Chapter 61

Declan’s POV

From what I’ve been able to surmise from Wes’s strange habits and his sudden bright change in mood, I’ve come to the conclusion that he is likely keeping a girlfriend from the family.

I’ve been asking myself why he wouldn’t just come forward if he found someone he cares about. The only solution I can think of is that this girlfriend is someone the rest of us would not approve of.

Therefore, my arrival here is less because I want to accuse him and more because I want to assure him.

Whoever this mystery woman is, we will support Wes. He doesn’t often date, preferring his hobbies to any female companionship, so that he has taken these steps at all for his happiness, I think we can all be happy for.

He also has the best judgement out of any of us. He wouldn’t chose to waste his time on some woman that isn’t worth the effort.

Wes just needs to know that we all trust him, and he can trust us in turn.

There’s no need to keep secrets.

I knock on the door again. “Wes. I know you are in there. Open up.”

There’s movement inside, two sets of quick footsteps. That’s odd. Wes considers this art studio his personal sanctuary. Who could he possibly have inside?

Then I realize, it has to be his mysterious girlfriend. Is this where they’ve been meeting? Is she an artist herself, or a model? Is that why he’s ashamed?

No, that doesn’t make sense. He wouldn’t be ashamed of something like that. There has to be something else at play here.

Just as I’m about to knock again, the door opens and Wes is there.

“Declan. Hi. What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk.”

“About why I’m happy?” he asks and laughs nervously. “I already told you it’s nothing.”

“I know you have a girlfriend,” I say.

He pales a little. “A girlfriend?”

His reaction tells me I have absolutely come to the correct conclusion.

“Is she here?” I ask.

“O-of course not!” Wes says.

“You don’t have to hide it,” I assure him. “Is she a Gamma? Is that why you don’t want to tell us about her.”

“It’s nothing like that, Declan, really.”

“Then why don’t you let me come in?”

Wes swallows thickly, but eventually steps back from the door.

As I start inside, I tell him, “I don’t care who it is, Wes, and neither will our brothers. Mother will be happy for you, and Sylvia will be supportive too. You don’t have to hide…”

At once, I freeze. I thought I just smelled.

“Declan…” Wes says, but he sounds so very far away.

All I can focus on now is that delectable scent. I’ve smelled it once before, in what feels like another lifetime… before our mate crawled out of a window and escaped us.

Closing my eyes, I deeply inhale and exhale. There can be no mistake, as my wolf starts to pace within me. As I hear him howling in my mind, I too start to feel restless.

Our fated mate is near.

Wesley is keeping her from us.

Is this his secret? It’s not that we wouldn’t approve of his new girlfriend, it’s that we would approve too much? Does he not wish to share her, despite the fact that she is the mate of all four of us?

Opening my eyes, I cut my gaze directly to him. I feel cold throughout, and I know that is conveyed in my gaze. To his credit, he takes the full brunt of my accusatory gaze.

He is the softest of us, but he is no coward.

“Where is she?” I demand.

“She wants her anonymity,” Wes says. “She doesn’t want to be trapped by us, so she’s flighty, Declan.”

“Where is she, Wes?”

“If we push her too hard, she will run,” Wes says. “She’s already threatened to leave. We can’t take any chances.”

I’m not listening. She’s close. I can feel her. My fated mate. I need her. Now. She will be mine and I don’t care what Wes has to say about it.

If he will not help me, I will find her on my own.

I lift my head and scent the air. She was here for sure only a few minutes ago. Hers must have been the second pair of footsteps I heard when I was knocking.

In such a short time, she couldn’t have gotten far.

I focus, following the scent. Yes… that way…

The bathroom?

I start toward the closed door. Wes foolishly tries to stop me by grabbing my arm, but I yank away from his hold and start growling.

If he means to keep my mate from me, it will end in a fight.

“Declan. Gently. Please,” Wes says. “You’ll scare her.”

“She’s my mate,” I tell him, my voice deep, rumbling with the growl in my throat.

My fated mate will not be afraid of me. She is my match in every way. She will accept everything about me, the good and the bad.

I just need to get to her. I need to claim her.

Shoving away from Wes, I move to the bathroom door and then grab the handle. The door is locked, so I pound on it with an open palm.

“Open this door,” I command.

I stop then to listen, but I hear no sound coming from the other side.

Tired of waiting, I kick the door open. It flies back, screeching on it’s hinges. The door hits the wall.

The inside of the bathroom is empty but the window is open.

Once more, she seems to have escaped me.

I go to the window and try to look around, but she’s already left. Her scent is much harder to follow in the afternoon air, especially as it’s starting to rain.

She was here. She was right here with Wes.

Now she’s gone.

Anger coils up within me and I clench my hands into fists.

With nowhere else for this anger to go, I swivel on my heel and storm back into the studio, ready to confront Wes. Grabbing him by the shoulder, I turn him to face me.

“You helped her escape me,” I growl.

“She’s not ready, Declan,” Wes says, imploringly. “She’s incredibly skittish.”

“She is my mate.”

“She is our mate,” Wes corrects. “And I will do whatever I have to, to keep her healthy and safe, even if that means I have to keep her away from you.”

I glower at Wes, but he just stares right back at me in turn. It’s frustrating. Typically my brand of coldness can intimidate anyone… except my brothers. They remain immune. This is particularly troubling right now, when I would love nothing more than to bully my brother into compliance.

But yes, she is also Wes’s mate, which means he will fight me tooth and claw if he thinks he is protecting her.

She does not need protecting from me.

“I’m sorry, Declan,” Wes says. “Truly. But until she’s ready, you’ve got to back off.”

I try to calm myself down, to see the reason in what he’s saying. But it just doesn’t make sense. If she is my perfect mate, why should she be afraid of me?

Shouldn’t she want to be near me, even if my ice gives her freezer burn?

I glance behind him to the canvas where Wes has begun to draw a woman in a mask. Seeing her, the anger leaves me.

“This is her,” I say. It’s not a question. I just know.

“That’s her,” Wes says.

Looking at her, she seems familiar somehow, probably because she is my fated mate. My body already recognizes her as mine.

She might run and she might hide. She might try to shield herself behind my brother.

But she is my mate as well as his, and I will not let her escape me.