Page 49 of Revenge of the Blood Pack

I go for it. “Maybe. Especially if you don’t even want to be considered for the position.”

He snorts, starts to walk away from me, then comes back. “You know what, I like her, okay? Now what?”

Wow. I probably shouldn’t have played this game of chicken if I didn’t know how it would end, because I really didn’t expect that. I mean, I suspected he liked her. Hell, Iknewhe did. But that doesn’t mean I can give her up either… something I wasn’t aware of until this moment.

“I like her too,” I say, and we just stare each other down for an awkward moment.

Fighting with other men over a woman? No problem. Fighting my brother over a woman? Problem.I owe this annoying fucker everything. My aunt and uncle weren’t bad people, but they’d chosen to be childfree and only took us in because we had no one else. They gave us a roof over our heads, food, and clothes, but not love. Not the extra things a parent gives their child… but Max gave that to me. He cheered for me at every basketball game, worked harder to make sure I had money for hobbies and friends, and kicked the crap out of anyone who bothered me in school.

He was like my second dad.

I look out at the rain, coming to a decision. “There’s nothing more important than you, Max. You’re the reason I’m here. The reason for everything. The only person I thought about in my dark days, my reason for waking up, for continuing to breathe when I didn’t want to anymore. If you want Asha, you can have her. Not that she’s a thing, but, I mean, I’ll step back. If she wants you, and I think she does, I won’t get in the way.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” Max says, and no one has ever been more wrong than him.

I turn and hit him. I don’t know why, but it catches him off-guard. He hits the ground and stares up at me in shock as he rubs his cheek. My words come out angrier than I ever imagined they could when talking to Max. “I owe you everything, and don’t you forget it you stubborn, noble idiot.”

Max sits up, rubbing his cheek. “I’m not being noble. I never did anything for you I didn’t want to do.”

Reaching my hand down, I help him up, but I pull him so we’re closer. Nose-to-nose. “I like Asha. I feel a connection to her. But I will not take a woman from you. I will not be youropponent with any woman, even her. But you sure as shit better get it together and pursue her, or I’ll hit you again, I swear it.”

Max’s gaze holds mine. “You honestly think I’d take a woman from you either?”

I try to say something, I don’t know what, but it sounds like a fumble of words. “I-I, no, you wouldn’t.”

“Then what do we do?” And he sounds lost. “I mean, if she even wants us.”

Stepping away from him, I frown at the rain. “Pack members often share women. It’s not usually brothers, but sometimes it is.”

Silence. Utter silence.

I turn and look at him, feeling nervous. Honestly, I have no idea if I could form a relationship like this with my brother and a mate, but it’s either this or we both lose her, and that idea makes me feel like someone’s trying to rip my heart out of my chest.

Max looks at me again. “Let’s think about it.”

Okay, not a no. That’s a good thing.I just wish that was the most complicated thing about our blossoming relationship.

“And, she’s the one who slaughtered that guy, right?”

Max’s expression twists. “What do you think?”

“Is she going to keep killing people?”

He shrugs. “Maybe murderers who torture innocent people and keep them imprisoned.”

Hum. Interesting.“I think I could be okay with that.”

“As long as those are her only targets,” Max says, a note of warning in his voice.

“Agreed.”

Then, he sighs. “And we’re going to have to work to make sure the new teammates don’t find out.”

“Teammates? I thought there was just one?” I ask, feeling frustrated.

“Two, but one more for now since he was just released from prison.”

“Prison?” I ask, shocked.

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