It was annoying.It was irritating.Reyland was losing the peace he had come to find at his lake.He shut his eyes, turning his face to the side.All the while, his breathing had been growing ragged.Again, his mind was being pulled in different directions.He stepped back again.He reopened his eyes.His gaze drifted from his father to the father of the girl he had recently bedded.It was the first time he had seen Alpha Corien since the last time they had spoken, which had been the day before.Their conversation the last time they had met had been simple and very polite. He had approached the former Alpha himself and had asked to keep Marian company during the Remembrance ceremony.Alpha Corien had looked relieved, almost glad, and had agreed without reservation.Now, another issue had occurred.Thanks to him.Thanks to his lack of restraint.I could have stayed away from h
That was the first time Reyland placed his forehead against Dorien’s.When he did this, Dorien, filled with fear, doubt, and rage, had calmed. Something about the coolness of the other boy’s skin, about the closeness, about the quiet that seemed to be wrapped around the other boy, had steadied his nerves.Then, he had wept, and Reyland had wept with him.==========Why won’t you free me?!The grown Dorien wailed in his broken heart, sliding down to the floor in his brother’s house.==========Reyland ran from his home, leaving Dorien behind.He moved straight to his lake.His chest was tight. He wasn’t breathing properly.His mind was heavy.He had not expected Dorien to come so soon.He had not been prepared.And just like always, Dorien had been a lot to handle.He understood what Dorien had been doing, at the beginning.But as they began
A wall came down in Dorien’s mind, and Kintel fell silent.Dorien stared at Reyland with dark brown eyes, his soft lips pressed into a tight, straight line.His expression had gone from rage-filled to almost neutral, blank, like he had disconnected something within himself.Somehow, that look seemed worse than the one filled with anger.Reyland blinked.As he gazed at Dorien, he suddenly felt he was being stared down on, even though he was taller than his brother by almost five inches.Somehow, at that moment, Dorien seemed bigger. Larger.“How dare you? What do you mean by such insolence?” Dorien asked coldly, his eyes fixed on his brother.For the second time that night, Reyland gaped.Dorien sounded so much like Dax that Reyland almost called him by their father’s title.For the first time in their lives, Reyland did not see his younger brother. He saw his Alpha, and he was both enthrall
Both Reyland and Dorien knew full well how Reyland felt about using the blood of others.The question was completely illogical.Dorien, however, was not relenting.“How am I supposed to know? You’ve been lying for so long, how am I supposed to know what you’ve been doing?” he screamed, stepping forward, getting in Reyland’s face.“Are you crazy, Dorien? Have you actually lost your mind? I’ve never met Marian before! I’ve never –” Reyland yelled back, his palms open before his brother.“Lies! All lies! You’ve met her before!” Dorien shouted, swinging his arm wildly, swiping away his brother’s hands, without touching them as Reyland pulled his hands back immediately.“Dorien!” Reyland almost shrieked, running a hand through his fuller, longer head of hair, and then holding onto his hair, staring wide-eyed at his brother.It was a move Dorien
“I mean, what do you call a girl who jumps from one guy to the next without so much as batting an eyelash?” Dorien continued calmly, with no break in his tone.“And brother’s no less, I mean, fine, maybe she’s not a whore, but she definitely is a homewrecker, of some sort, at the very least.”The door flung open.Dorien was wearing a smug smile, with a brow raised, to greet his brother.His eyes took in the person standing before him.Instantly, Dorien paled.He staggered backward.Reyland blinked, his own face going from red to grey, then green.His large hands began to shake, then he started to fidget, his fingers running against each other as he glanced away from his little brother.Reyland closed his eyes, cursing under his breath.Dorien’s mouth fell open.Finally, the Noble Alpha found his voice.“What. The. Hell?” Dorien rasped.&ldq
Now, Dorien was standing in Reyland’s pantry. Their father had just left.The Noble Alpha had heard the conversation between Alpha Dax and Reyland; from the moment their father had woken up.Dorien’s mind was on fire. His heart was racing. His palms were sweaty.Nothing in the discussion, or the tone of it, had suggested that their father would support his view of taking Marian for himself.The way Alpha Dax had called Marian ‘child’, ‘little girl’, the fact that he had even told his brother about her oath, and had listed her among those he said would protect Reyland, had shaken Dorien, one by one.Still, Reyland…Dorien had seethed in his mind as his father had spoken to his brother.Always, Reyland.He had raged internally as his father left the house.Would Father give Marian to me if I asked? If I demanded? Would he do