I glance at Elise and wave for her to stay back before I follow my brother’s barrage through the emptied hallways. Along with some frozen peas scattered across the floor, there are huge gouges scratched down the halls, out to the patio.
I find my brother at the end of the trail of destruction, sitting on the ground next to the glass door, methodically shredding a curtain with his claws. He seems to be struggling to control himself.
His anger lays around him in little tufts of shredded fabric and frozen peas. He clutches the punctured bag to his chest, shuddering, trying not to snarl or transform. His long hair comes loose, scattering across his face, his eyes wild with anger.
“It feels like a panic attack,” he mutters, not even looking at me.
I can see the way it hurts to contain.
I also see the way a couple of guests outside have spied us through the glass and know he wouldn’t want anyone to see this.
“Hey, man. It’s gonna be ok. Let’s take a beat. You go back upstairs, I’ll go out there and apologize, tell them you’re not feeling well,” I tell him quietly, taking his arm and helping him stand back up.
“You want to tell me to just do what you did, just drop all my responsibilities, my loyalty, my family, and for what?”Logan growls slowly, his glare burning into me. “Look how shit everything turned out for you. You threw all of us away for a human that left you the moment it got too hard.”
His claws press in and take a few slices out of my jacket sleeve. Gritting my teeth I pull back. I’m off balance when he shoves me bodily.
The door bursts open when my shoulder connects with it suddenly, and the two of us spill outside, onto the patio. A rush of murmurs rise when the sky stops spinning. All the guests look at us, frozen.
I stumble, but keep my footing under me, holding him at arm’s length the best I can, my hand clawed around his shoulder.
“Yeah, you talked too loud about your little secret,” he snarls, tone venomous.
“Shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I grumble around trying to hold him. I glimpse Elise behind us, eyes wide and terrified.
“No, you shut up. You broke the rules, you don’t get to just...be happy! I stayed here and picked up the pieces after you left.”
Teeth bared and a low rumble in his throat, he shoves me back, forcing me to let go of him. I stumble back and a table cuts into my side, the sound of dishes and glass hitting the ground follows.
“You picked some girl you just met over all of us,” Logan seethes, throwing a glare in Elise’s direction. “Did it occur to you how it felt for you to throw the rest of us away? Did it even matter?”
His anger is so singular, it’s like he doesn’t even see anyone else.
The metallic taste of blood creeps into my awareness. My lip is bleeding, I find, rubbing where he struck me. I swear we used to have a no-closed fists rule about hitting each other. Distantly, and perhaps a little unrealistically, I hope he gets grounded to hell for this.
I push off the overturned table at my back, the broken place settings gathered underneath me.
“No, you fuck off. I lost almost everyone who said they loved me. For eight years. Overnight. Don’t think that you don’t have to make that up to me.”
He growls, the sound wrinkling his nose terribly in a snarl, and he begins the shift, even as dusk has barely fallen.
“Logan! Logan, please,” Mom says, her eyes wide, and desperate with concern.
I really thought our mom would be on the other side of this. Even though she is outsized by all her children, she has never looked so small, or frail as her expression betrays her, as she reaches a gentle hand toward Logan.
The moment passes in his eyes, they linger on her, considering the peace she reaches out with.
Then his eyes flick to me, a sneer curling under the dark intensity of them.
“So, Shawn gets to break all the rules, and it’s just fine?”
Oh, we’refucked.
Logan lunges, and I don’t honestly see who it’s toward. I just move toward him.
25
Elise
