How can this world be so cruel, to ask me to choose between my brothers and the man I’ve loved since I was a boy?
A tender smile breaks on Soren’s face. He does not hate me for being too weak to choose. No, he looks as if he lovesme all the more for my foolish indecision. “It is all right, Lyall.”
A sob chokes me, and the room blurs through my tears as I fall to my knees and pull him into my arms.
No, it is not.
Nothing will ever be all right again.
I hurl open the doors to the longhouse. “Wulfric! I must speak with you, now!”
Sitting in my father’s seat at the table makes Wulfric look so very small. A child playing dress-up.
Wulfric sets his mouth into a grim line. “You saw him.”
My fists tremble as I curl them. “Release him. Now. Give me the keys.” I will rip them from his hand myself if I have to.
“Lyall…” Wulfric begins, as if he’s speaking to a wild animal. “I can’t do that.”
“You can and you will!” I slam my fist down on the table, making it shake. Flinching, Wulfric stumbles out of his seat, not like an Alpha but like the thirteen-year-old boy he is.
Shame burns me up inside. This is my little brother. I shouldn’t raise my voice. I should be kinder. I—
No. He is not only my little brother.
He is my Alpha now, and he has to learn that not everyone will agree with his decisions.
Taking in a slow breath, I say, “Why not?”
Balling his hands into fists, Wulfric meets my gaze head-on. “Because he has betrayed us.”
I grind my teeth. “You can’t believe that. Not after all the years he’s spent with us.”
“I didn’t want to.” A sheen dampens Wulfric’s silver eyes. “But he told us himself. All these years, he was just using us… using y-you, Lyall.”
“That isn’t true, Wulfric. You have to know that.”
“I…” Wulfric parts his lips, then snaps his mouth shut. “I’m sorry, Lyall. Truly. The pack…mypack”—his voice breaks on the word—“want answers. They want justice.”
“And this is how you’ll get it?” The roar escapes me before I can stop it. “By exiling an innocent man? Why? So you can feel like half the Alpha our father was?”
Wulfric staggers back, looking like I struck him. “Lyall, I know how you feel about him. You care for him. We all did. But he has betrayed us. It’s his fault Father is dead! He must be exiled, or I will kill him myself.”
Lunging forward, I grab his hands in mine. “Please. Wulfric, please, do not do this. Do not take him from me. Please.”
Wulfric’s wet eyes widen, his lips working soundlessly.
My knees give out, and I clutch onto his arms to keep myself upright. “Wherever he goes, so will I.”
A choked sound escapes Wulfric. “No. Lyall, you can’t. I need you here. I can’t be an alpha without my pack.”
His pleas strike me in the chest. “You’d make me choose?”
How could I decide between my family and my mate? I promised Father after Mother died that I would look after my brothers, but Soren and I are mated, bonded for life.
“How dare you?” My voice breaks, half a sob, half a snarl. “You’re no Alpha. You’re a coward, looking for someone to blame for your own failures!”
Wulfric’s eyes flash with fury. “And where were you?” he bellows. “I was on the beach with Father! We fought for our lives, and you weren’t there!”
