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8. Rylan

Iwatched anxiously as Evangeline stepped into Jett’s hound’s space. She looked so small compared to him, and while logically, I knew he wouldn’t hurt her, I was still nervous about how easily he could. I was feeling good about how dinner went. Evangeline doesn’t seem to be resistant to our mate bond, which is a relief. As long as she isn’t going to reject us outright, I can take things as slow as she needs to.

I ached for her, even now, but I knew it would be worth it in the end when everything worked out the way it should, and I got to be with her for the rest of our lives. We got to be with her for the rest of our lives. Since meeting her, I found it too easy to forget about my pack. I think it was because I’m the only one who has been with her, so in a way, even for a short time, I can pretend that she’s all mine and no one else. Not that I wanted that. It was fun to think about, but ultimately, I wanted to share her with my pack.

I’ve heard of some packs where the leader refused to share the pack’s mate. Those packs tended to be weaker and didn’t survive long. Either the pack split up or perished. I didn’t feel that those packs were powerful to begin with, though. They couldn’t be if the pack leader cared so little about his packmates that he kept their mate from them. I couldn’t imagine doing that to Kase or Jett.

I focused back on the scene in front of me as the hound huffed into her hair, making her giggle. God, that was a beautiful sound, and I exchanged a contented smile with Kase as we watched the hound sniff down her body, coaxing more giggles from her. I knew what was coming next when he reached her feet and began to move back up her body. As suspected, he stuck his head under the skirt of her dress, and Evangeline shrieked in surprise before pushing his head away.

“Naughty boy!” she scolded as a blush formed on her cheeks. The scent of her arousal reached me, and I tilted my head to the side as I considered my mate. This wasn’t the first time I had picked up on her arousal regarding Jett’s hound. Even when she had yelled at us at dinner, she hadn’t been revolted by what happened, just pissed that it had occurred without her consent. My hound perked up a little. We would have to explore her interests further.

“You can’t blame him, can you, angel?” Kase chuckled.

“I guess you were the naughty one who snuck into my bedroom last night just like they said,” Evangeline said to the hound.

“Did you think we were lying?” I asked.

“I was reserving judgment until I saw Jett for myself,” she replied before turning back to Jett’s hound. “Now, listen here, you big beast,” Evangeline said, wagging her finger at the hound. “You’ve had your fun, but it’s time to let Jett back out. You’re being an awfully bad boy keeping him locked away!”

The hound snorted at her as if to disagree before sitting, hanging his head, and whining pathetically. I rolled my eyes at him, but the act worked on Evangeline.

“Oh, you poor baby,” Evangeline crooned as she hugged him. “I know it must be hard for you too.”

He sniffed at her neck, making her giggle. I chuckled as I watched. It was a cute scene to see our mate cuddling with one of our hounds.

Alarm bells went off when the hound opened his mouth, and his teeth elongated.

“No!” Kase and I shouted together. It had all been going so well, but I should have known better than to let her get that close to that fucking hound.

My heart dropped as the hound sank his teeth into Evangeline’s shoulder to mark her and claim her as his mate, forcing the mate bond on her. Once again, we had robbed her of a choice that should have been hers.

Evangeline made a sharp cry of pain, and Jett shifted back to his human form, supporting her weight as she sagged against him. I wasn’t sure if he had finally found the strength to push through the shift because his mate was in distress or if his hound had relinquished control, satisfied that he had accomplished what he needed to. I wasn’t sure it mattered anymore. What’s done is done.

“I’m so fucking sorry! I couldn’t stop him. I didn’t know what he had planned until it was too late. Fuck, I’m sorry,” Jett said frantically. His eyes moved around the room between Evangeline in his arms and us. “You have to believe me. I didn’t want that to happen, not like this.”

Neither of us replied to him as we watched Evangeline slowly recover from the mating. We had no idea how she was going to react. I held my breath and hoped for the best. Maybe she wouldn’t be as mad as I thought she would be. When she fully recovered, she pushed Jett away and took two steps away from us and toward the door. Ok, maybe she would.

“Is this why you agreed to bring me here?” she asked.

The room was thick with how betrayed she felt and nearly choked me as I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out. What could I say that would make this better? There wasn’t a damn thing that would fix this. We couldn’t undo what was done.

“Was this all a trick to trap me in this bond?” she accused. Evangeline paced, her hand covering the already healed bite mark.

“No,” I said quickly. “We didn’t know that was going to happen. You have to believe us.”

“Except that I don’t,” she replied, angry tears streaming down her face. “Stay away from me,” she ordered as she turned and stormed out of our apartment.

My vision turned red as I faced Jett. He looked like a broken shell of a man as he stared after her. I was too angry to care.

“Rylan,” Kase warned as he took a step toward me.

I ignored him as I tackled Jett to the ground and rained punch after punch down on him. He was the reason everything has been fucked up around here lately, and I was fucking sick of it. Jett didn’t fight back as I continued to lay into him with all that I had, accepting his punishment and whatever fate I chose to leave him with. It took Kase tackling me off of Jett to get me to stop.

“Enough!” Kase roared. “Beating Jett half to death isn’t going to fucking solve anything!” He put all his weight onto me, pressing my face into the wood floor.

“Get off of me,” I growled. I could have gotten myself free from his hold, but I didn’t want to hurt him in the process, which would have been the likely outcome. Kase and I were too closely matched for a clean fight. If we were ever truly to fight, neither would walk away unscathed.

