I haven’t claimed her.
That’s even worse.
I tilted my head in confusion.
Had you claimed her, I would have been able to pour all my rage on you. I would have had the right to be mad at you.His jaws clenched hard.But you…you fucking fell in love with her.He let out a bellowing howl and shifted back. “If I stay in this form another second I won’t be able to stop myself from hurting you.”
I had to shift, too, so he could hear me when I talked. “Take a swing if it will make you feel better. I deserve it.”
“Fuck you.” He kicked at the dirt and dropped under the tree. “Always trying to be the better beast.”
“I’m not trying to be anything. I just want you to be happy.”
“Happy? Giving up your girl is supposed to make me happy? You’re my brother. I fucking love you, too. You really think I’m that selfish to take a mate knowing she is yours even if I really want her?”
“Rena was never mine. I never told her anything.” Taking a look back, I saw now it was a mistake. My biggest regret ever. Perhaps… If I’d just told her, I might have been able to save her life. The vampire wouldn’t have been in her life. Alec wouldn’t have fought him that night. She wouldn’t have died. No devil. No curse. Alec would have found another mate. And all of us would have lived our happily ever after.
“All this time… I mean, I’m not blind. I see the way you’ve always looked at her. But I thought you only saw her as a breeder. Not a mate. But you’ve been fucking in love with her. Right from the beginning. That makesmethe bad guy here.”
Guilt hit me hard. “You’re not. This is all my fault.”
He shook his head. “Your fault, my fault, it doesn’t matter. Blame won’t fix anything. All that matters now is her. Just go back to Belle, Kayden. She needs you.”
“She needs you, too.”
A bitter laugh erupted out of him. “Not one of the previous versions dared share what Belle shared about Rena’s heart. What does that tell you, Brother?”
“That she really needs the three of us.” I squatted and met his glowing eyes. “Like you said, she is all that matters now. You have to be there for her. It’s how we’re wired, Alec. You cannot bail on your mate.”
“She’s not my mate. Not this time.” He shrugged. “Maybe I’ll have a better shot next time. Or not. I really don’t know how to look at Rena now.”
“No, Alec. Nothing has changed. She’s always loved you. She still does. Your history together, your feelings for each other all these years can’t be erased like that.”
“I can’t. Watching her be split three ways… I just can’t.” He held on to the tree trunk and rose.
I straightened my back. “You’d rather live without her than share her?”
His eyes blazed in the dark. “Just don’t let the parasite have her.”
He shifted and ran off.
CHAPTER 31
JOSHUA
“Do you think I’ve lost him?” Isabella whispered in my arms.
She had been crying silently since the wolves left, and I didn’t know how to react but to put all my pain and confusion aside, and embrace her.
Holding her in my arms in her bed, listening to her mesmerizing heartbeat, knowing she was safe was everything to me. I understood she was dealing with feelings she didn’t comprehend since we met, and the Declan situation had made her more confused.
But she was mine. Isabella and I belonged together. Even if she didn’t believe in fate or soul mates, it was the only way to explain this power, this connection I’d felt from the first moment I saw her. Not only in this life, but since the very first one. We were lost souls that had found each other in the dark. Our lives wouldn’t make sense alone. Not mine, at least.
I was tired of playing games, of pretending I didn’t mind the wait or the rivalry. I wanted her for myself. Forever.
I couldn’t care less for her question. “Even if you have, you still have me.”Iwas here. All she needed was right here next to her. I leaned in for a kiss to show her I’d been waiting for so long, and I was never going to let go of what was mine. To make her feel how much I needed her warmth, her heart.
Suddenly, she pulled back from my embrace. “Can vampires breed?”
