Page 337 of Alpha Mates

“What else?”

Oliver frowns, but I’m not so easily swayed.

“When we were younger and you were hiding something, you’d always tap your fingers three times to calm yourself,” I say as I slide my hand over his. It stops twitching, relaxing under me while fresh tears fill his eyes. “You’re tapping your fingers, Oliver.”

“I’m sorry,” he sputters, then sobs. “I—I’m so sorry!” He looks between Aiden and I, his emotions suddenly wild with anxiety. “I didn’t think it’d turnintothis. I didn’t even know he was still doing it. I tried to stop him—I planned to if I made it out of this!”

“What have you done?” I growl as I leer over him.

“Reon’s tricks and serums don’t work anymore, not like they used to,” Oliver sobs as he stares at me with tearful eyes. “He still wants a pack so badly, and we had one—we had a good one right here, but he still wanted more.”

Oliver’s gaze lingers on Aiden, and my heart stills. “He said eleven years had gone to waste, so he—he’d have to start all over again.”

Aiden and I’s bond whites out from both ends. From his, I feel the molten rage that’s about to burst free to meet my horror.

“Start all over again,” I repeat before my voice breaks. “As in—”

“Another kid?” Aiden spits through his teeth. “Another fucking kid?!” His claws descend. “He’s doing it again?!”

Oliver’s sobs crest higher, forcing the daunting truth to settle in.

“I’m sor—” My claws slice across his neck, cutting off his apologies before they can reach Goddess.

Blood pours from his laceration in five lines while shocked amber eyes stare back at me.

Oliverstares back at me. My brother, not the rogue. And he knows this is wrong, but he also knows he’s the cause of this.

The light leaves his eyes too soon, but there’s no time for regret. No room for my own shock to fester. Then, he’s gone.

“Julian,” Aiden whispers over my shoulder.

He’s scared, but I don’t know why. It’s not the first time I’ve lost my brother. It’s just the first time it’s real.

“We have to go,” I say as I rise and turn to face him. His dark eyes are wide and unblinking.

“We’re not going anywhere until you take a moment,” he replies, hands sliding over my face like they had this morning. Somehow, things had been better then, even when I’d been so scared.

“They have another child,” I say, trying to step away. “We need to go, Aiden.”

“We won’t be doing that child any favours if we charge in there fuelled by nothing but rage,” he says, tightening his grip on my arm to steady me. “You just …killedyour brother, Julian.”

His words steal my next breath. The ground falls away. The only reason I don’t go with it is because he’s there, bracing me.

“He wasn’t my brother,” I force out, as I suck in air that won’t fill me.

“But he was,” Aiden whispers, bringing tears back to my eyes. “Julian-”

“Later,” I beg. I shove the emotions down into the pit below, shaking my head. “Leave it alone. I can’t do this here. We need to finish this first.”

I can sense how much Aiden resents that, but he knows it’s true, because when I open my eyes, his aren’t quite so imploring. He nods, understanding, and when I head back to the rest of our group, leaving my brother’s lifeless body behind us, he doesn’t try to stop me.

Chapter 67

Aiden

My eyes drift over the wolves scattered among the bodies. They’re not all standing. Some are slumped in their wolf form, others on their hands and knees, but every one of them is covered in blood.

Some stare blankly, like they still haven’t processed what they did. First kills. Then there are the others—buzzing with leftover adrenaline, hungry for more. But most of them just look relieved. Because they think it’s over. That we won.