Page 8 of Unbreakable Bond
Chapter 5
Zoey tookanother step towards him. Michael reached out. Rafe growled the moment his brother’s hand closed around her arm, jerking her to astop.
He shoved the Sherriff and earned a few more feet up onto the bank when the older man stumbled backwards. Irrationally, he was already plotting the best way to take the Sherriff to the ground, the easiest way to rip out his brother’s heart, and then the quickest route of retreat to get his mate out ofhere.
“Damn it Rafe. Don’t make me put you down.” The Sherriff put his hand near his weapon but he couldn’t find it in himself to care, not when he heard his mate squeakloudly.
“Michael! Let go. He’s hurting and I need tohelp!”
“What? No.” His brother yelled right back. “You’re not going anywhere near him. It isn’tsafe.”
Rafe snarled at that. Safe? His little brother wanted to talk about safe? He had warned Michael once already not to touch his mate, not to get in theway.
Michael knew the rules. Pack Alpha or not, he couldn’t interfere in a mate bond, not if it was uncontested by the two parties involved. He would be foolish to even try. A mated wolf was stronger than an unmated one and there was no reasoning with one inheat.
He would fight twice as hard. He would be twice as vicious. He wouldn’t stop until he got to her, even if he had to put Michael in the ground to do it. His brother knewthat.
The human part of his brain, the rational part of his brain, told him to think this through. He and Michael weren’t littermates. He’d never been able to read him as well as he had Gabe. They weren’t two pieces of the same puzzle but they were still brothers. They knew eachother.
He knew Michael. Michael was always calm, always rational. He used his head and thought things through before he made amove.
Michael knew him. Rafe’s strength came from emotion. He was action and gut instinct. He was the one that attacked first and asked questionslater.
Michael knew him so Michael must know that he was tempting his own torture by touching the girl and yet, he’d done itanyway.
Why?
“Of course it’s safe.” Zoey scoffed, jerking her arm away from his brother, “You just said I’m his mate. If that’s true, you know he would never hurtme.”
Such trust in him, in their beliefs and traditions, made something new and warm take up residence in Rafe’s chest. Attacking his own brother hadn’t been the way to introduce her to any of this, to him, and probably hadn’t won him any points. Still, she was fighting to get to him despite the roadblock his brotherpresented.
Rafe watched them interact, tried to process what he was seeing. Ever since he’d walked into his brother’s home earlier tonight, he’d been in a haze of lust and magic and rage. He hadn’t stopped to think about much of anything except finding her but now that he had, he knew what it was he’d beenmissing.
She wasn’t just a member of Michael’s pack. She wasn’t just a human that Michael liked and protected. She wasn’t just Michael’s friend. His brother lovedher.
Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he’d known that. When he realized the scent of his mate belonged to the same girl that had been palling around with his brother since childhood, he’d known that. But at the same time, he’d thought that Michael was smarter thanthis.
Falling for a woman that wasn’t his mate? For a woman that wasn’t his? For a woman that his every instinct would demand he abandon when his true mate walked into hislife?
It was childish and naïve and stupid, not things Michael had ever been. If Michael had fallen in love with her when they were children, before they’d known, that was one thing. But to have continued their relationship, knowing full well that they weren’t fated, was cruel and heartbreaking… for themboth.
Rafe thought about all of the signs he’d ignored earlier in the day. Her scent had been strong in Michael’s home, as if she spent a lot of time there. And as soon as he’d scented her, Michael had known who she was but his brother refused to tell him, refused to help him find her, and so he’d raced out of the house alone, desperate to find her. Her scent had led him to her apartment and even there, in her tiny space, he’d still scented hisbrother.
They shared space. Their scents intertwined. He should have put it together before but he’d been so consumed with the need to find her that his brain hadn’t puzzled through the whole picture yet. Now, looking at them, the picture was still grainy and out of focus because it didn’t makesense.
Their scents were all over each other’s homes but they weren’t all over each other. It was there, a light undercurrent that spoke to familiarity, but they hadn’t been sleeping together. Michael’s scent would have marked her if that were the case. And though his brother’s scent lingered on her skin, that was as deep as it went, familiarity, ease, sporadic and random touches. It wasn’t soul deep and for that, at least, he would let his brother keep hislife.
Michael was in love with the girl but he hadn’t taken her. He hadn’t crossed that line. It raised a question he hadn’t thought about earlier, one he didn’t want to think about, one with an answer he was in no way prepared tohear.
Was she in love with Michaeltoo?
He growled when he remembered the way they’d been looking at each other when he finally tracked her here, to the lodge. He’d been following her scent all over town for hours. Michael must have known that and taken advantage to get to her first. She’d been in his brother’s arms when he arrived and if he hadn’tinterrupted…
He hated to even think it but if he’d been even ten seconds later and he’d found Michael kissing her, knowing full-well that she belonged to him, not even her sweet voice would have stopped him from beating his brother into theground.
“Damn it Zoey. He’s not stable. I’m trying to protect you.” Michael got in her way again but saved himself another brutal attack by not touchingher.
“From yourbrother?”
