Chapter 24

I caught myself leaning in despite what my head was telling me. Her big eyes were looking at me, and for once she seemed to have desire in her eyes as well. “Kiss her,” My wolf pleaded. No. I shook my head and backed away. I couldn’t do that to her. She was just beginning to heal. I couldn’t mess that up again.

“You should change for dinner.” I told her, my voice was husky with desire.

She nodded and moved toward the closet, and I sat in the chair for a moment trying to process what just happened. I had never craved intimacy like this before. No one had ever driven me or my wolf this crazy with desire. No one had ever made me think through consequences like this before either. I didn’t want to hurt her. The idea of hurting her made my stomach churn. But the idea of touching her, kissing her, anything with her, made my heart flutter and my restraint wear thin. I had no idea how long I could go on like this, but there was no choice at the moment, and that unsettled me the most.

“I’ll meet you in the dining room!” I called out to Grace. I didn’t wait for any response, or sign she’d give me, I just bolted. I needed to get out of this room and put some space between us before I did something dumb like give into my desire.

I needed calm, but the yelling down the hallway told me I was not going to get it.

“YOU HAD NO RIGHT!” I heard my Beta, Leon yelled.

“It’s not my fault that your mate went looking for what you couldn’t give!” My twin, Caleb shouted back.

“You knew she was my mate!” Leon retorted angrily.

“Hey!” I interjected with a sinking feeling. “What the hell is going on here?”

“What’s going on,” Leon seethed. “Is that this jackass slept with Cara, my mate.”

“What? Caleb why would you do that?”

Caleb frowned. “First off, it takes two to tango, so I don’t know why we are just mad at me. Second, it was a long time ago. I was drunk, she was there, and we had a night. It wasn’t anything special. We never did it again. I don’t understand what the big deal is. It was a long time ago.” He answered simply, glaring at Leon.

“Being drunk is not an excuse!” Leon shouted. “And it doesn’t make it okay!”

“Caleb,” I tried to keep my voice even, but I was fuming. How dare he act like it was no big deal? It was a big deal no matter how long ago it was. He had done this with several of the women I had thought might be the one for me. It had never mattered to him that they were ‘mine’. He had slept with them anyways. “This has gotten out of control. You cannot sleep with every woman you see. There are people involved. People with feelings. People who you are supposed to care about.”

Caleb sneered. “Give me one good reason to care about the feelings of your best friend. What has he ever done for me? But I did care. I cared enough to make sure his mate was well taken care of.”

The insinuation made Leon lunge, and I pulled him back, though a part of me wanted to let him go. Caleb might be my brother, my twin, but he was crossing too many lines for me to be comfortable with his behavior anymore.

“I am serious,” I growled at him. “This is your last warning, Caleb. There will be no others.”

“I was drunkkkkk.” Caleb argued. “It was one time. I’ve done worse before.”

“That shouldn’t matter!” I shot back.

“I don’t get why you would even care. All those women were just using you anyways. They were so stupid; I’d be surprised if they even had brains in their heads! I was just a means to an end, since you couldn’t give them what they wanted. I saved you from their stupidity, so you didn’t have to keep them around that long.”

“It doesn’t matter.” I gritted out. He was really testing my patience and the fact that he showed absolutely no remorse was grinding my gears. “You shouldn’t touch what isn’t yours.”

Caleb let out a laugh, he clearly didn’t see a problem with any of this. “Some of those women came to me, Rhys.”

“That’s not an excuse, Caleb.”

And I wonder just how long it’s going to take for sweet little Grace to come find her way to my bed, when yours is left cold and empty.” He continued taunting.

I didn’t think. I lunged at my brother, knocking us both to the ground. The second he brought up Grace, he went too far, and I realized he would never change.

We both tumbled to the ground as we both started to half shift. Anything went in this moment. Anything but the kill shot. But I wasn’t thinking when I punched him repeatedly, and he swung back, hitting my jaw, and my shoulder. My hand connected with his jaw, and my hand held his throat as he tried to break free. He protected his face with one hand, and began to scratch my other in an attempt to get me to let go.

“Seriously guys!” Leon shouted over the scuffle. “Knock it off before somebody sees.”

But we paid him no mind. This had been a long time coming, and for the first time since we were 12, we were going to do something about it. We hit, kicked, punched whatever we could, somehow finding us both on our feet again, but neither of us were off balance. He ran at me, but I defended myself well, only taking a punch to my shoulder as he attempted to then tackle me.

I heard a gasp register in the background somewhere, and my stomach sank. I turned to see who had made the small noise, begging the goddess that it wasn’t the person I thought it was. But when I turned, my whole body deflated. Damnit. It was Grace.