Chapter 57 Chapter 57
The two men stared at Suki in disbelief.
“Are you serious?” Reynard asked, his words sounding breathless.
Brendan stood and huffed, running his fingers through his hair. “This can’t be fucking real. Are you messing with us? This is a joke?”
Reynard rolled his eyes. “Brendan, shut up for the sake of the Goddess.”
“Why don’t you make me, Mr Perfect,” he hissed.
Shooting to his feet, he flashed in front of Brendan and snarled, “Do you really think I won’t?”
“Bring it on,” he smirked.
Suki wedged herself between the two of them. “Stop!” Shoving her palms on each of their chests, she pushed them further apart. “Stop fighting, I’m sick of this!”
Her mates were silenced and watched her carefully. For a short while, no words were said; they all just stood there in the awkward silence of Suki’s truth.
Finally, Brendan broke the silence. “You can’t have two mates, Suki.”
“Why not?” she half-sobbed, turning to face him. Her emotional pain still lingered, but she fought to keep it at bay.
“Because… It’s not normal, it has to be a mistake.”
She stepped closer and rested her hands on his chest. “The Moon Goddess doesn’t make mistakes. Think about it,” she turned to look at Reynard, who tentatively watched her. “Everything that happened to you and your parents.”
Reynard held back a wince as the memories flooded his mind.
Suki faced Brendan. “And the connection of you with the events that night, and being banished from your pack.”
Brendan cringed with a painful frown and looked away.
She cupped his face in her palm and pushed him to look at her. “And me being connected to both of you, in one way or another. It can’t be an accident, it just can’t be. I don’t believe it.”
“Ki…” Reynard moved closer and sighed, “Only one male werewolf can mark a female werewolf. If we try to complete both our bonds with you, there’s a chance only one will be sealed.”
“Then you should do it first,” Brendan said to Reynard, but looked deep in Suki’s eyes.
Suki dropped her arm and looked at him, shocked. “What? No, Brendan–”
“If only one bond is sealed, it should be with you,” he interrupted Suki and looked at Rey to continue talking to him. “If the bond is sealed with me, my promise I made with the Alpha would be broken, forcing me to leave, and she’ll lose her home by becoming a Rogue.”
“Brendan, stop this.” Suki frowned.
He looked down at her and stroked her cheek. “I’m not stupid, love, I know how perfect he is for you, I don’t call him Mr Perfect for my fun. I know he’d give you the life you deserve. I know you’d be happy with him. With me, I’d only bring you into my problems; you’d be running away from my past with me.”
A single tear escaped her eyes, but she swiped it away instantly. “Stop this. You’re not pushing me away. Neither of you can push me away, not now,” she huffed, shifting her gaze between both of them. She took in a deep breath and spoke as she exhaled, “Look, I know how crazy it is to ask this of both of you, you probably thought you’d get one woman to yourselves, and that’s it, which is totally fair, you both deserve an easy and simple mate bond and not whatever crazy mess in right now, and–”
Reynard took her hand, making her speech abruptly pause as she looked up into his ocean blue eyes. He spoke softly, “Ki, you’re rambling again.” Offering her a faint smile, he wanted to laugh at her habit of rambling when she was nervous, but he refrained.
She blushed. “Oh… Sorry.” She pressed her head against his chest and tittered weakly. Standing upright, she shook her head and settled herself before she continued, “The point I’m trying to make is, if it wasn’t meant to happen, it wouldn’t have panned out the way it had; and after I spoke to Hadeon at Nighttide–”
“You what?” Brendan’s voice became shallow and lethal.
The harshness in his voice sent a chill down Suki’s spine. She hadn’t even realised she had stepped away from him until her back pressed against Rey.
Brendan’s brows furrowed, laced in his anger, but after a couple of beats, his body relaxed as the realisation sank in. “You… You spoke to my brother?”
An ominous thud, thud, thud, of Suki’s heartbeat filled the room.
Rey held her arms and gave her an encouraging squeeze. He didn’t say anything, but Suki could feel his calmness through the bond, almost as if he was feeding it to her, allowing his calmness to settle her and become hers.
Slowly, she nodded. “Yes.”
“H-How is he?”
“He’s good.” Suki chewed her lip, trying to think of something to offer him. “He works for the council. Considering he’s wolfless, he seems healthy and happy from what I could tell.”
“Did you see my parents?” There was a glimmer of something in his eyes, something he’d never been so vulnerable to show to anyone before – hope.
Disappointed with her answer, Suki’s head lowered as she murmured, “No. I’m sorry.”
He cleared his throat, “It’s okay, I didn’t expect you to see any of my family. So knowing my brother is well is… great.”
Lost in his own thoughts, Brendan stared at Suki with a softness even she hadn’t seen before. She could almost feel the question he wanted to ask, but there was a reluctance in him, afraid to know the answer.
“Katy is good, too,” she said, warily.
His eyes rounded, not in shock, but in excitement from hearing his baby sister’s name, almost as if it had awakened Brendan’s inner child.
Seeing the joy in his gaze, Suki continued, “She’s absolutely beautiful, full of joy and innocence. We only saw her briefly before we left the pack.”
Brendan’s eyes shifted to behind Suki, to Reynard. “You saw her, too?”
Reynard nodded.
A pang of jealousy hit Brendan, but he shook it off, stumbling over his words as he asked, “Does she have… I mean, could either of you…?”