“From the look on your face, I think you have doubts. That doesn’t exactly leave me feeling comfortable.”
“I know my brothers enough to suspect they wouldn’t throw someone under the bus. He could’ve turned us in tonight, and he didn’t.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s not enough for me. Are you going to talk to him about this?”
Emerson winced. “I was hoping to just let it blow over.”
“Emerson,”Dash said. “Youhaveto talk to him. Make sure he’s not going to say anything to anyone.” When Emerson didn’t immediately reply, he added,“Please.”
Emerson sensed that‘please’had been hard for Dash to utter.
“Fine,” Emerson said, holding up a hand. “I’ll talk to him and make sure he won’t say anything about you being there.”
“I need to know what he says,” Dash said. “Honestly, I’d like to be there when you talk to him. I can help convince him to stay quiet.”
“No,” Emerson said. “Your presence might make us look guiltier.”
Dash’s face twisted with a look of pain.
Emerson leapt off the couch and marched closer. He grabbed the sides of Dash’s face and lifted it until their gazes met. “We’ve donenothingto feel guilty about.”
“What we did tonight is considered illegal.”
“Itshouldn’tbe,” Emerson said, his voice firm.
For the first time, there was a man he wanted more than one night with. No way was he going to let Dash spiral out and run from what they’d just shared.
“Regardless,” Dash said. “It is. Society has deemed it so. If we end up exposed, we’d both lose too much.”
“You’d rather live an empty life without love?”
Dash pulled away from him, his brow furrowed. “Who said anything about love?”
“I’m not calling this that.”Not yet.“But one day, maybe there’s a chance for both of us. Even if we have to hide the person and our love for them away. Would you really forgo that chance, simply because some men made an unfair law a few hundred years ago?”
Dash’s face softened, but he didn’t answer. Seconds later, the hard, indifferent mask returned as if it had never left.
“Your family seems very close,” Dash said, clearly moving them away from the topic of love. “What if Randall tells them what he saw tonight—and you losethem?Would loving another alpha have been worth it then?”
“In all honesty, it might be a relief that they knew,” Emerson replied.
Dash looked at him, aghast.“A relief?”
“When I saw Randall, I felt sick. But there was also this massive sense of relief that followed. I might not have to hide everything from him anymore. The lies—always watching every word I say, every step I take—it’s exhausting.”He paused, eyeing Dash. “If they knew, I wouldn’t have to keep twisting myself into knots every time I see them.” Pain lanced his chest. “Which isn’t as often as I want to, because I hate lying to them all the time.”
Dash watched him, silent.
“What about your family? Do they know about you?”
“Absolutely not,” Dash said.
“You know a lot about my family, but I know nothing about yours,” Emerson said. “Do they live here in the province?”
“Yeah. My parentsandmy younger brother.”
“Are you close?” Emerson asked.
Dash shrugged. “Close-ish.I was away for long months at a time while in the Black Guard… and after I retired, I put everything into opening the firm. I don’t spend as much timewith them as I’d like, but maybe it’s for the same reason you don’t with yours. I don’t want to give them opportunities to see too much and figure out I’m different. They’re way too smart for their own good.”
