Page 90 of Fragile Heart

“What good would it have been to tell her? We were bonded. It’s not like I was going to run off with Brielle. In case you’ve forgotten, I fuckinglovedKayla. I washappy, Emily. She was struggling, barely surviving. I got to have a front row seat of her falling apart and having no power to change any of it.” I take a deep breath, trying to get the feelings of those last few months out of my mind, out of my body, before it makes me want to punch something. “You’ve never been in that situation, in a pack where an Omega appreciates you all but has a special bond with one Alpha in particular, and it’s not you. Kayla loved us, but sheadoredBrandon. Losing Brandon was like losing herself. All telling her about Brielle would have done is cause her to kill herself faster.”

The truth of the comment rings between us. Emily’s eyes widen.

“Maybe if the first time she showed back up herewasn’tfor Brandon’s funeral, it might have been different. If Kayla had asked me, I would have said something. But she didn’t, andI was more concerned with keeping her alive than with airing out a relationship that had happened long before she was mine.Especiallysince Brielle showed up with the largest goddamn rock I’ve ever fucking seen on her finger and a piss poor excuse of a Beta playing jealous asshole the entire fucking funeral.”

I suck in a breath and try to calm the trembling of my hands.Fuck, I want to punch something.

“Melissa knew. Mom knew. I’m pretty sure Olivia knew, too. We kept it low key because you know as well as I do that the gossip would have been orders of magnitude worse than whatever Jessica Bailey can manage now.” Emily’s eyes are still mutinous despite her shock at my candid mention of Kayla, my explanation not quite breaking her down yet. “When she went back to school and I cut it off, I asked them to keep it all quiet.”

I take another step toward my sister, crowding her against the door.

“And just so that everything is on the table now,” I bite out, my voice so low it rumbles around us like the thunder of a spring storm. “She’smygoddamn scent match, too. So forgive the fuck out of me if I take an extra two hours with her to sort through the bullshit of the last decade to figure out if she can love me again even when all I have is half a heart and a fear of feeling my Omega’s life drain away while I’m too far from her to change the damn outcome.”

Not that we’d discussed any of that. Admitting that we haven’t actually discussedanythingoutside of not wanting to ignore the realities of our being biological soulmates isn’t something I’m going to do in front of my sister. Not when she’s clearly still ready to feed me to the fucking wolves over pursuing Brielle at all.

“You’re scent matches?” Emily’s arms drop to her sides, shock the only thing written on her face. All the anger is suddenly gone from her voice.

I nod once before pushing past her, opening the door to our parents’ place. It takes her a long minute before she follows behind me.

CALEB

“Papa, look at this flower I found!”

Camden holds up a mangled blue wildflower too close to the camera for me to see much more than a torn petal. I settle in the chair of the hotel room and lean my cell phone against the hotel’s landline. My head pounds from the lack of sleep over the last 48 hours, but I ignore it in favor of spending time with my son.

“So Sunday brunch was a success,” I say with a smile.

Camden nods before frowning. “Brielle still hasn’t come. Can she come next week? I want her to see how I help Nana make pancakes.”

Before giving an answer either way, I focus on Ethan where he sits a bit behind Camden, sharpening some of his farrier blades. Instead of the malice or irritation I expect, his eyes are thoughtful. And then I notice the bruise just above the neckline of his shirt.

Brielle texted me yesterday morning, letting me know about her and Ethan. She hadn’t given any specifics aside from his confirming bloodwork, but they weren’t needed. Not yet. Seeing Ethan not bothering to hide her bruises was a good sign.

Curiosity spikes over what made Ethan drop his resistance.

“I thought you said the weekend was uneventful,” I say, trying to hide my amusement.

He scowls for a heartbeat, and then it melts away.

“Figured it was the type of situation better explained in person.”

There’s no amusement in his voice, just a neutrality that means he’s nervous about… whatever happened between them. Or what it might mean long term.

“Papa, can you invite Bri?” Camden steals my attention. Ethan goes back to sharpening his blades. “Papa, I tried but she said she needed to talk to you or Daddy.”

“You all right with it, Ethan?” I ask.

I don’t want to step on his toes especially if they’ve started figuring out something tentative between them. Ethan can be fickle as fuck over stuff like that. He drops the blade and runs his hand down his face, closing his eyes. And then he shrugs.

“Sure,” he says.

“Yeah, bud,” I tell my son. “I’ll invite her to the next one I’m home for. Hopefully it’s this next one, okay?”

He grins so bright it lights up his eyes and shows off both dimples.

Damn, he looks like Brandon.

This time, the thought doesn’t hurt at all.

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