“You left her there? You just let her go?!” he snarls in Travis’ face. My pack leader has grown still as stone as my brother screams at him. “What kind of man are you?”
“The kind that knows the harder we try to keep her, the worse it will be,” he says, his voice devoid of emotion.
“So, you’re just giving up, then.” Rowan barks out a hysterical laugh. “Just letting her reject us. You’re a fucking idiot, Travis. You’ve fucked this up from day one!”
“Hey,” Travis growls, stepping closer into my brother’s face. “Would you rather me drag her here, so she can hate us? Because if that’s the case, you don’t know her as well as you think.”
With Rowan spiraling and Travis coming back to the packhouse in ruins, I haven’t even had time to process what I’m feeling during this mess.
Blair left us.
She left us, thinking she wasn’t good for us.
Which is insane—besides being our scent matches, she’s a wonderful person.
She’s everything I could have hoped for, and more.
Rowan is still shouting, and before I can stop him, he shoves Travis. Travis gets into his face, and I have to pull my brother back from swinging.
Again, there’s no time to process howI’mfeeling.
“Knock that shit off,” I hiss at Rowan. “None of this is helping.”
“So, you’re giving up on her, too,” he laughs. “Just letting her run away from us without a fight.”
“It’s not about letting her run away. If she needs space, we respect it.”
“Right, and letting her know she’s not worth fighting for,” he snaps, his icy eyes blazing. “You two are fucking idiots. You kept me away from her, you didn’t want me to meet her, and now she’s gone. She’s fucking gone, because you two aren’t brave enough to fight for what you want!”
“Brave?” I snarl, grabbing him by his black shirt collar, catching him by surprise. “How about we talk about who’s brave here.” Built up anger bubbles up inside me, spilling from my mouth like poison. “Who’s the one that pushes everything aside for you? Who has patience just to keep you out of trouble? Who has to reignyouin, because you’re too fucking muchall the goddamn time?”
Rowan stares at me, his mouth open in shock.
“Do you knowwhyTravis and I wanted you to stay away from Blair at first? So, you didn’t pull this shit on her. Only thinking about yourself and not howshefeels.”
“What the fuck, Ryland,” Rowan whispers.
“It’s not always about you,” I spit. “It’s not always Rowan, Rowan, Rowan. We’re a pack. And we don’t dictate our actions based only on whatyouthink is right.”
My brother stares at me, his breathing heavy as he pulls himself out of my grip. “Get the fuck off me,” he hisses.
I haven’t talked to my brother like that for as long as I can remember. But it comes spilling out of me, every word making Rowan’s face crumple.
“Not everything is about you,” I hiss. “How about you give a shit about what I’m feeling for the first time in your life. I’m sick of being the one to have to hold you back or clean up your shit.”
“I’ve never asked you to do that.Asshole.”
“You didn’t have to. It needed to happen.”
Rowan looks between Travis and me, his face hard as stone. “Fuck you guys,” he spits. Then, he turns and heads out the front door, slamming it behind him.
I turn to Travis. “Was I too harsh?”
He shakes his head, his lips pulled into a thin line. “No.”
“Do you think he’s going to try and go after her?”
“He doesn’t know where she went.”
