Chapter Five: she’s Mine
The silence was a living, breathing thing. It crawled under my skin, heavy and suffocating, as the two brothers stood locked in a battle of wills.
Sebastian’s grip on Hardin’s arm was tight, his knuckles white. Hardin didn’t flinch, didn’t so much as glance down. His eyes were still on me, glowing faintly gold in the dim hallway.
“Take. Your. Hands. Off. Her.” Sebastian’s voice was low, each word a warning.
Hardin tilted his head, almost amused. “And if I don’t?”
The air between them snapped like a wire pulled too tight.
“Stop it, both of you!” My voice came out sharper than I intended, my chest aching from the force. “This isn’t the place.”
But neither of them looked at me.
“Long time, brother,” Hardin said finally, his tone lazy but his stance anything but. “I didn’t expect you’d be so… careless with what you claim is yours.”
Sebastian’s jaw tightened. “Careless?”
“Leaving her alone to be hunted,” Hardin said simply. “You always were blind when it came to protecting what mattered.”
I felt my stomach twist. The words weren’t meant for me, but they sliced anyway.
Sebastian shoved him back, his voice rough. “Stay away from her. You’ve been gone too long if you think you can come back here and talk about things you don’t understand.”
Hardin’s lips curled into a sharp smile. “Don’t I? I’ve always understood more than you. About her. About us.”
Sebastian bristled. His hand gripped mine suddenly, possessive, as if to stake his claim. “She’s my mate.”
My heart stuttered. For a moment, I thought the bond would flare, settle the tension. But Hardin’s gaze cut down to where Sebastian’s hand encased mine, and instead of yielding, his smile deepened into something dangerous.
“And yet,” he murmured, voice low, “she doesn’t look like she belongs to you.”
Sebastian’s eyes darkened, flicking to me, searching—did I look that lost? That broken?
I pulled my hand free, stumbling back a step. “Please. Stop this.”
It should have ended there. But voices drifted down the hall. Curious pack members, drawn by the tension, whispers rising.
“Are they—fighting?”
“Hardin Wolfe and Sebastian?”
“Over her?”
My throat tightened. Goddess, no.
Sebastian cursed under his breath, finally tearing his eyes off Hardin to glare at the small crowd gathering at the end of the hall. He straightened, slipping his Alpha heir mask back into place, but the fury in his stance didn’t dim.
He grabbed my hand again. “We’re leaving.”
Hardin moved, blocking his path. His broad shoulders filled the hall, his stance unmovable. “She’s not your shield, Sebastian. Don’t drag her into your weakness.”
Sebastian’s eyes burned. “And you think you’re her savior? After abandoning this pack? After abandoning her?”
The words struck me like a slap. Abandoning me? My lips parted, confusion flooding me. But before I could ask, Hardin’s gaze softened—only for me, never for his brother.
“I didn’t abandon her,” he said quietly, but firmly. “I left because I had no choice. And the first thing I did when I returned…” His eyes seared into mine. “…was find her.”
A sharp breath left my lungs. My chest throbbed with pain that wasn’t just my illness.
Sebastian’s fury flared hotter. He stepped between us, forcing my view of Hardin to vanish behind him. “You won’t touch her again. You won’t even look at her again. I swear it.”
Hardin leaned in, his voice low, dangerous, meant only for his brother but echoing down to me anyway. “Try and stop me.”
The weight of those words hung heavy in the hallway.
I couldn’t breathe.
“Enough!” I snapped, my voice cracking with the force. “I can’t— I can’t do this.”
Both of them turned to me, but I couldn’t bear either of their gazes. My chest burned, and I knew I had to get out before I collapsed right there.
I pulled free of Sebastian’s grip and bolted down the hallway, ignoring the whispers, ignoring Tia’s startled voice calling after me. My legs trembled as I pushed past the crowd and out into the cool night air.
Only when the cold wind hit me did I finally gasp for breath.
But the pain in my chest didn’t ease.
I sat on the stone bench by the garden fountain, clutching the vial of medicine I’d stuffed in my pocket earlier. My hands shook so badly I nearly spilled the liquid.
“Stubborn as ever,” a voice murmured from the shadows.
I jerked my head up.
Hardin stepped out from the darkness, his eyes catching the moonlight.
I stiffened. “I don’t want to hear it. Not now.”
He didn’t listen. Of course he didn’t. He crouched in front of me, his hand brushing mine as if steadying me. “You’re shaking.”
I pulled away. “I said stop.”
His jaw flexed, but his gaze softened. “Rhianna… I meant what I said. I didn’t leave you. I couldn’t.”
My breath caught. “What are you talking about?”
He hesitated, his hand curling into a fist on his knee. “There are things you don’t know. Things I couldn’t tell you back then.”
“Then don’t start now,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “Don’t come back after all these years and pretend you’re the one who’s been here for me.”
His eyes darkened. “And has he? Your precious mate? Has he really been here for you?”
The question cut deep because it wasn’t a lie. My lips trembled, but no words came out.
His voice dropped to a whisper, so low it barely carried over the fountain’s trickle. “Little Wolf… I would never have left if I’d had a choice. And now that I’m back, I’m not letting you go. Not again.”
The rawness in his voice pierced me in a way Sebastian’s smooth reassurances never did. It terrified me.
I pushed to my feet, shaking my head. “Stop calling me that. Stop looking at me like that. I can’t—”
But the words died. Because standing at the edge of the garden was Sebastian.
His eyes were shadowed, unreadable, but his posture was sharp as a blade.
“You really don’t waste time, do you?” His voice was flat, deadly.
Hardin straightened slowly, his body shifting instinctively between me and Sebastian. “Stay out of this.”
“Out of what? My mate?” Sebastian’s laugh was humorless, sharp. “You come back after years, and the first thing you do is try to steal her?”
“She isn’t something you own,” Hardin snapped.
“She’s mine by bond!” Sebastian roared.
“Then why does she look like she’s breaking every time you walk out the door?”
The words cracked the air.
My hands trembled at my sides. Both of them turned to me, waiting, demanding, each in their own way.
My voice was small, hoarse. “Stop… please. I can’t breathe when you fight like this.”
For once, silence followed. Both brothers froze, staring at me as if only now realizing how fragile I truly was.
The pain in my chest twisted deeper, and I pressed a hand over my heart, stumbling back.
Hardin reached for me first, his hand steady on my arm. “Easy, Little Wolf—”
“Don’t touch her!” Sebastian was on us in a flash, shoving his brother back, his own hand catching my waist.
“Sebastian—” I tried, but the world blurred. The ground tilted beneath me.
The last thing I saw was the two of them, locked in fury, each with a hand stretched toward me.
Then darkness swallowed me whole.