All Chapters of My Husband’s Brother Is My Mate?!: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

"Keep up, Selene."Cain did not turn his head. He rode ahead of me along the ridge, his black horse moving smooth and sure over the stones.I nudged my mare faster. "I am keeping up.""You are daydreaming.""I am thinking.""That is the same thing when you do it with your eyes closed."I blinked. Had Cain just made a joke?He still did not look back. But the corner of his mouth lifted, just barely.It had been a long day. Cain had invited me to ride the full border with him. Not as a guard duty. As a Luna. He pointed out the old watchtowers, the hidden springs, the crossings where rogues liked to slip over at night. He spoke in short clear sentences, and he asked what I thought of each place.I told him. He listened.It was strange. Pleasant, even. And the more pleasant it was, the worse I felt."You know this land well," I said."I should. I have walked it since I was eight.""Eight?""I was sent to train with the border guards." He said it without any drama, as if mentioning the wea

"No."Cain said it flatly, without raising his voice.The great hall had emptied. Orin lay on a bench by the fire, wrapped in blankets, while a healer wrapped his arm. I stood in front of Cain with my fists clenched and my heart in pieces."He is my father," I said."And you are my Luna.""I will go with or without your permission.""I know you will." He looked at me steadily. "That is why I am not saying no to you leaving. I am saying no to me leaving."I blinked. "What?""The border was attacked two weeks ago. A rogue wearing your family brand was left at our gate. Someone is moving against this pack. If the Alpha rides away now, the pack is open to a second strike." His eyes did not soften, but his voice did. "I cannot go. But I will not send you alone.""Then who?""Rhys."The name hit me like a slap."Anyone else," I said quickly. "Dane, or...""Anyone else I trust less." Cain's gaze sharpened. "Is there a reason you do not want my brother to go?"My mouth went dry.Behind him, M

"It was forged."I said it three times before the words felt real.We sat around a small fire in the cold courtyard of the Ashford house, long after the warriors had gone to sleep. Orin had insisted we rest before the last day's ride. The stars glittered overhead like broken glass.Rhys sat across from me, the letter in his hands. He had read it six times."Someone copied your father's signature," he said. "Very carefully. Perfectly enough to fool you.""Or Cain lied.""My brother is many things." Rhys stared into the flames. "Cold. Proud. Controlled. But he has never lied to me. Not once. Until now.""We do not know that he lied.""We do not know that he did not."The fire cracked. A log shifted.I drew my knees up and wrapped my arms around them."Rhys. I am sorry."He looked up. "For what?""For shouting at you in the woods. You said you would protect me and I screamed at you like a child.""You had every right.""I did not. You were trying to help.""I was hiding." He set the lett

"Follow me. Quietly."Orin led the way up the cliff path behind the Ashford hills. Dawn light cut through the trees in long gold lines. The air was damp and cold. Behind me, six warriors carried Rhys on a stretcher. He had refused, then fainted, so they had stopped asking.I walked beside the stretcher, one hand resting on the edge.The prisoner was tied to a horse at the rear. I had not decided what to do with his words. Ask who counts his silver. Who handled the coin? Who kept the treasury? The questions chased each other around my head.But I could not think about that now."Here," Orin said.He stopped before a wall of rock covered in ivy. He pushed aside a thick curtain of vines. Behind it, a narrow crack opened in the stone, just wide enough for one wolf at a time."The old hunting caves," he said. "Your father's idea. We used them as a hideout when you were small.""I remember," I whispered. "We played hide-and-seek here.""That is the point. No enemy knew them."We squeezed th

I rode home with Cain.It was the hardest decision of my life. But if I stayed in the cave, I would be telling the whole Blackthorne pack that I trusted my own blood more than my marriage. And I could not afford to say that. Not yet.So I made a deal."The Ashford pack comes with us," I said, in front of both Alphas. "All of them. Under the protection of the treaty."Cain did not hesitate. "They will have the outer village. Houses, food, healers. And warriors to guard them."My father's mouth tightened. For a long moment I thought he would refuse. Then he looked at his people, thin and tired, huddled in the cave."Fine," he rasped.It took two days to move everyone. I rode at the front the whole way, my shoulders aching, my smile fixed. Rhys rode at the rear with the wounded. Cain did not once speak to him.On the last night, we camped at the edge of the Blackthorne woods. I found Cain alone by the horse line, brushing his stallion."I need to talk to you," I said."I was waiting.""M