Page 22 of Red and Her Dragons (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 4)

I glared at him.

“Where have you been?” I asked. “Better yet, what were you doing in Emily’s room?”

“Entertaining our house guest,” he said, smug. “You can take that as a blanket answer.”

There was something in the way he had spoken the words which set my nerves on edge. I knew he referred to Emily. My more possessive side took over, following my raising suspicion that he was trying to take my woman from me, and I sniffed the air. What I breathed in ignited a rage inside me I hadn’t felt in years. My eyes widened and I charged him while growling out, “You!”

Bret’s back slammed against the wall, forcing him into the marble.

“You, of all people, would try to steal her from me! You know how I feel about her. How could you do this to me?” I asked as I struggled with not killing the man who I had always thought of as a brother to me.

Bret didn’t answer. He simply stared at me expressionlessly.

I couldn’t believe him. I couldn’t wrap my mind around how he thought what he did was okay. I pushed against him, taking a couple of steps back. I pointed a finger at his chest. “This is a new low, even for you.”

Bret sighed, removing himself from the wall, and then readjusted his shirt and stretched out his neck as though he was getting ready to take me on. “I didn’t realize she belonged to you. I thought she was her own woman and could make her own decisions.”

“I would watch what you say next, if I were you,” I warned. It wasn’t going to take much more antagonizing for me to punch the man full in the face.

Bret smirked. “Well, at least now you know that Jax and I both feel the same way about her. Regardless of anyone’s feelings, she chose me.”

My fists clenched so tight my nails dug into my palms. I growled and pushed the man who used to be my brother against the wall again. “I’m warning you…”

“Look,” he said firmly, “she chose me. If you want to take your rage out on someone, you should confront Emily. Though I wouldn’t recommend doing that, seeing as how well it worked out for you the last time.”

I sucked in a sharp breath and searched his eyes for an explanation for what he just said. I knew exactly what he was referring to. It was the moment I thought I had lost Emily for good.

She came to me after visiting with her family. Her mood was solemn, which wasn’t like her. I tried to comfort her the best I could and coax out of her what bothered her so deeply.

I didn’t like what she had to say.

Her parents promised her to the wolves. She told me she was going to honor their promise and that made me feel as though she was going to throw everything we had away.

I had confronted her. I was angry, hurt, and there was a huge part of me that felt betrayed. She was leaving me. For the wolves.

It was a moment that stung more than anything I had ever felt in my life. I thought of her as my mate. But I found out that day she didn’t feel the same. If she had, she would have stayed.

But as time went on, I gained a better understanding of what she was doing and why. If she didn’t go and uphold her family’s agreement, she could have started a war. One in which her family would have been destroyed. Though I was sure a war with the wolves was a possibility even now that she was back.

That was something I would deal with when and if the time came. However, none of that mattered. Not anymore. And I realized Bret had a point. Mine and Emily’s relationship ended long ago. We weren’t together anymore, and she had the right to sleep with whomever she deemed worthy of her.

After several moments, my hands released Bret again. I stepped back and said, “You’re right.”

“What?” he asked as his eyebrows knitted themselves together.

“I don’t have a say in who she chooses.” I settled my gaze on the floor. “I had my chance, and I lost her.”

“Hey, man, I didn’t—” Bret started.

I turned my attention to him as my body flooded with emotions I thought I had put far behind me. The sensation of loss overwhelmed me. I could either kill him or surrender to the facts and accept that I had lost Emily for good. It was hard to breathe. And I hated that he made sense. But what could I do? It wasn’t like she belonged to me. She didn’t. No matter how much I wanted her to.

I took in several deep breaths to calm myself. Once those emotions started to fade, I nodded once and said, “Take care of her.”

I gave up on finding something to eat. I was too upset. I needed something more constructive to do with my time. It wasn’t like I was going to be able to sleep anymore, so going back to bed was out of the question. I took the only other thing that helped in the past and I turned around and quickly headed down the hallway.

Bret’s footsteps followed after me. I tried to ignore him. The last thing I wanted was to deal with him anymore for the night. Especially with my feelings being so raw.

“Where are you going?” he asked, almost breathless as he was trying to keep up.

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