Chapter 62

Ollie’s POV

That was too close of a call, with Declan nearly walking in on me and Wes. Thank the gods I had the foresight to lock the front door after I entered. Also, I felt gratitude for the drainpipe that was just outside the bathroom window that I had been able to shimmy down.

Meeting Wes at his art studio proved to be the mistake I had thought it might be, and now, as I walk home, in the light rain, I regret ever thinking my loneliness was enough of a reason to chance it.

“We liked being near him,” Scarlet reminds me. “That isn’t something to regret.”

“We were almost caught by Declan,” I tell her.

“He is one of our mates. Would it have been so bad to be caught?”

“You keep forgetting how terribly they treat us,” I remind her.

“Not as their mate…”

“Only because they don’t know who I really am. If they learn I’m Ollie, everything will change. And of all the brothers, Declan’s the most likely to figure it out.”

He would also be the most ruthless, of that I’m sure. Yes, the thought of being with him is incredibly tempting, but I’m also afraid of those feelings. He would be domineering in bed, I’m sure of it, and I don’t know…

Would that truly be enjoyable?

I just don’t know. And I’m afraid to discover that the answer is no.

For now, despite Scarlet’s objections, I think the best course of action for me would be to avoid all of my mates for a while.

I’ve taken far too many risks lately, and as much as I enjoy spending time with Hugh and Wes, I think it’s better for me to distance myself for a while. If I decide to start seeing them again in the future, I will only see them in the cabin and nowhere else. And if I detect that anyone else is there, I will vanish.

My burner phone buzzes in my bag. It could be Wes. It could be Hugh. It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to hear from either of them.

Scarlet whimpers inside my mind. Even though she has experienced some of the same hurt I have with our mates being cruel to us when they don’t know we are their mate, she still feels a softness from them.

The worst part? I was starting to feel softness for Hugh and Wes too.

But I can’t. Not anymore. It’s too risky.

From now on, I will be much more careful.

“We can answer their messages,” Scarlet says softly.

“No,” I say. If I read them, I might give in. For now, I want nothing but distance.

I need to get my heart back under control.

Declan’s POV

Even after returning to the estate, I can’t sit still. I’m restless, yet unable to do anything but pace.

My mate was close. I scented her. If I had been just a few minutes quicker. If I hadn’t been so kind, and just thrown open the door to Wes’s art studio instead of knocking, I could have seen her. Maybe she would be here next to me right now, instead of who knows where.

Not even Wes is sure where she’s from, claiming that she only agreed to meet him at all if her anonymity was assured. Ridiculous.

Worse, Wes let slip that Hugh has also been meeting with our mate.

Hugh! She trusts him, but not me? I am the one who can be trusted, not the loudmouth playboy who has fucked his way through nearly every available woman in the city.

I’m positively fuming, pacing in my room. If only my anger had somewhere to go. Perhaps it can still be at Wes, but I know he was just protecting what he thought was our mate’s wishes.

Instead, I’m more inclined to be angry at myself. I should have been quicker, been smarter, been more alert. I should have realized what was going on much sooner than I did.

I continue pacing right up until the point where Hugh came storming down the hallway of my floor. He doesn’t let the closed door of my room stop him. Instead he opens the door and waltzes inside.

Once more, I regret that my brothers are not as intimidated by me as everyone else. Hugh even has the nerve to appear furious with me, his brow lowered, his mouth in a frown. He walks right up to me and juts a finger into my chest.

“What the hell did you do?” he demands.

I smack his hand away and shove him back a few steps, refusing to be treated in such a way, even my own brother. If he wants to fight, I’ll fight him. The cold look I give him conveys that.

He must understand because he stays a few feet away, but his fury doesn’t seem to diminish.

“She’s not answering our texts now. It’s been hours, Declan. You fucked everything up.”

“You fucked everything up,” I growl. “You kept my mate from me.”

“I only ever respected her wishes,” Hugh snaps. “She didn’t want anyone else to know about her, not even Wes. She’s so damn skittish. Wes found out but was kind to her. You find out, and what? Chase her out a second floor window?”

“I didn’t chase her.”

“Didn’t you? Because that seems to be what happened, wasn’t it? Or am I misunderstanding something?”

Hugh’s accusations have merit, but they don’t sit right with me.

“She told me that our situation is temporary,” Hugh says. “She told Wes that she plans on disappearing someday soon. What if you’ve pushed forward her deadline, Declan? She’s not answering either of us.”

“You never should have kept her secret from me,” I insist.

“I would think by now you would understand why I did,” Hugh says. “When you can see what including you into the fold has done.”

I am a man of action. I don’t usually have time for self-reflection. But, admittedly, I can take a moment here and realize that my… intensity might have been enough to frighten off our skittish mate.

She ran once before, so it shouldn’t be surprising that, when overwhelmed, she might run again.

It remains frustrating. She is supposed to be our perfect mate, determined by and gifted from the Moon Goddess. Why would the goddess gift me someone who is afraid of me?

My face is hard and shows no emotion, yet somehow Hugh can surmise some of the cause of my annoyance here.

“She’s inexperienced,” Hugh says. “I can’t say that’s why she’s nervous, or why she plans on all this to be temporary. But I can tell you that’s likely why she’s been running from us. For an inexperienced young woman to suddenly have four very hungry mates…”

I think of being the first to tie her to the bed. The first to blindfold her. The first to spank her.

The first to take her apart bit by delicious bit just to slowly piece her back together.

It would take trust from her in me for that to happen though. Trust she does not yet feel if she chooses to run.

“You have to go slowly with her,” Hugh says. “But first, we have to find a way to fix this. I don’t want to believe we’ve lost her forever.”