Page 32 of Bad Blood Bear

He had no one, just like the rest of them. And this bunch of misfits wasn’t any substitute for family. God knows if they ever would be—they all hated the world, and sometimes each other.

Tank had been close to Tristan, and he and Jasmin were good friends, when they weren’t bleeding each other. The other two mostly got on his nerves.

And Flynn was close to no one—except maybe Tank.

Flynn sighed. “I know,” he said softly. “It’s just, if I do that…”

If he did that, he was stuck here for good. He was admitting that this was all he had left of his life. He was making himself responsible not just for protecting the crew, but bringing them back from the brink, or putting them down if he couldn’t.

He was setting himself up to fail, and Tank knew how that kind of failure weighed on Flynn. He’d seen his face when they thought they’d have to put Tristan down. It had just about killed him, even thinking about it.

None of them were willing to commit to this. Including him.

As if Flynn were reading his mind, he said, “I noticed when you were talking about the crew pledging to me, you said ‘them’ and not ‘us.’ You don’t see me as your alpha either.”

Tank rubbed one hand through his hair, trying to figure out how to explain. He hadn’t realized until this moment how much his unwillingness to pledge was bothering his friend. Flynn thought Tank didn’t respect him enough to pledge to him, and he’d never admit it, but it hurt him.

Tank moved down the railing until their shoulders were touching. “It’s not you, man,” he said quietly. “It’s me.”

“Dude,” Flynn said. “If this is your breakup speech, I’d rather you texted me.”

Tank huffed a laugh. “Don’t be a douche,” he said. “You’re a good alpha, and everybody in this crew respects you. I just don’t think any of us are ready to admit that this is really what’s left of our lives. Including you. Without a commitment, none of us is willing to pledge.”

“Great,” Flynn said. “So we’re going to sit here playing emotional chicken with each other until we all go up like Armageddon.”

Tank shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “Probably. I’m sorry.”

Flynn looked sideways at him. “Would you be more willing to stay here if Lissa stayed?”

A shock went through him. “Like, am I thinking of mating her?”

Flynn shrugged.

“I can’t—I can’t take another mate,” he said. “Angie and I were true mates. She was it for me.”

“Sometimes people bond twice,” Flynn said.

Tank shook his head. It was bad enough he’d let Angie die. Forgetting about her and mating with someone else would be an even worse betrayal.

Flynn was silent again. Then he said, “What’s going to happen if we can’t fix her?”

Tank didn’t want to think about that. “We will.”

Flynn took another drink. “I can’t put another one down, Tank,” he said very quietly. “It’ll break me.”

Tank gripped his friend’s shoulder. “Then we have to find a way to save her.”