Page 12 of Starting a New Life

“You mean besides the fact that it’s fucking annoying and a potential threat to our pack?”

He huffed. “Yeah.”

“Okay.”

Silence.

My heart rate picked up, my wolf growing more agitated by the second.

“What’s the reason?”

Rhett bit his lip, averting his eyes.

Fuck.

This wasn’t good, was it?

He was my best friend. My brother. My confidant. We talked about everything, no matter what. He’d come to me for advice when he’d first met Levi. No holding back, no nothing.

And now, he almost seemed afraid of me, the way a few of the newer pack members were.

I fucking hated it. Being feared. Being seen as some kind of ticking time bomb about to explode any second.

“Rhett? Dude, you’re freaking me out.”

He took a deep breath while I was holding mine.

“I need to leave.”

My heart plummeted. My wolf yowled. Blood was rushing in my ears, my vision swimming with the feeling of loss and anger my wolf was unleashing on me.

“Leave?” I croaked. “You’re leaving the pack?”

Why?

Why now?

Why was he leaving after Levi had settled here?

Rubbing my chest, I tried breathing through the emotions my wolf was sending my way. Betrayal. Hurt. Anger.

“I know the timing could’ve been better, but Levi needs to go to Vancouver to pack his things, and the trial against his manager is coming up too. He needs to be present for that, and I can’t let him go alone, you know? I feel awful, like I’m abandoning the pack and letting you down, but he needs me there. But you need me too.”

I blinked, a bit of my anger dissipating as his words reached me through the fog of red-hot fury.

“You want to go to Vancouver with Levi for him to… get his things and move them here?” I asked, trying to get to the bottom of this situation.

“Yes. Also, I kinda need to meet his parents because… let’s just say, they’re not that happy about him running off to the middle of nowhere to live with a man he’s only known for a couple of weeks. I mean, they’re glad I saved him, so I’ve got that going for me, but they’re not entirely convinced his move is a good idea.”

I let out my breath in a slow exhale, trying to calm my hammering heart and my agitated wolf.

“Let me clear this up. You’re not leaving the pack—as in stepping down as my Second? You just want to go to Vancouver for a couple of weeks to support your mate?”

“Why would you…” Rhett blinked at me for a moment before turning white as a sheet. “Oh, fuck no. I’m not leaving the pack. Ever. That’s not what I meant. But I have to go with Levi to Vancouver. I just… I can’t let him go alone, Gray. I can’t.”

What the fuck?

“I’d never ask you to,” I said, furrowing my brow. “He’s your mate.”