Page 252 of Master of My Life

He sighed. “My brain feels like mush.”

“Do you want to sleep?”

Chase shook his head. “No. It’s mush, but active mush. I think I’m still trying to wrap my mind

around what happened.” He lay on his side with his head propped up on his fist. “I think you’ll get

some of this when you’re bonded to her. I hope so.”

“That’d be pretty cool. Will I get to feel you?”

“I have no idea.”

Ethan lay on his back and stared at the ceiling. “I appreciate you trusting me with her.”

“There’s no one I would trust more.” Chase thought back to his earlier conversation with Alex

and then looked over at Ethan, who still stared at the ceiling. “Ethan?”

“Yeah?”

“This, guardian ritual . . . It’s a bit more complex than I thought.”

“Oh?”

Chase swallowed. They had to push him beyond his limits and he couldn’t give him any warning

or he’d be preparing for it. Did Ethan trust him enough to go through with it? Would he know it wasn’t

what Chase wanted for him? There weren’t many ways to push Ethan beyond his comfort level.

Chase turned onto his back and stared at the ceiling, wondering if he was staring at the same crack

in the plaster as Ethan. Chase’s chest ached and he closed his eyes. He was betraying his best friend,

but he didn’t have a choice. The ritual demanded it. Without it, the bond wouldn’t hold.

Chase could count on one hand the things Ethan refused to do. Less than one hand. They’d talked

about them when Ethan had joined The Brotherhood. One thing Chase had promised he’d never make

him do. Other things, Ethan didn’t want to do and Chase figured at the time it wouldn’t ever be

necessary. But now . . . now he had to break his promise. And it killed him.

But what would Ethan want him to do? He could stop everything now and keep his promise to

Ethan, but Sabrina wouldn’t have a guardian. If he did that, he would break his promise to Sabrina

and leave her unprotected when he had to travel. He had to break a promise to one of them. Either he

couldn’t protect Sabrina fully, or he forced Ethan to do the one thing he promised he’d never do.

He turned his head and glanced at Ethan. His eyes were closed, his breath low and even. “I didn’t

know before I asked you,” Chase whispered.

Ethan opened his eyes and their gazes locked.

---