“What do you mean?”
“Where do I start? Who would have thought that on the day I got hired for a job that things turned out like this? My boss is my mate, my best friend was afraid to tell me what he is, my parents hiding my heritage from me, and I’m still trying to figure out why I’m not angry. I should be mad at you, Duncan, and my parents. But seriously, I’m relieved.”
“Why are you relieved?”
“For years now, I’ve been seeing strange things here and there. Like remember a few months ago I told you I had this dream that I saw a big black dog with blue eyes in my dream and instead of it trying to kill me, I was able to touch it and play with it as if we knew each other.”
“Yeah, I remember. I told you that you were crazy,” Bronx said with a smile. “I’m sorry, little bit,” he sighed.
“For what?” Jordan asked, confused and ignoring that his friend used the nickname he hated.
“For keeping everything a secret from you,” Bronx told him.
“There’s nothing you could have done, in a way I kind of understand,” Jordan told him. “What if you told me and I freaked out and your fears came true? As much as I hate to admit it, things happened the way they did for me and Duncan because they were meant to. Do you remember how drawn I was to his picture?” Bronx nodded. “I think even with the block on my abilities, I knew Duncan was mine, you know? I even stopped sleeping around the second I laid eyes on his picture.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes longer and Jordan tried to absorb his own words.
“Since I’m apologizing for secrets, I need to say I’m sorry for something else,” Bronx told him.
“Please don’t tell me you killed someone,” Jordan said jokingly.
“No, but I could have,” Jordan furrowed his brow and Bronx continued to speak. “I couldn’t do it; I couldn’t exchange my mate for you even after all we mean to each other and even though I understood the position Duncan was in.”
“Who would ask you to do that? If mates mean the same thing for lykosians, it does for your kind—”
“It does,” Bronx said, cutting him off.
“Then who would ask you to do something like that?” Jordan asked him.
Bronx did not have to say anything, the expression on his face told Jordan everything. Anger boiled inside of him and before Bronx could stop him, Jordan was already marching into Duncan’s office. The door banged on the wall when he pushed it, he saw the surprise from everyone in the room.
“How dare you!” He was seething with anger.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Duncan asked.
“Why would you ask Bronx to do something like that? To turn over his mate!”
“So he told you?” Duncan said.
“Damn right, he did,” Jordan answered, crossing his arms over his chest. “So you’re not denying what you did?”
“Why the fuck should I? You are my mate and I will do anything to protect you.”
“And what about Bronx’s mate?” Jordan yelled.
“Exactly, what about his mate? What business should I care what happens to his mate? I am a selfish bastard, Jordan. I protect and keep what’s mine safe. That includes my family, my pack, and most of all my mate. If you didn’t know it, well now you do. What do you think would happen when you burst in here, that I would say I’m sorry? Well, I’m not. Harrison would have done the same thing if he was in my shoes.”
“He’s right, Jordan,” Bronx said behind him.
“But we are talking about another person's life, don’t either of you care about that?”
“I’m going to say this again.” Duncan stood to his feet and walked around his desk and closer to Jordan but didn’t touch him. “My main concern is my mate, which is you, my family, this means the twins and my mother, and last is my pack; in that order.”
Jordan read the if you don’t like it, too fucking bad.
“I will admit that I’m not used to all this shit,” he said. “But I refuse to let someone be sacrificed because of me.”
Duncan growled in frustration. “Why the fuck are we even talking about this? You’re here and we didn’t need to sacrifice anyone.”
