Callum looked at me like I’d just kicked his dog. “James, you’re part of this pack.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t,” he said, voice firm. “Because if you did, you’d know keeping something like this from me isn’t just foolish. It’s dangerous. What if that guy had done something to you?”
“He didn’t. Rafael—” I broke off too late.
Callum’s gaze sharpened. “Rafael?”
Just then, the bell jingled again. Of course. Rafael walked in, eyebrows rising at the silence and tension hanging like a storm cloud in the kitchen.
His eyes landed on me. “You okay?”
I nodded, but Callum turned his attention to Rafael. “So you knew?”
Rafael’s stance shifted. Guarded. “I didn’t know everything.”
“But you knew enough,” Callum said, voice tight. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“That’s not my call,” Rafael said quietly. “James trusted me with it. I wasn’t going to betray that.”
A beat of silence passed. Tense. Loaded.
Callum exhaled, long and slow. “I’m not angry. But I’m disappointed.”
That hurt more than I thought it would.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly.
“I’m not asking you to be sorry, James,” Callum said. “I’m asking you to let us help you. You don’t carry this alone anymore. That’s what a pack is for.”
I couldn’t hold his gaze. I felt like a kid again. Like I’d let down a teacher or a parent. Not just because I’d hidden the truth, but because I’d believed, deep down, that if Callum knew, he’d push me away.
But he hadn’t. He’d stepped in.
“I’ll take care of it,” I whispered.
Callum looked at me for a long moment. “No. We will.”
Then he turned and walked out, leaving Rafael and me alone in the suddenly too-quiet kitchen.
I didn’t speak. Rafael leaned against the counter, arms crossed, watching me.
“You okay?” he asked again, softer this time.
“No,” I admitted. “But I think I will be.”
He nodded. “You should’ve told him sooner.”
“I was scared,” I said.
“I know.”
We stood in silence, and I couldn’t stop myself from stepping closer. “You came into the bakery that day because you knew something was wrong, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“You were watching over me,” I said.
