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Steph’s eyes fluttered closed as I carefully ran the razor up his neck to his jaw. I guided his head, carefully tipping him where I needed him to go to shave the last of the stubble from his neck. When I was done, I wiped his skin with a washcloth, then followed it with the woodsy aftershave I loved so much. Then, I finished by adding his beard oil to my palms, and then smoothing it through his beard until it was soft and shining.

“That’s better,” I said. “You look like a human again. Or a dragon, I guess.”

“Thank you.” His eyes fluttered open, and I saw they were flecked with gold. He took both hands in mine and smoothed his thumbs over my knuckles. “Go on a walk with me?”

“Right now?”

It was just past midnight, and everyone else in the house was silent and asleep. And I was pretty cozy in my big robe.

“Right now,” he said with a small smile. “It’s a full moon tonight. We could go out to our spot.” The corners of his lips turned down slightly. “I need the fresh air.”

Maybe his dragon was craving the cool air, the moonlight, the sound of the rustling leaves. Maybe that was what he needed to open up to me. “Actually, that sounds nice.”

We dressed in clothes that were more like pajamas: comfy sweatpants and one of Steph’s old Cole’s Garage sweatshirts for me. He wore sweatpants and a white tank-top. He looked sexy all dressed down and relaxed. It was like he was a totally different man—one unburdened from all the issues we were dealing with.

I peered into Dylan’s room as we passed it. He was fast asleep, face smushed into his pillow and one leg sticking out from under the covers. Steph peeked over my head and huffed a small laugh at the sight. He sent a quick text to Rome, who was on watch outside, to let him know we were walking the grounds.

Satisfied that Dylan wouldn’t wake up and the house was still safe, the two of us went outside.

Steph intertwined his fingers with mine. He carried a folded blanket under his other arm. The night air was cool and refreshing, and the lake’s still surface reflected the full moon. The wind rustled gently through the trees, and an owl called from somewhere in the darkness.

We walked down the familiar trail toward the clearing I’d first visited with him when I was eighteen. We were deep into the forest before Steph spoke.

“Did I ever tell you my dad made this trail?”

“You didn’t.” I squeezed his hand, encouraging him to continue.

“He did it for my mother when she first got sick. They’d walk all around the lake together. When she was no longer able towalk, he’d push her in her wheelchair, so she never had to spend too much time away from nature.” He looked up to the sky and the moonlight shined on his face. “When she passed away, Dad and I would walk this trail together. I think that’s when he began to think about his heir and the future of the clan. He started having more conversations with me about what it meant to be the alpha. He saw something in me that he didn’t see in Sean.”

“Did Sean know about it?” I asked.

“He had his suspicions at first. Then the older we got, the more obvious it became. I started shadowing Dad more, and eventually he made it clear that I was to be the next alpha, not Sean.”

“How did he take it?””

“Horribly. But he wasn’t…” Steph sighed. “He was distant and upset, but he wasn’t violent and full of rage like he is now.”

“It must’ve eaten away at him,” I hummed.

Steph nodded. “Generally, when there’s two alphas in line to be heir, one of them leaves when the chosen heir takes over. Alphas have a drive to lead. Dad expected that Sean would leave Lakeview and form a clan of his own. I thought that, too. But he was so full of hostility, so furious at Dad and at me, that he couldn’t bond with any other shifters. His anger drove everyone away.”

“A self-fulfilling prophecy,” I said.

“Yeah. I tried to reach out. So did Hawk. We tried to mend things between us, so Sean could move on and form a clan of his own, but he didn’t want anything to do with us. If anything, our reaching out only made him angrier and drove him further away.”

We reached the familiar clearing on the trail. With the trees surrounding it, it was closed off from the world, and water lapped at the narrow strip of sand at the lake’s edge. Steph unfolded the blanket and spread it in a wide patch of moonlight.We sat down, and he drew one knee to his chest as he gazed out over the lake. I leaned against his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around me.

“I know that broke your heart,” I said. “Losing your brother like that.”

“It hurts every day.”

He carried a lot of responsibility as the alpha. He led the clan, managed the business, made the decisions, and protected all the members. He was powerful. Strong. Unflappable. But now, I saw his hurt ran just as deep as his strength. I ran my fingers over his knuckles. “And now, to stop him, you’ll have to…” In the quiet night, the words felt impossible to shape in my mouth.

“I’ll have to kill him,” Steph said in a steady voice. “It’s okay. You can say it.”

“I wish there was another way.”

“So do I, but there isn’t. I know I have to do this.”