A single tear trickled down Candrin’s cheek and I longed to go wipe it and give him a hug letting him know everything would be okay. But would it? I didn’t know. It was such a clusterfuck.
Neither my brother nor I said anything, probably there was nothing to say.
“I didn’t mean to come between brothers. I’m really sorry. I’ll pack and figure out someplace to go.” He turned and ran up the stairs and this time I started after him.
I couldn’t lose him now. He was my mate and I loved him. I wasn’t even sure when that happened, but it did. His leaving would break me.
Tanner’s hand wrapped around my arm. “Give him time.” His voice cracked, his emotion just as high as mine.
“I can’t. You don’t understand, but I can’t let him leave without fighting for him.”
Mate.
Mate.
Mate.
My mate was in his room and safe for now. And as much as I hated not rushing up there to be with him, I had to deal with Tanner first. He needed to know that Candrin wasn’t just a hook-up for me. That he was so much more.
“I can’t either,” Tanner’s bear was showing in his eyes. “He’s my mate. I scented it the first day. Fate put him on this earth for me and even being away from him had my beast in a frenzy. I can’t lose him, brother. I can’t.”
Mate.
Mate.
Mate.
I nearly crumbled to the ground. He couldn’t be Candrin’s mate. He couldn’t.Iwas. My bear wasn’t wrong on this. How could he be? We scented him and he knew in aninstant. Candrin was our mate.
“No.” It came out as all but a whisper. “No. You’re wrong.”
“I’m not wrong.” He closed his eyes. “I’m not. He’s my mate. Had he not been human, he’d have already worn my mark.”
He believed every word. I could feel it. Tanner believed he was Candrin’s mate. Was it a brother thing? Did our bears get the mate thing confused because we were both sort of close enough? Or was fate just messing with us. Testing us like in the days of old.
This was so fucked up, I couldn’t even.
“You’re wrong.” I took a deep breath. “Candrin is my mate. My bear knows it and I know it. The only one who doesn’t is Candrin because he doesn’t know our kind even exists.”
“He does know it though,” Tanner pushed hair from his brow. “That’s why he said it wasn’t love but it was. He feels it too. We are both his mates and before you ask, the fuck if I know what that means.”
Mate.
Share.
Mate.
“My bear says to share. Maybe that’s why he didn’t want to rip you to shreds when he figured out you were sleeping with him.” And on some level why I didn’t either. At the time it didn’t make sense, but then again nothing had. “He sensed you were Candrin’s mate too.”
“What now?” Tanner picked up his discarded clothes and got dressed. “He’s packing to leave thinking he ruined everything. We can’t let him leave and even if he stays I have no idea how to make this all work.” Tanner shoved his hands in his pockets. “If we mess this up… we can’t… we have one chance to do this right.”
Something thudded on the floor upstairs, my guess being his suitcase. He really was leaving.
“We can’t let him go,” I said.
“We can’t make this an uncomfortable place for him to stay, either.” Tanner was right.
“What if we leave instead?” I offered. “We could stay at a hotel and figure shit out withoutmaking him uncomfortable.”
