Page 46 of Bound to the Guard

As the final notes ring out, clapping comes from the doorway. “That’s my favorite song. I haven’t heard it in forever.”

My fingers stumble on the keys, and my heart leaps into my throat as the lid on my past cracks open. The person I was before my kidnapping clashes with the number I became, neitherperson fitting into the shell of who I’m growing into now under Damien’s gentle nurturing.

“Oliver!” Leo waves in welcome. “Come meet the recent addition to the family. He’s a musician!”

In slow motion, I turn on the bench, blood rushing in my ears. A man stands in the doorway, his black hair gleaming, his olive-hued skin glowing with health, and my world tilts on its axis.

His familiar, hazel eyes widen with shock. “Dylan?”

The name launches me off the bench like a slingshot, scrambling to put distance between us. This can’t be happening. No, no, no.

“Oh my god, Dylan!” Disbelief and joy radiate from him as he rushes forward. “I thought you were dead!”

Panic rises in my throat, choking me. I back away, my hands raised in front of me to ward him off. “No, no, no. You can’t be here. This can’t be real.”

Oliver reaches for me, but I flinch away from his touch. Hurt flashes in his eyes, but he doesn’t give up as he presses his hands against his chest. “Dylan, it’s me. It’s Oliver. Your brother.”

Brother.The word sends a jolt through me, and memories come flooding back. Playing in the park, chasing each other around at the rec center. Curled up together on the couch, watching cartoons on Saturday mornings. Oliver, who took care of me when our parents died.

But then I moved out. So desperate to prove myself as an adult. The day the men came and stole me from my shitty apartment, and no one came to save me. The pain, the fear, the desperation.

I can’t breathe.

Wheezing, I back myself into a corner, sliding down the wall until I sit on the floor. My arms lift to cover my head, tryingto block out the world. This can’t be happening. Oliver can’t be here. It’s too much, too painful.

Through the ringing in my ears, I hear running footsteps, and then Damien’s demands, “What’s going on in here?”

Relief floods through me, and I peek out from behind my arms. Damien will fix this.

Instead, he goes to Oliver, putting a comforting arm around the other Omega’s shoulders, and it’s all wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Like I’ve been swept into an alternate dimension where this isn’t my Alpha.

“It’s okay,” Damien soothes, pressing a kiss to my brother’s temple. “Give him some space. He’s had a tough time.”

As Oliver leans into my Alpha, pain slices through me.

Damien promised he would always be there for me. He said I could be a small cog in his family. But now, watching him comfort Oliver, all of those words pop like bubbles.

And if I don’t belong with Damien, I don’t want to belong anywhere.

15

Irock back and forth, rising waves of panic crashing over me.

Can’t breathe. Can’t breathe.

Leo waddles into view, one hand braced on his rounded belly, worry furrowing his brow. Then he turns to Damien and Oliver, and his rosebud mouth forms an O of understanding.

“Hey!” Leo waddles over to them and shoves Damien. “Go find your brother. Now.”

Damien’s icy stare shifts to me, and I shrink away from it, fresh wounds tearing through my heart. He doesn’t want me anymore. I’m too broken, too damaged.

He turns back to Oliver and pinches his chin. “Behave.”

With a last glance at me, Damien strides out of the room.

Oliver starts toward me, arms outstretched. “Seven, are you?—”

“Stay away from me!” Unable to bear his pity, his disappointment that I’m not the brother he remembers, I curl tighter in on myself.

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