Tristan rolls his eyes. “Come on, old man. Before you get us into more trouble.”
Sienna settles at the table. “Can we wait until Tristan gets back? I’d like us all here.”
Nerves jingle in my stomach at her words, but we all wait until he comes back in a few minutes later. His hand drops to Sienna’s shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Sorry.”
She shakes her head. “He’s your father, Tristan. No need to apologize.”
Our Soul Bonded takes a deep breath, clasping her hands in front of her on the table.
“This isn’t a decision I can make on my own,” she says slowly. “I appreciate that given what happened, you’re trying to show me that I can trust you. But if this is going to work, we need to communicate. We need to talk, and discuss things properly. I’m not the only one with an opinion, and for something like this, we need to act like the pack we’re supposed to be and talk it through,together.”
Tristan leans forward, and I can see the surprise on his face. “But you’re the one who’s had to suffer for decisions we made, Sienna.”
She shakes her head. “Not just me, Tristan.”
She locks her gaze with mine, moving over to Logan. “A decision that you should have had the freedom to make was taken out of your hands,” she says softly. “That should have been your choice, and it was stolen from you.”
My mouth dries, and Logan shifts in his seat. “Sienna…”
“No.” Her voice is firm. “We’re pack. Maybe we’re not there yet, and maybe we’re working through our issues, but we’re all equally important, Logan. That includes your relationship.”
Sienna drops her gaze to the table before she looks at me. “That day… when I saw you together. I didn’t respond in the best way, and I’m sorry if I made you feel that your relationship is in any way inferior. You offered to hide who you are if it made me uncomfortable, and I hate that you felt you needed to do that.”
“It was a hard day,” I say, my voice hoarse. I don’t have any words.
Sienna gives me a wobbly smile. “I was jealous,” she admits. “I saw the two of you together, and it was so… you had so much love for each other, and I so desperately wanted to feel the same way.”
There’s a prickling sensation behind my eyes, and I swallow hard. I can’t even look at Logan. “But we made you feel that way.”
She shrugs. “You did, but not because of the two of you being together. It was everything else, and that’s something we have to work through. But wedon’tneed to work through your relationship, because it’s not something you can work through. You’re not side characters in your own damn story. I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide it from us, or spring apart when I walk into a room. I think it’s beautiful, Gray. And I’ll tell everybody in Navarre to fuck off if they’re stupid enough to not see the same. If we decide,together, that going back is the right thing to do.”
She takes a deep breath, and I glance over at Jax and Tristan. Both of them are silent, staring at Sienna. It’s Jax who looks over at us first. He looks a little lost.
“Did…,” he stops, clears his throat. “Did we make you feel like that? Like it was something you needed to hide?”
Logan shifts. “It… I mean, when you found out, you were angry. I get that you were annoyed we didn’t tell you, but can you understand why we didn’t? And maybe we would have, if the whole thing wasn’t taken out of our hands.”
Jax looks dismayed. “Shit, Logan. Gray. Yeah, I get that. I guess I never really looked at it like that before. I wasn’t angry because you’retogether. God, it feels fucking obvious now. You two look good together. I agree with Shortcake. Fuck anyone who doesn’t think the same.”
“It was me who held us back,” I say quietly, and everyone turns to me. “I was scared of what people would think. Scared of the impact it would have if people reacted badly. Logan would have told you a long time ago, but I stopped him. I’m not… I’m not scared anymore. I wish it hadn’t happened like that, but I’m not scared of people knowing.”
Logan’s hand slides onto my knee, but I grip his fingers in mine, locking us together and pulling it up onto the table.
“This is who we are,” I say, a smile tugging at my mouth. “And it feels good to be able to say it out loud.”
Sienna smiles when I look at her. “I’m glad for you. Both of you.”
Tristan still hasn’t said anything. Straightening my back, I look over at him. We’ve talked it over, mentioned it in the truck when we went to get Sienna’s things for her room, but this is the first time we’ve talked about it as a pack.
It’s the first time we’ve really talked about anything as a pack in a long time.
He swallows. “I told Gray before that I hadn’t been a very good pack leader. And listening to all of you… I really haven’t. Sienna is right to call us out on it.”
He turns to me and Logan, pinning us with his eyes. “I’m going to say this as clearly as I can. There is nothing more important to me than you.Allof you. This pack. And I don’t give a fuck about the rest of it. You think that I care more about shit like our social status than I do you? You think I’d choose any of that over you, and you being who you’re supposed to be? Family first. Always.”
He moves his eyes to Sienna. “I once made the mistake of thinking that family first meant I had to choose. I know better now. We lean on each other. And I need you to call me out if that’s not happening. I’m not going to magically change overnight. I don’t always make the right decisions, but I’ll do better.”
I watch as they lock eyes. “For once, I’m starting to believe you,” Sienna whispers. Then she raises her eyebrow. “Just don’t fuck it up.”
