Ren let out a bitter laugh that scraped his throat.
“And is that going to fix anything?”
“It’s going to fix him stopping believing that you used him and discarded him.” Jax stared at him without blinking. “Because that’s what he believes right now, Ren. That his destined matefucked him for convenience and then told him it meant nothing. Do you know what that does to a bonded alpha?”
No, he didn’t know. But he could imagine it. He thought of the exhaustion he’d seen on Brody’s face days ago, the dark circles etched beneath his gray eyes, how the unrequited bond had been consuming him from the inside ever since Ren arrived at that house. And now, after a night in which Brody believed Ren was finally giving in, the rejection must feel like a knife between his ribs.
“Shit.”
“Yeah.Shit.”
Ren stood up from the bench. His legs were shaking. Not from fear. From something worse: shame.
“Go talk to him,” Jax said from behind him. “And apologize.”
“I don’t know how.”
“Open your mouth. Say you’re sorry. Then tell the truth. The hard part comes on its own afterward.”
Ren looked at him over his shoulder. Jax was now sitting on the bench with his arms crossed, the evening light casting shadows across his cheekbones. There was no trace of mockery. Nor of his usual humor.
“Since when are you a relationship counselor?”
“Since the two idiots I live with are incapable of talking without tearing each other apart.”
Ren swallowed. His hand held the heavy box of suppressors, which felt as if it were made of lead.
He started walking toward the house. The jasmine accompanied him for a few meters and then gave way to the older scent that already permeated the mansion’s walls. Raisins. Nuts. Warmth.
Home.
His body leaned toward it as it always did. But this time, for the first time, his head didn’t protest.
Chapter 14
Ren paced down the hallway with his fists clenched. Each step echoed off the dark marble floor like a foreign heartbeat—too loud, too fast. Brody’s scent grew stronger as he neared the office, and Ren forced himself to breathe through his mouth to keep his head clear.
Jax’s words echoed in his head.Say you’re sorry. Then tell the truth.
Simple. Direct.
His life had never been straightforward or easy to understand.
He stopped in front of the office door. Solid, dark wood, with a wrought-iron handle that looked like it belonged to another century. On the other side, voices. Brody’s, deep and restrained, and another softer one, almost a whisper. Zev.
Ren raised his fist and knocked twice. The voices fell silent.
Silence.
Then footsteps. The door opened and Zev appeared in the doorway, those black eyes of his that always seemed to calculate something. He looked at him for a second, just one, and stepped aside without saying a word.
Brody was standing by the desk. Not sitting. Standing, his knuckles resting on an unfolded map, his jaw so tense that themuscles stood out beneath his pale skin. He didn’t look at him as he entered.
“I need to talk to you,” Ren said.
“Come in.”
The word came out flat. No inflection. No warmth, the warmth that usually colored Brody’s voice when he spoke to him, even when they were arguing. Ren felt the chill of that absence like a punch to the chest.