Chapter 56

Fifty-Six

EMERY

“ L et me out of this room, Reid,” I snarl, balling my hands into fists.

The enormous asshole simply crosses his arms over his chest and scowls at me. “No.”

One word.

One fucking word, and I want to beat the ever-loving shit out of him.

My eye begins to honest-to-god twitch.

“No?” I mimic his stance, though my hands don’t uncurl.

Reid’s scowl could make a lesser man piss himself.

Fortunately, I’m immune to the irritable asshole.

“GODDAMMIT, REID!” I move to push past him, slamming my shoulder into his, but the stubborn fuck-face doesn’t even flinch.

The two of us are in some sort of closet in one of the houses—shelves line the walls, each one full of perfectly folded blankets and stacked pillows. Reid pulled me into it as soon as we saw the gunmen and hasn’t let me leave since.

“My mate is out there!” I jab a finger at the door. “My brother! My father! My mother! My sister!”

Reid’s scowl simply deepens, creating deep grooves around his mouth.

“Don’t you give a shit about what happens to them?” I continue. “Don’t you care about Izzy?”

That… That finally gets a reaction out of him. Anger burns to life in his hazel eyes, and his teeth audibly grind together.

But still, he doesn’t respond.

I throw my hands up in the air, cursing when they ram against a shelf overhead, and then lower my head. My wolf claws at my chest in a way he has never done before. He wants to be let out, wants to be able to protect his pack, family, and mate.

I know, buddy. I know.

When Reid speaks next, his voice is gruff—raspy with suppressed emotion. “Izzy, Ashton, and Ethan ran into the woods. You know that. Those…men didn’t come from the woods but the street. The three of them are safer than we are at the moment. And what do you think they would do if they saw us in danger?”

He shakes his head as if the prospect is too horrible to even consider.

Either way, he’s right, and his words take the wind out of my sails. My muscles loosen and my shoulders droop. Without a word, I fall to the ground, pull my knees up to my chest, and rest my forehead between them.

“I can’t lose them, man. I can’t,” I whisper.

I try to remember the last thing I said to Ethan, to Izzy, even to Ashton.

I spent months hating my twin—and telling him that every chance I got. But I don’t hate him. Not truly. Yes, I was furious at him, but it was only because he betrayed the trust I put in him.

When he first began to struggle with addiction, I got him help, unbeknownst to our parents. Maybe that was my first mistake, but I knew Ethan wouldn’t want our mom and dad worrying. He was clean. He told me he was clean.

I never should’ve allowed him to drive that night.

But he told me…

He promised me…

I didn’t see the signs, but maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough. His eyes were glazed. Sweat dotted his forehead. His hands trembled.

I nearly died that night—I probably would’ve if I wasn’t a shifter with advanced healing—but that isn’t why I spent so long harboring anger towards Ethan.

It was because of the lying. The broken trust.

I suddenly understand how Izzy feels, and it’s a slap to the face.

God… Izzy. I made a mess of things with her.

Can’t she see that I’ve been trying to do better? To be better?

I rub my cheek back and forth over my knee, attempting to capture a few wayward tears, and nearly choke on a laugh.

My knee…is silky soft.

As is the rest of me, thanks to the bet.

Yes, Izzy never said we had to walk around naked, nor did we have to make a public declaration, but Ethan and I felt like this was what we had to do in order to atone. Or at least, it was a step in the right direction.

“They’re going to be okay, Em,” Reid tells me, awkwardly patting my bald head.

He’s not the best at comforting.

“Yeah.” I force myself to lift my gaze, to meet his eyes. “I just have a lot of regrets, you know?”

Reid’s jaw clenches. “Yeah.” For a few moments, that’s all he says, but then he swallows and adds, “I’m worried about them too.”

I snort. “Sometimes I’m not sure if you give a shit about us anymore.” When Reid frowns, I hurry to explain. “You’ve been different since the curse. Not that I blame you whatsoever—because what that bitch did was horrible and traumatizing—but you’ve been pushing everyone away.”

God, I hate all of this emotional crap. Can’t we just beat the shit out of each other and call it good? Next time, Reid needs to pull us into a larger room to do just that.

“I don’t… I don’t want to push people away anymore,” Reid mutters, his words nearly inarticulate. But I hear him as if he’s yelling. “Don’t want to push Izzy away.”

A slow grin creeps onto my face. “You like her, don’t you?”

He turns away from me, his muscles flexing, and nods.

“I think we can do this,” I say seriously. “Be a pack—all of us and Izzy.”

“What about the others?” Reid asks.

I frown. “The others?”

“Christian, the Ansel fuck, and the vampire.”

I never thought I would share my mate, my Heart, with someone other than my pack, but…

“I’m not going to stop Izzy from being happy. I care about her too much to ask her to choose.” And maybe a part of me worries it won’t be us that she chooses, if given the choice. “Besides, maybe this is what we deserve for being lying dicks to her.”

“Do you think we can make this work?” Reid’s voice is gruff, almost nonchalant, but his eyes spark with…hope, with a type of vulnerability I can’t remember seeing from the growly, angry man before.

“Yeah.” I lick my dry upper lip. “We can.”

As long as we can survive today, that is.