Sinclair
When I reach Roger’s house, he’s not the least bit surprised to find me darkening his doorway. “I was wondering when you were gonna show up.” He quips, opening the door wide to welcome me inside.
“Am I that predictable?” I grouse, stepping over the threshold.
“No- I still wasn’t sure whether or not you’d rip my head off after you arrived.” Roger shares wryly.
“You’ve been talking with Ella.” I assess coolly, recalling the sweet human’s objection to me using this precise tactic against our enemies.
Roger snorts. “Not necessary. I grew up with you, I know your MO, brother.”
“Well you have Ella to thank for my even temper either way. She seems to trust you’ll keep your word and protect her secret.” I explain, eyeing him suspiciously.
“And you came to find out if she’s right.” Roger guesses.
“Is she?” I inquire. “Or is this another one of your tricks?”
“It’s not a trick.” Roger states simply, leading me into his study. “But I’m not doing it for you – I’m doing it for her.”
I absorb this information slowly. It does seem easier to believe my brother would help a stranger sooner than he’d help me, but there’s also something in his tone, some unspoken emotion I don’t quite understand. “Why do you care what happens to her?” I inquire.
“Because she’s exactly what you’ve been saying she is all along. She’s brave and clever and good to her very core. Goddess only knows how you managed to get her, but you certainly don’t deserve her.” Roger replies, giving me a begrudging look that tells me he’s only half joking.
My wolf growls possessively in my head, he likes her.
Good, if he likes her he’ll help us. I answer evenly.
But she’s mine. My wolf argues fiercely. He shouldn’t even be allowed to look at her.
Would you get a hold of yourself? I admonish.
I won’t share her! The stubborn predator is digging in his heels, making my hackles raise and claws extend. This is why we need to claim her, so that other wolves won’t come sniffing around our mate.
You’re acting like a child. I’m losing my temper now, sick and tired of being at odds with my inner animal. She isn’t our mate and I’m not going to hurt her with a claiming mark her body can’t handle. Besides, even if Roger is interested in Ella, she isn’t interested in him. Have some self-respect.
“I haven’t got her – not the way you mean.” I correct, shaking myself out of my inner conflict. “She’s been adamant about that –
she’s only interested in me as her baby’s father.” I share, deciding that my brother doesn’t need to know how complicated my relationship with Ella truly is.
Roger snorts, “Who are you kidding? That woman is clearly infatuated with you, and I know you want her for keeps. Your wolf is bloody besotted.”
“She’s carrying my pup, that’s changing both of us, neither of us can trust our feelings right now.” I reason, using the same logic with him that I’ve been employing to justify my own restraint. If I let myself believe that everything happening between Ella and I is real, there will be no holding my wolf back, and I don’t want to frighten or push her into something she doesn’t truly want, or isn’t ready for.
“You know as well as I do that pregnancy can’t magically make people fall in love, even if they’re already interested in each other.” Roger scoffs, sounding truly jealous now. “Don’t waste a gift, Dom.”
I stop dead in my tracks. “Whoever said anything about love?”
His eyes roll into the back of his head. “Honestly Dominic, sometimes I think you don’t have a brain in your head.”
“We only just met.” I remind him. “And we’ve experienced nothing but drama since then, it’s not just the pregnancy that can toy with emotions.”
“It sounds to me like you’ll take any excuse to deny what’s staring you in the face. And if you don’t wise up and do something about it, other wolves who aren’t so hard-headed are going to start horning in on your territory.” Roger warns, sounding as if he’d like to lead the charge. “Ella might not be able to serve as a true Luna, but that’s only a concern if you have a pack to lead. No one will care if she’s human when she can clearly bear shifter children.”
“Is that a threat?” I counter, my defenses riled by the obvious longing in his voice.
“I’m not delusional enough to think that Ella could ever forgive me for helping the Prince plan the first attack.” Roger sighs.
“But you can still hope.” I suggest, letting a note of menace bleed into my voice.
“Dominic, I’m done battling with my own family. From the sounds of it, we’re going to need each other in the months ahead… if there’s to be a war – we can’t be divided.” He grimaces, though I note he didn’t really answer my question. After all, it’s one thing to say you won’t pursue someone, and another to say you don’t want to in the first place.
“I’m trying to win so that there won’t be a war.” I grumble. “But I agree, we’ve been enemies for too long. No woman should come between brothers, and unlike Lydia, Ella would never want to.”
“Lydia couldn’t help it.” Roger defends, some of his old animosity rising to the surface. “It was the bond.”
I purse my lips, trying to decide whether or not I want to tell Roger the truth about Lydia. He’s never been willing to listen before, and I know this is an opportunity to clear the air between us. I also know it could backfire catastrophically. “Roger, Lydia used us both.” I declare, deciding that more lies won’t help anything. “I know what she told you, but she knew we were fated for two years before she left you.”
“What?” Roger gapes, the gears visibly turning in his mind as he struggles to process this information. “No, your bond manifested when you turned 18.”
I shake my head, determined to make him hear me out. “It manifested when I was 16, but Dad didn’t name me his heir until I reached adulthood. The only reason she decided to give into fate was because he announced it on my birthday. Before that she made it perfectly clear I wasn’t good enough for her.”
Roger slumps into a chair. “But, you never said…”
“Why would I? She didn’t want me and I wanted you to be happy. I didn’t want to give you another reason to hate me.” I confess.
“So why did you betray me?” He hisses, his wolf glowing in his eyes. “If you really wanted me to be happy you could have rejected her when she changed her mind?”
“I was a pup!” I exclaim. “I’d spent two years in misery, longing for my mate. My wolf was half mad with unrequited feelings and I was too young to know better. I was blinded by our bond, and it wasn’t until years later that I realized what a fool I’d been. I never wanted to hurt you… I just wasn’t strong enough to resist fate. Not then, at least.”
Roger sits back, watching me closely. After a few long moments, he scrubs his palm over his face, and I’m shocked to see his eyes are red – on the verge of tears. “I haven’t been a very good brother to you, have I?”
“You’ve been a pain in the ass.” I quip, huffing an exasperated laugh. “Roger, when we were little you were my hero. I would have followed you anywhere!”
“But I never let you.” He finishes my thought, clamping his eyes shut. “Dad tried to tell me a thousand times that it wasn’t your fault Mom died. And I know it wasn’t fair of me to treat you so horribly. In hindsight, I don’t even think you’re the one I hated, I was just so mad at the Goddess for taking her from me, and I needed someone to blame.”
“I know.” I affirm, remembering our argument after the Wild Hunt. It seems like every other conversation we have these days is some long-overdue emotional blowout. We’ve poured out years worth of feelings and resentments in a handful of weeks, and already our relationship feels like it’s turned a corner. For the first time since I was a child, I feel like my brother is more friend than enemy.
Roger is giving me a watery smile, and I realize he’s realizing the same thing I am. “And to think, all it took was one tiny human to finally make us talk all this out.”
To my amazement, I’m smiling back. “One tiny, very special human.” I correct, thinking of the beautiful creature I left at home.
Roger frowns, “At some point we need to talk about how this all started, Dom. Ella said you still don’t know how your sample got switched in the sperm lab.”
“That’s a conversation for another time.” My jaw clenches reflexively. “I haven’t told Ella yet, but my investigators have come across evidence which suggests whoever is responsible is very powerful… and they knew exactly what they were doing.”
