Page 62 of Unbreakable Bond
Michael dropped his eyes and picked at a string on the knee of his ripped jeans, “I never blamed you for their deaths but leaving? That was all your choice, Rafe. You left. Left the pack. Left me. Your only family. Your only brother. You left me all alone to deal with everything and I blamed you for that for a long time. I hated you forit.”
Rafe felt the words sink into his soul and his wolf whined again. Michael hated him. He’d always secretly wondered if his brother despised him for what had happened in the woods that day. Hearing that he didn’t blame him for their family being killed was unexpected but hearing that he hated him wasn’t. It just hadn’t been for the reason he thought itwas.
“The thing is, as I got older and I took on more and more of the pack responsibilities I understood why you left. You were in no shape to lead and you thought leaving was the only way to protect me. It was the only way to give me the pack without the elders stripping you of your Alpha status or making me fight you for it.” Michael met his eyes again and a sad smile tilted one corner of his lips, “Yeah. I get that now, brother. I get why you had to leave me behind the way you did and I forgiveyou.”
If he was in his human form, Rafe thought he might have cried. Forgiveness. It was the very last thing he deserved but he wanted it. He soaked in it. His brother forgave him because he was a better man than Rafe had ever been. A better wolf and a better leader. Michael was the Alpha the packdeserved.
“Look at me.” Michael’s strong, demanding voice jerked Rafe out of his thoughts and he met eyes that had gone hard and golden in the morning light, “I forgive you for leaving me behind but I will never, ever, forgive you if you do the same thing toZoey.”
Zoey. Rafe snapped to attention at the sound of her name. Zoey. His Zoey. His mate. His wolf whined and shrank down into a crouch. He’d forgotten about her. In his bloodlust, he’d somehow forgotten about his mate and that was… unacceptable. Totally and completely unacceptable. His gut clenched and his fur rolled as his wolf tried to scramble away from theaccusation.
It was true though. He’d left Zoey. He’d left her in the middle of a battle on her first full moon. He’d left his mate alone without even looking back. In the old days, he’d have been stripped of his wolf for putting a female in danger likethat.
He whimpered at the thought of losing her. He could have lost her. He’d only been thinking of Michael All this time and all these hours, he’d been wandering around in a cloud of sorrow for all he’d lost. He’d forgotten somehow of all he had left tolose.
Zoey. The woman he was in love with. His woman and his wolf to cherish and protect and on day one, night one, he’dfailed.
“You swore to me that you’d do right by her. You promised you’d be better. So you come home with me now, you come back and you make things right with her. I’m not giving you another option. I wouldn’t have fought you for the pack but I’ll fight you for her. Not because I want her as my mate but because she’s my best friend. She’s the best woman I’ve ever known and I think she’s good for you. But you have to be good for her inreturn.”
Rafe was already surging for the surface before his brother finished speaking. His wolf didn’t fight him. He let go of his control of them and let Rafe come back to the forefront. He hadn’t liked the truth of what he’d done and he didn’t want to face off with Michael. His wolf all but tucked tail and ran as Rafe shifted back into his humanform.
Michael tilted his head when he was lying on his back, panting, completely naked, “There you are. I figured threatening to fight you for Zo might bring you backaround.”
“Not fighting you for her.” Rafe sucked in a gulp of air through his teeth and narrowed his eyes on his not so little brother, “She’smine.”
“Yeah?” Michael raised an eyebrow. “Prove it. Come home with me and do right by her. She’s your mate. She’s supposed to come first. Even before me,brother.”
Rafe lowered his eyes, “I saw you laying there, bloody and hurt andI…”
“I know, but it doesn’t matter now. We can deal with that. We can talk pack politics and going after the ones that came onto our land. We’ll figure out how to coexist as two Moirae Alphas on pack land. We’re family and we can figure all of that out later. Right now, Zoey comesfirst.”
“From now on.” Rafe nodded his agreement, “From now on she comes first. I’ll do better. I swear Iwill.”
“I’m going to hold you tothat.”
“Good. I’m glad we finally agree onsomething.”
Michael chuckled and pushed up from the log he’d been sitting on, “Brought you some clothes, I don’t really want to walk all the way back to the lodge pretending you’re not ballingout.”
Rafe smiled. He smiled and it felt like for the first time, his heart was full of hope again. Love, again. He loved his brother and he loved Zoey. He just had to hope that when he got back to town that the damage he had done wasn’t irreparable. He had to hope that she loved him enough to forgivehim.
And hope was a strangely foreignemotion.
