Once we were on the path around the property, I waited for my Alpha to speak.
Eventually, he did.
“What are you trying to do?” he asked, glancing at me over his shoulder as we walked on a narrow part of the path. “Like what’s your goal with talking about Ethan that way?”
I groaned and stopped in my tracks. Tilting my head back, I stared at the moon that was shining on us from between the trees.
“I don’t know.”
Brodie came to me and squeezed my arm. “You know that nobody in the pack minds you and Max’s relationship, right? Even the humans understand that it’s very different for wolves.”
I sighed and lifted my head to look at him. “It’s not… it’s not like that. Quite.”Yet.
“The two of you are two halves of a whole, Ben. If that’s more than being brothers, we get it.”
I looked down at our feet and sighed. “I get that. I do.” Then the thing that had been bothering me came out in words for the first time. “But what if Luca doesn’t want both of us?”
Brodie patted my arm and chuckled quietly. “Well, for one, he seems to like the two of you a whole lot. He’s comfortable with both of you. Whether that develops into anything romantic with one or both of you is yet to be seen. But for two, and I need you to listen to me on this, cousin.” He waited until I made eye contact with him. “Luca is intelligent. He knows how close you and Max are. Whether he wants you together or separately, that’s between the three of you. But he’s fully capable of telling you what his wants and needs are, and you and Max should try to, you know,communicate.”
I groaned and looked at the moon again. “You mean I need to be an adult about this?”
He laughed and turned to lead the way again. “Sadly, that’s how it works. You need to talk a whole lot when you’re interested in someone and want to make it work and, above all, last.”
But how was I to know what to say in a situation where my feelings for Luca were new? I’d never fallen in love with the illusion of him like Max had through Luca’s music, years ago.
Maybe it was because I wasn’t a dreamer in the way my brother could be. I was a realist, and I had to admit to myself that not only did I need to have a discussion with Luca, I also needed to have one with my brother, and that… that was the uncharted territory that scared me the most.
Because while we’d always been incredibly close, I hadn’t lied to my Alpha; there were lines we’d never crossed. Whether that was out of fear or something else, I wasn’t sure.
Luca was in our lives permanently, I was certain of that. I couldn’t see a world where he’d go back to being a rockstar. He wasn’t that man anymore.
If he didn’t want us both, I hoped he wanted Max. I could live with not having Luca, and I could live with being pushed to the sidelines a little bit when it came to my brother. But I couldn’t live with being the one Luca chose at my brother’s expense.
I would never, ever break Max’s heart like that.
Of course, when I walked into our bedroom about an hour later, Max and Luca were sitting on the bed, looking at me with expressions I couldn’t read.
Before I could freak out about that—I could always read my brother, after all—Luca sighed.
He squeezed my brother’s hand on his lap and said, “I think we need to talk.”
Chapter Seven
Luca
Maybe it was because we’d spent the whole day together, but Max’s emotions were clear as day to me. When Ben talked about the human guy, Max’s torn kind of hurt and upset rolled off him in waves. I wasn’t the only one to notice, of course. Brodie was such a great cousin and Alpha, that he read the situation and removed Ben from it to give him a talking to. I hoped.
Max and I retreated to their room and I held him as he gathered his thoughts.
“He was saying all those things because….” He trailed off, then sighed.
I sighed. “Maybe he was trying to gauge the situation. It’s not like any of us can ignore the fact that you and I have become much closer lately.”
Max lifted his head to look at me. “But you would’ve gotten close to Ben too if he wasn’t working every day!”
I smiled and kissed his forehead. “No, I know I would’ve. But I think he’s preparing to back away.” I squeezed his hand and gently guided him back into my arms.
His head rested on my chest, which was weird if only because with the brothers, we had had sort of unspoken roles within our… whatever you’d call us. Friendship? Probably. Normally Max was the one taking care of me, and Ben took care of Max. I’d started to realize that maybe I needed to step up and close the circle.
