I put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
That was an order,I signed with a growl. Weneed you. You can't avoid her forever. Especially now that Rowan is bound to us. All of us. I can feel how much it hurts you to stay away from her.
You know nothing. Stay out of my head, brother.
Killian signed the words with a snarl and tried to push past me and disappear into his room, just like he had every night since Rowan’s escape attempt.
I followed him inside, closing the door behind us. He dropped onto the bed as the metal frame and bedsprings groaned under his weight.
Without looking at me, he signed, Get out.
I started signing furiously, but he refused to look at me, so I switched to speaking. I had wanted to keep our conversation private, but his stubbornness made that impossible.
"I know she hurt you," I began.
His eyes narrowed, and a low growl rumbled from his chest. He was warning me not to continue this line of conversation. His expression read,don't go there,so I changed tactics.
"Fine. I don't care if you never speak to her again. That is your choice. But as your senior officer, I am ordering you to do this. You have an obligation to your pack, and we need you. Full unit attendance is required while she shifts. Those woods are crawling with direworgs now. Anything could happen. Anything could go wrong. We need all hands on deck."
He sighed, crossing his legs and leaning back against the headboard.
Anything? Not anything, Cade. Crane will run again. Stupid to trust her.
"Maybe I am stupid, but I don't have another choice. Eventually, we have to learn how to trust each other. I feel herguilt through the bond. It's heavy,no,crushing. Talon hears her thoughts, circling over and over, trying to figure out how to prove she is sorry. Mostly to you. You should have seen her when you left, after she tried to apologize to you. She was–"
Do not! Do not tell me what she was! Don't care. She did this. She betrayed me.
I sighed and rubbed my temples before sitting down on the edge of his bed. Part of me had known Killian would struggle to forgive Rowan.
Searching my memories, I tried to think if any woman had ever shown him kindness. Genuine kindness. My mother had been his own personal monster his entire life. Killian grew up with a woman's cruelty crushing him, and no mother to help temper that cruelty with a woman's love.
Then Rowan walked into our lives, and he reached for her with everything in him. He craved what she represented. A gentle touch. Softness. The type of feminine love his circumstances had denied him of since birth. He fell for her hard, like all of us did, but he was the one who defended her the most. He trusted her and let her see through his armor.
Killian allowed her to get close enough to hurt him, and she took advantage of that.
He was mad at Rowan, sure, but he was equally angry at himself for trusting her so easily.
"I am not telling you how to handle your relationship with Rowan. But this cannot continue. The brooding, the disappearing, refusing to be near her. She is part of this unit and part of this pack, whether or not you forgive her. We protect our own. The brat may need protecting from herself and her own misguided decisions, but that does not change that she is our pack-bonded omega."
I continued, staring him down. "Claim her or do not claimher; that is your business. But you will follow my orders, and you will be there tonight. Do you understand, Staff Sergeant?"
Killian's fingers signed back, tight and pissed,Understood, sir,before he looked away.
Then I left him to sulk in that cave he calls a room. I understood why he was acting like this; I really did, but it was getting old fast. The strain between him and Rowan was bleeding through the bond now, winding the rest of us tight and putting every nerve on edge. We could not carry this tension much longer. He needed to get his emotions under control.
I had barely made it three steps into the hallway before a shriek tore from the living room. I moved fast, ready for a threat, only to rush in and see Rowan clinging to Ryker's side on the couch. She covered her eyes with both hands to avoid watching the TV. A masked psychopath revved a chainsaw and ripped into some poor victim on the screen while Rowan yelled, "Yuck, Ryker!"
"I thought you said you liked horror!" Ryker said, laughing as he tried to peel her hands off her face and force her to watch.
"I do! I like ghosts, witches, haunted houses and creepy things, not human flesh masks and people turning into blood fountains!" she yelled, squeezing her eyes shut.
"This is a classic slasher, Kitten. A fucking masterpiece of art, culture, and cinema! Made before the world turned boring as hell. Do you know how political this movie actually is? They would arrest the director on sight if he tried to pitch this in New Arca."
"It may be political, but it's disgusting," she said, peeking through a gap in her fingers.
"If you think this is bad, wait until the sequel. They turn the, you know,peopleinto chili. Real gourmet experience, very farm to table."
"What!? Ew! We arenotwatching the sequel. I'm picking the next—"
