Page 5 of Twisted Desire
Though Calder had dressed it up as a statement, Ethan felt the challenge the Alpha threw at him. Almost as if he were daring him to dispute the facts.
“He sees all.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Ominous much?
“You cannot lie to the Alpha. And your gift doesn’t work with him. Try listening, even now. Can you hear a single thought in his head?”
He sucked in a deep breath and fought against closing his eyes. Something he often did when he zeroed in on a single person’s thoughts. Nothing. Not so much as a whisper from the Alpha.
Shaken by the knowledge that his gift was useless against the Alpha, Ethan pulled his thoughts together, taking his wolf’s warning to heart. “You know things you should have no way of knowing.”
Calder met Ethan’s questioning gaze.
“I do.”
“How so?” Ethan knew he shouldn’t ask, but he couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut.
“Why should I tell you?” Calder asked? “If I knew that you had any intention of claiming your mate and joining this pack, I would tell you. But as of right now, you’re no better than a rogue assassin.”
Truer words had never been spoken. Ethan didn’t like hearing what the Alpha thought of him. His job had never really weighed on his mind heavily, until recently. The people he’d been hired to kill were the scum of the earth—pedophiles, rapists, murderers. Maybe they should have been left for the human police to handle, but that wasn’t the way things worked in the shifter world. They took care of their own. Something Ethan found out the hard way.
For the first time he felt shame toward his job, his life. But if he were honest with himself, he knew damn well, it wasn’t the first time he felt shame for what he did—who he’d become.
If he’d been proud of who he was or what he did, he would have told his brother about where the money came from to pay their bills, but he didn’t—even though he’d had plenty of opportunities over the years.
“What are you going to do about Cam?” Calder asked.
“I have to stay away from her. I can’t claim her as my mate.” Ethan could hear the loss in his voice, though he had tried like hell to keep his voice steady and calm.
“Then why are you here?”
“To tell her there can be no mating match between the two of us. That she should move on with her life as if I never existed.”
Calder shook his head in disbelief. “Do you really think that’s possible for either of you? Especially with your brother becoming a member of this pack? Are you going to walk away from your mate and the only family you have left?”
“What choice do I have?” Ethan’s voice rose several octaves. Every head in the diner—including Cam’s—snapped in his direction.