“Are you fucking done?” Kase asked.

“Yes. I’m done,” I replied.

“And you won’t hit, tackle, fight, hurt, or in any way inflict any more pain on Jett?” he pressed.

“No,” I huffed in annoyance. “I said I was done, and I meant it.”

“I just needed to make sure,” Kase replied as he moved off of me to sit on the floor between me and Jett.

The only sound in the room was our panting before I rolled onto my back and turned my head toward Jett. He lay on the floor beside me, bloodied but healing. He turned to meet my eyes, and I saw the anguish and shame inside them. Dammit. I was an asshole. I instantly regretted my actions as I returned his gaze. A good pack leader didn’t beat down his packmate when he was already doing such an excellent job of beating himself down.

“I really am so fucking sorry, Rylan,” he apologized. “Not just for my hound marking her, but for everything he did and for not being strong enough to regain control of him. I know I made things even more complicated than they already were. I would understand completely if you didn’t want me to be part of your pack anymore. It would kill me to do so, but I would step away from Evangeline. I don’t know that I deserve her anyway.”

Yep, I was an asshole for sure.

Jett blurted out his apology so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to speak until he was done. I sat up and looked at the younger man who was willing to walk away from his mate to make things right, knowing that it likely meant his death. “Yeah, you fucked some shit up,” I agreed.

“Rylan!” Kase scolded.

I glared at Kase. If he didn’t stop getting in between Jett and me, we would have that fight.

“Would you shut up and let me finish?” I growled. “You coddle him way too fucking much. He’s a man. Let him handle his shit without you swooping in like Mary Fucking Poppins with a spoon full of sugar to try to make it better. Jesus Christ, Kase!”

Kase opened his mouth to respond, but after a warning growl from me, he changed his mind and waved his hand for me to continue.

“As I said, you fucked some shit up, but it isn’t anything that we can’t figure out together as a pack. You’re still a pup. If we had encountered our mate at your age and had to go through all of this, we probably would have had trouble controlling our hounds, too,” I told him. “Your hound is a massive dick. I know you did all you could and would have stopped him if you could have.”

“Was Evangeline at least interested in becoming our mate?” Jett asked.

“Well, she wasn’t opposed to it, but she had asked to take things slow while she fully wrapped her head around it,” Kase replied.

“Which we agreed to,” I continued, “and then brought her here because she wanted to help you. Then your dick of a hound marked her against her will. So who the fuck knows at this point where she stands.”

“I have a pretty good idea of where that is at the moment,” Kase replied.

“What do we do?” Jett asked. “How do we fix it?”

“For now, the best thing for us to do is give her space,” Kase sighed. “This is a setback but not a deal breaker. Being marked was inevitable. Once she’s calmed down, she’ll see that.” He sounded confident, but I wasn’t so sure. Evangeline was pretty angry. Worse, she felt we betrayed the fragile trust we had managed to build with her.

“Since there isn’t a fucking thing we can do about it right now, we may as well track down Zabiza and get Luce off our backs,” I stated. I stood and offered my hand to Jett. When he stood, I pulled him in for a quick hug. “It’s good to have you back, brother.”

“It’s good to be back,” he replied, returning my hug. “Do we have any leads on Zabiza?”

“Not a one,” Kase replied. “All we know is that he’s in the area.”

“Well, then, let’s get to work,” Jett said excitedly. I could tell he was anxious to become a useful member of our pack again and ready to jump in with both feet.

Jett’s excitement proved helpful because he could look at the case with fresh eyes and a different perspective than us. We mapped out for him where we had caught the scent of Zabiza’s influence, and as he peppered us with questions, he began to narrow down our search field considerably.

“This is good,” I murmured as I looked at the map. “We know the types of places that Zabiza prefers to frequent. Only a handful are in the area you’ve highlighted.”

“And I don’t think he has any reason to suspect we’re in town, so he has no reason to change his methods,” Kase added.

For the first time in over a month, I felt like we were finally getting our shit together. “Hey,” I told Jett, tossing a balled-up piece of paper to get his attention. “It hasn’t been the same around here while you were feral,” I said when he looked at me. “Even though shit with Evangeline is still sideways, I feel like we’re in a good place, and that has everything to do with you being back on two feet. Don’t ever wonder if you matter because you do.”

The tips of Jett’s ears turned pink as he coughed uncomfortably. “Thanks. That means a lot,” he replied.

“Well, isn’t this a fucking Hallmark moment,” Kase teased as he balanced his chair on two legs. “Nobody move while I snap a picture to frame, so we will never forget this moment.” He reached into his pocket for his phone, and I tipped his chair off balance with my toe before he could get it out, sending him crashing backward to the ground.

He rolled backward and landed on his feet in one impressively smooth move. “That was fucking unnecessary,” he complained as he righted his chair.

“That’s a matter of opinion,” I replied. “Ok, so tomorrow, we will start fresh, agreed?” Kase and Jett nodded their heads. “Great, then, in that case, I’m going to bed. It’s been a long day, and I’m ready for it to end.”

We were clearing off the table when Jett suddenly doubled over with a painful groan.

“You ok?” Kase asked. “Your hound isn’t trying to retake control, is he?”

“No,” Jett gasped. “It’s Evangeline. Something’s wrong.” His terrified eyes lifted to mine. “She’s in trouble.”

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