“Don’t.”
“Don’t what? Smell? Hate to break it to you, but I have even less control over that than I do anything else.”
A faint grin lit Devan’s features before he seemed to catch himself. “From here on out, it doesn’t matter what you can smell, you have to ignore it.”
“What?”
“I have orders, Zio.”
“From who?”
“My alpha, one of them at least. I’ve got three, remember?”
“Varian?”
“No. Luca.”
Zio swallowed the lump in his throat. “What were the orders?”
“The same as before... to act as pack healer whenever I’m needed, but this time, with an add on not to fulfil any potential bonds.”
“Your alpha hasorderedyou to ignore a potential bond?”
“He’s ordered me to act in the best interests of everyone affected by it. Don’t you understand?”
“You keep asking me that shit, and you know I don’t,” Zio snapped. “Explain it to me.”
Devan sighed, and for a moment he was the same Devan that Zio had spent the last few weeks growing to consider a brother, a friend... and a lover.
Then his open expression shuttered. Jaw reset. “If we bond, your enemies will consider it confirmation that my clan has joined the war against them. If I leave, there’s a possibility you will become so affected by the loss of the bond that you won’t be able to hold this border and all kinds of other horrible shit Luca wouldn’t even tell me.”
“Loss of the bond—”
“Yes, Zio. Thebond. Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is personal, because it’s not. It’s ancient biology that sometimes gets things wrong.”
“So, we have to... what? Incubate this bullshit until the war is over and we can go our separate ways without causing a shifter apocalypse?”
“Pretty much.”
“And it’s not personal... it’s biology?”
“Yes.”
Zio growled. “I don’t believe you.”
“So?”
“So fuck you.” Zio scrambled to his feet, skin already burning with the desire to shift. “You don’t get to come back here and tell me to suck it up and get on with it. If it’sbiology, take it with you and fuck off.”
He started for the tent entrance.
Devan caught his arm. “I already told you I can’t do that. Besides, your pack needs both of us to win this war.”
“It’s your pack too.”
“It won’t be forever.”
Zio had never felt pain like this. To lose Devan as a potential mate was one thing. To lose him as a brother too? Fuck. It would destroy him. “So what do we do?”