talks between you and Bryce. How long has he been trying to take you away from me?”
“For fuck’s sake, Cole!” Bastian rounded on me, his fists clenched and his eyes glowing the bright blue of his cat. “That’s not what any of this is. You can’t just jump to conclusions about something you know nothing about. Bryce doesn’t want me. Not really. He wants—”
“Hey, can we please stop with the chick-flick shit?” Darla snapped, cutting Sebastian off. “In case you two haven’t noticed, we’re surrounded by weres, and I’m about to shift. Bastian, perhaps, you should drop your guard and turn, too.”
We both stopped and looked around. I couldn’t see anything in the woods, but Sebastian’s low growl let me know he sensed whatever Darla did. Something was obviously out there, and from their reactions, I guessed it wasn’t anyone from their pack.
In an instant, my cats shifted, loud roars issuing from their maws. Answering howls filled the air around us, and gooseflesh broke out on my arms. Shit. Shit. Shit.
I dropped my bags, ripping open one of the duffels and pulling out a sawed-off shotgun, preloaded with rock-salt rounds. I didn’t want to kill anyone, but I needed some kind of deterrent. After shoving as many more shells as I could grab into my pockets, I walked as calmly but determinedly as I could in the direction of the cabin. I couldn’t run. The weres would sense it as weakness and
