An Alpha's Choice (Talon Pack #2)(30)

But no one would know if that would have happened.

A future as bright as theirs would never come to be because someone had run them down with a spray of bullets, wiping out their potential bond and existence before it even stood a chance.

She braced herself against her bathroom sink, knowing she needed to suck it up. She couldn’t be who she was and look like she wanted to sob in a corner because of the unfairness of it all.

She and Finn had lived. Yet Franklin had not. And Seth would take months to fully heal.

Brynn met her gaze in the bathroom mirror, annoyed that her wolf was still so close to the surface. She’d need a run soon because there was no way she’d be able to keep in control at this rate. Her wolf wanted blood, and yet it couldn’t have it. Not with so many uncertainties.

She let out a breath and moved back into her living room, not surprised to see Ryder there, sitting on the couch with his forearms resting on his legs. Her brother was the quiet one of the group. All of her family had been through hell, and Ryder had his own past to deal with. Because of that, he would sit down and listen to anything she had to say without judgment. He was such a good brother that way.

And she honestly didn’t want to talk to him right then.

“Brynn,” he said softly. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Damn the man and knowing exactly what to say. He wasn’t even the Omega, and yet he knew the heart of the matter. Brandon, the true Omega and one of the Brentwood triplets, was even better at it, but he did his best not to look too hard at her emotions. He loved her enough to know that one wrong tug on the bond and she’d break.

Brandon had to know she was dying inside.

And from the look on Ryder’s face, he knew, as well.

She didn’t answer him. She knew it wasn’t her fault logically, but since when did wolves use pure logic?

“I know you’re hurting from Franklin, but Brynn, it’s more than that. You’ve been hurting for over a year.”

She looked away, not wanting to face him but knowing she couldn’t hide anymore. “We all have reasons for our pain,” she hedged.

Ryder growled softly. “Don’t cop out. Do you think I can stand by and watch my only sister hide away from herself because of a new pain? It’s not the same as it was before. If you were merely healing from what Dad did to us all those years ago, then I’d stand back because we all needed time after that. We still need that time. If your strain on the bonds between us were due to the unrest in our world, then I’d stand by your side and fight whatever enemy we faced. But this is different, and we both know it.” He reached out and gripped her hand, surprising her. The Brentwoods hugged and touched one another when needed because, after all, they were wolves. But Ryder didn’t go out of his way to be affectionate. He had his reasons—ones she didn’t press because, as he’d said, they had a right to their own way of healing.

“Brynn.”

She met his gaze, her heart in her throat. “Finn is my mate,” she blurted.

Ryder’s eyes widened, his jaw going slack. “What the f*ck?” he rasped.

Tears filled her eyes, surprising her. She didn’t cry. She couldn’t. Ryder looked at her and moved to her side, pulling her into his arms quickly. She rested her head on his shoulder, her body trembling.

“Tell me what happened so I don’t kill him,” he whispered. “Or maybe I’ll kill him anyway. Fuck the treaty.”

Her quiet and soft-spoken Ryder.

“I knew the first time I saw his face full-on.” She sucked in a breath. “I mean, I’d seen him in the distance when he was younger, and even saw him a bit more a few years ago. But it wasn’t until Gideon and Brie’s mating ceremony that I knew in truth. Finn was mine. My wolf wanted him, pushed me so hard I almost shifted right then.” She wiped her face, annoyed she’d let the tears fall in the first place.

“And he just walked away?” Ryder asked. He didn’t yell, didn’t growl or move so quickly that she startled. Instead, he sat there and let her speak.

She told him everything that had happened since the mating ceremony when she’d looked at Finn’s face and knew he didn’t know, that the moon goddess had made a mistake with her.

She was nothing but a mistake.

Ryder held her closer as she finished, even telling him about the alley and Finn’s words. She blushed during it, but she didn’t care. It felt good to tell him about it all. She would have told Brie since the other woman was her only female friend these days with all of the dominance challenges, but this was the one thing she couldn’t go to her for. Not when Brie and Finn were so close.

“Oh, Brynn.”

She snorted, her sinuses pulsing after her hard cry. “I know.”

“What are you going to do, baby girl?”

She smiled at his words, despite the agony in her heart. She wasn’t a little girl, nor a baby anymore, but Ryder was her older brother, and some things would never change.

“I don’t know. I hate that I’m sitting here crying and worrying about myself when our Pack is hurting. Seth will wake up soon, if he hasn’t already, and know he doesn’t have the future he thought he would. How selfish am I that I can’t just get over this?”

“You’re not supposed to get over it. And I think you’re breaking harder now because of what happened this morning. You’re allowed to feel more than one thing. You’re allowed to be hurting because of something that has been grating on you for far too long. I don’t think worse of you for it, and you can be damn sure none of the others will.”