“Bullshit. You want what’s best for you. And you’re scared that she might actually belong here.”
Ranier bristles. Just a fraction, but enough for me to savor it.
He recovers, voice cool as winter. “What are you even saying, Bastion? You and Wyatt have already crossed every line with her. You want a ceremony? You want to make it public? Fine. Go ahead. It’s not my reputation on the block.”
“Could be.” I let the words hang.
He goes very still. “Do you think I’d ever claim an omega who?—”
“Who what? Isn’t from the right family? Doesn’t have the right degree?” I shrug. “Emery’s got more backbone than most of the girls we grew up with. Maybe more than you, if we’re being honest.”
His face goes pale. “You done? My father didn’t care about anything but himself. I’m not him.”
I turn, and for the first time, I see that he might actually believe it. But he’s still wrong. “You’re worse, man. Because you do care. You care so much it makes you a fucking maniac.”
Ranier shoots me a grimace like he’s weighing the cost of punching me through the window. “This isn’t about me.”
“It is, though,” I say. “It’s always been about you.”
He walks around the desk but stops just out of reach. The air between us is so charged I could light a match with my breath.
“You want me to be the villain here,” he says, voice low. “But the second I let Emery in, the second I let you and Wyatt in—what happens to this pack? What happens to us? We’re already a laughingstock. You want us to be a cautionary tale, too?”
I hold my ground. “I want you to stop pretending you don’t want Emery. I want you to stop acting like we’re not all in this together.”
Ranier laughs, but it’s bitter. “I don’t want her. I want a future.”
“Then maybe stop tanking it at every turn,” I say. “Because if you don’t make a move, someone else will. That’s what you’re really afraid of, isn’t it?”
He glares. “Do you think you’ve got me figured out?”
I walk right up to him, until we’re eye to eye. “I think you’re terrified. I think you know that if you let her in, if you mark her, if you do the thing you’ve been bred to do—you’ll never be able to walk it back. She’ll own you. And you’d rather die than let anyone have that much power over you.”
For a second, Ranier looks like he might hit me. Instead, he drops his eyes.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he mutters.
“Sure I do,” I say, softer now. “Because I’m the same.”
He looks up, surprised.
I let that land, then step back. “Wyatt’s in, by the way. He already told her how he feels.”
Ranier doesn’t answer.
I head for the door, but stop with my hand on the knob. “You can keep playing tough guy, but it’s a waste of time. We’re all already hers.”
He doesn’t turn, but his voice chases me out. “You tell anyone about this?—”
“Yeah, yeah,” I say. “You’ll ruin my life.”
Already nearly did.
I close the door behind me, but the conversation keeps spinning in my head.
Ranier never lets go of anything. Not pride, not grudges, and certainly not the expectation that if he just works hard enough, the world will bend to his will.
But this? This is different. Emery is different. She’s like a hand grenade someone tossed into the middle of our perfectly laid plans. And even now, after all the fighting, I don’t know if that scares me or sets me free.
