“Sure, go ahead.”
“You seem to believe in Griffin,” I say. “But you immediately mistrusted me. Why?”
Rory sits down again. “You reminded me of Clemmens.”
“Because I am a beta?”
“That, and because you are quiet and composed.”
Now it’s my turn to be annoyed. “So, that alone makes me someone suspicious? I met Clemmens during my mission, and I don’t think we resemble each other all that much, aside from being introverted.”
“I am really sorry, Martin,” he says. “I know. That’s why I said youremindedme of him; you don’t remind me of him anymore. I am not sure if that helps. It seems I am constantly putting my foot in it when talking to you.”
“Yeah, you kind of do.”
“My trust is at a real low,” he admits. “I saw you and thought of the million ways you could betray Rosea. And I know that being beta doesn’t mean fuck. Clemmens was beta and betrayed his rank constantly.”
I nod. “He did. He completely neglected all his duties to the pack. He only followed Jordan.”
“I am not sure what Jordan promised him,” Rory says. “I guess after I almost got killed and disappeared, he might have felt pretty lost. He probably thought I was dead. I wish I could have reached out to any of them, but I couldn’t. I had zero money and zero power. I only really managed to pull myself up recently and have finally gathered some allies. That’s when you guys found me. The bottom line is: I get why Clemmens was desperate anddetached, but it’s not an excuse. We grew up together. He, Rose and I. Goddess, she meant something to him, you know? He used to treat her like a little sister. And then… that!”
I can barely imagine how devastated and betrayed he has to feel now. “He rejected you when Jordan told him to, didn’t he?”
He nods. “Clemmens really looked up to Jordan back then. It was one thing that Rose didn’t see Jordan’s red flags at first. He was her fucking mate after all, and she was his victim. But Clemmens… he didn’t believe me at all. And when Jordan offered him a rank, he rejected me.”
“Just like that?” I ask.
Rory shrugs.
“And you?”
“I thought I might still be able to save everyone,” he says. “Rose, and Clemmens and all of them. Clemmens told me he only rejected me as a pretense, that he wanted to gain Jordan’s trust and that we’d be able to be together in the future.”
“The guy had zero backbone,” I mutter. “Impressive. To imagine how you and Rose persevered and kept fighting, and he… he just went along with everything.”
“He couldn’t feel the bond anymore,” Rory explains. “Which is probably why he thought I might be dead.”
“You didn’t accept his rejection back then?”
“I couldn’t give a flying fuck about what Jordan wanted,” he admits.
For a while, we remain quiet. I am not sure how to tell him, but it seems like he realizes for himself.
“Clemmens was already under Jordan’s control back then, more than I believed he was,” he says suddenly. “He wanted to please him. I didn’t accept his rejection, and nothing happened to me. Clemmens could have stayed my mate, and we would have found a solution together, and found a way to save ourselves and Rosea, but he wanted a rank so badly, he didanything to please him. I was stupid for hoping he would protect Rose.”
“He was your mate,” I say quietly. “It’s not stupid to believe in your mate. Anyone would. Hell, Rose did, too.” I pause. “There was a part of him that constantly felt guilty,” I add. “I encountered it when he was drunk. He kept apologizing, probably to you.”
Rory takes a sip from his beer. “Does it matter?” he asks.
“Not really. But I thought you should know that he at least felt guilty.”
“Thank you,” Rory says. “When I saw you today being secretive during breakfast, it just triggered me. I followed you, then saw you with Jordan and thought the worst. I was thinking of all the possibilities of how you could betray Rose. Like… you could have been into her and tried to assault her yourself.”
“Hardly possible,” I say. “I am not into women.”
He stares at me. “You are gay?!”
“Yes.”
