Chapter 42 Chapter 42
Brendan stood, holding his hands up in defence.
“What did you do to her?”
“I didn’t hurt her, I swear.”
“Didn’t hurt her? Then why did I suddenly feel a wave of emotions from her? Fear and pain most of all. I even heard an echo of a cry for help.” Reynard hissed at him and paced over to Suki. “Ki, what happened?”
“Please…” she spoke weakly, shaking her head. “Don’t be mad at him. He just wanted to talk to me privately.”
“About what?”
She turned her head slightly to avoid eye contact. Her eyes flickered shut for just a moment, but when her eyes reopened, she glanced over to Brendan.
Concerned by her expression, Reynard looked back at Brendan and snarled, “What secret is she hiding for you?”
Brendan swallowed thickly, hesitant to reveal the truth that was still all so new to him, too.
Annoyed, Rey stood, grabbing Brendan by his shirt and pinning him against the wall. “Look at her, Brendan,” he growled. “She’s in pain. What happened?”
“She was helping me,” he admitted.
Suki squeaked a whine as she tried to sit straight, feeling the blood rush to her head. “Brendan…”
“Why was she helping you? And how did you hide her from me? Don’t even try to lie to my face. I know there’s more to you than it seems.”
Brendan sighed, “She was helping me because I lost control of my powers.”
“I knew it,” he growled, “I knew there was something you were hiding!”
Panic arose in Suki; she didn’t want them to fight, but she knew it would head that way if any more information was shared. “Wait–” she stood, but the blood rushed to her head, and she dropped back into the chair, holding her head, “–ah!”
Rey moved swiftly back in front of her. “Babe, talk to me. What happened?” Holding her face, he stroked her cheek with his thumb and examined her eyes, which were bloodshot. “One of you needs to explain what the hell is going on. Suki, you disappeared again. I couldn’t feel you down our bond for hours. Damn it, I was scared that the worst had happened to you. I almost called for a search party. After not speaking to me since we returned from Silver Moon, can you blame me for being concerned?”
She shook her head and apologised, “I didn’t mean to push you away like that.”
“Why did you?” He took hold of her hand and sighed, “I don’t want you to feel pressured around me – about the bond or anything else. If I’ve made you feel like that, I’m so, so sorry.”
Suki’s shoulders trembled, and her head dropped as she sobbed. She didn’t deserve his kindness, especially after all the secrets she kept from him, but she wanted peace between the two men who were growing in importance to her.
Brendan flashed over beside the chair, feeling her suffering through their bond and wanting to take that away from her. He felt guilty for what he had put her through. “It’s not her,” he spoke, almost in a whisper, “it’s me. It’s all my fault.”
She looked up at him with a tear-stained face. “Brendan–”
“She’s been protecting me this whole time,” he interrupted speedily and continued in an exhale, “she was avoiding you because after your trip to Silver Moon, she managed to put the pieces together about that vision. What Silver Moon’s Alpha saw was something that tied us two together. You and me.”
Reynard’s brows furrowed. “What?”
Nausea hit Brendan, knowing admitting the truth to Reynard meant he might lose Suki altogether, but he knew he couldn’t keep the burden of that secret on her, especially if it would eat away at her as it had already begun to. He sighed, “The men breaking into your home and you screaming for your parents – that was your side of the story. The shadowed forest, that is Nighttide, my former pack.”
Taken aback, Rey looked at Suki.
She squeezed his hand in confirmation.
“The man shouting traitor in the vision,” he breathed, “that was my father, speaking to me.” His words made Reynard’s eyes widen, but with no interruptions, he continued. “I was banished for creating a secret passage in our barriers, with my shadow magic, and letting in enemies who attacked, killed and kidnapped people of my pack.”
“But he swore he didn’t do it,” Suki chimmed in quickly, “he was only a kid, he couldn’t – he wouldn’t – have done something so malicious.”
Rey’s eyes shifted, as if he were searching for answers. “What does this have to do with me?”
Brendan swallowed, his throat suddenly feeling awfully dry. “Because I swore I didn’t open the border that time to allow havoc on Nighttide, but I did open the barrier once…” he frowned, “…to sneak out of the pack a few weeks prior with my brother and his friends he was meeting on the way.”
“On the way where?”
“To the Moonstone pack.”
The pieces of the puzzle were finally put into place, and Reynard knew exactly what he was saying. “Those three men who attacked…?”
A slow, painful nod. “I snuck them into the pack, I snuck them out too. That’s why no one could track them after it happened.”
Reynard stood tall, and Brendan followed to his feet, knowing what was to come. He squared up to Brendan with wrath in his eyes. “It was because of you that my parents died?”
“I-I didn’t know… I didn’t know what they were doing. My brother said it was a harmless prank, but he wasn’t there, he wasn’t mentioned in the news report, so I thought maybe it was just a coincidence of timing – I prayed to the Goddess it was. It was eating me alive thinking I may have contributed. After my banishment, when I ended up here of all places, I figured it was the universe punishing me, and I also thought I deserved it.”
The silence in the room was deafening.
“You do deserve it…” Reynard whispered sternly.
Suki stood, trying to ignore the throbbing in her head. “Rey.”
He growled at Brendan, “They tried to kidnap me. My parents died protecting me. You expect me to forgive you instantly?”
“No, but–”
Reynard shoved his palms hard on Brendan’s chest, making him stumble back. “If you didn’t do that, my parents would be here, they would be alive!” He threw a punch at his jaw.
“Rey, stop!” Suki yelped.
Brendan held his hand up to Suki. “It’s okay, let him. I deserve it.”
“You deserve a lot more than this!” he yelled. “I deserve to be the one to tell the pack, get you banished from our home too for what you’ve done.”
Clenching his jaw, Brendan nodded. “I understand. Do it.”
Suki’s heart shattered at his words.
“No,” said Rey, monotonously.
Both Suki and Brendan looked at him, shocked.
He stepped closer, towering over a hunched-over Brendan, and spoke deeply and angrily, “I won’t do that because it will hurt the girl who is most important to me.” Stepping away from him, Reynard inhaled deeply and exhaled loudly.
“Thank you,” Suki placed her hands on his chest and smiled up at him before resting into him.
Rey embraced her in a hug. “Your happiness matters to me. I’ll control my rage for now, but if he does anything to hurt you or the pack…”
“I won’t, I swear.”
Still resting against his chest, Suki hummed, “There’s still something bothering me.”
Brendan raised his brows. “Oh?”
“The men who attacked Reynard’s house were untraceable; there was no distinct scent left.”
He shrugged, “Probably an echo of my shadow magic lingered on them.”
She nodded. “Maybe… but there is something else, one detail you didn’t specify on.” She watched him closely as Brendan looked nervous. “Brendan, who attacked Nighttide? They killed and kidnapped. You called them monsters, but you didn’t say it was an enemy pack.”
“They were monsters…” he whispered.
Rey looked at Suki, knowing what she was asking for. He looked at Brendan, holding his mate closer to him. “What species attacked your former pack?”
Brendan closed his eyes slowly and looked down. “Humans… It was humans.”