Page 70 of Shifting Spirits

This is big for him. I know that.

So, I don’t make any demands. I just wait.

He scrapes Rachel’s usual chair back and sits down.

“Carter told you.”

“He assumed you told Rachel, and that Rachel told me.”

“I didn’t tell Rachel. I didn’t want to put a damper on things. I was going to tell you all later. When …” He lets out a sigh and brushes a hand through his hair. “When I was feeling less pissed off about it.”

“That might never happen.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to realize that now.”

“So, what are you going to do about it?”

“What am I going to do?” He frowns at me. “There’s nothing for me to do, Adrian. I’m not going to give the guy who abandoned me a chance to explain himself. I don’t owe him anything.”

“You don’t owe him a thing,” I agree. “But he owes you. And Sara … You might be mad at her right now, but she tried, Silas. I remember her. She was always hanging around in high school. Obviously, she was trying really hard to get up the guts to speak to you. I’m not saying you did anything wrong, but you do know she tried to tell you. She wanted you to be her brother. Tell me you can see that?”

His frown only deepens. He’s really struggling with this. He wants to avoid it.

As his Alpha, and his pack brother, I can’t let him do that.

“It’ll eat away at you if you don’t give her a chance. Let her explain it. Ask her what she thinks you should do. Be her brother. After what she did for us, she deserves to be heard.” I get up from the table and leave the room.

He needs to think about it. He doesn’t want to, but he will, because I asked him to.

I sit on the couch in the living room, listening for the back door. Waiting.

There are other sounds in the kitchen, first. Water running in the sink. Pans clattering. The refrigerator opening.

Then, the back door opens.

I force myself to sit back and relax in the seat.

I can’t do this for him. It’s up to him now.

He needs to do it for himself.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Silas

ShouldhaveknownCarterwouldn’t keep his mouth shut. I don’t think he knows how. Blaming him makes me feel better for a few seconds. Then, it doesn’t. It’s not his fault. He thought I would have told Rachel. I should have told her. I should have told everyone.

They’re my pack. My family. They deserve to know this stuff.

I know that. I shouldn’t have tried to hide what I was going through.

The charm Rachel gave me is still around my wrist when I step outside. For a few long minutes, I consider stepping back inside and lying to Adrian. Despite knowing avoiding this is making it worse, I still don’t want to deal with it. I let out a sigh.

I know lying to my Alpha won’t work.

He’d see right through it because whatever I made up wouldn’t ring true.

I’m too angry at the situation to fake anything. Even lying about making up with her makes me want to spit nails.

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