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In my half-asleep state, I didn’t remember that the two of us weren’t alone in the house until I walked into the kitchen and came face to face with Ethan, who was in the middle of pouring himself a mug of tea.

The scent that filled the kitchen was soothing and floral, but it did nothing to stop the deep blush that stained my cheeks.

I was wearing nothing but an oversized tee, the garment barely covering my ass and leaving every inch of my long legs on show.

“Uh,” Ethan said, “hello.”

“Hi,” I managed. “Just, um, getting a glass of water.”

He nodded, stirring his tea as I tried to open the cupboard door without flashing my ass. Unfortunately, I was so focused on not exposing myself that I wasn’t as cautious as normal about the cupboard doors and opened it straight into my face.

The wood bounced off my eyebrow ridge with a dull thunk . I swore, and then Ethan was beside me.

“Watch yourself,” he growled, apparently annoyed that I would do something as inconsiderate as hurting myself.

“I can’t,” I pointed out. “My depth perception sucks ass.”

That brought him up short.

“Right. Sorry.” Then he reached past me to grab a glass from the cupboard, pushed the door closed, and filled the glass, pushing it directly into my hands.

“Thanks.”

He only nodded once, curtly, before returning to his tea. Considering myself dismissed from my own kitchen, I turned to leave.

“How’s Caleb been managing, really?” Ethan asked, and I stopped.

“I mean, as well as he can, I think,” I told him. “I wish he didn’t have to—to keep it all together like this, y’know? I think he’s worried that the Pack will like… completely destabilize if he allows himself to feel his feelings.”

Ethan took a sip of his tea, apparently immune to the scalding heat of the water.

“He’s not wrong, though,” he said, placing the mug back on the counter. “I know Abe had some pretty ambitious Betas; if Cal falls apart, if he doesn’t assert his right as Alpha, then one of them is going to decide they could do a better job, especially since he’s still so young.”

I know Ethan was speaking from experience; he had been Alpha on Ferris since he was my age.

At twenty-two, the authority sat easy on his shoulders, but it hadn’t always been that way.

I knew my father had been instrumental in helping Ethan secure his power over Ferris, and now he was returning the favor for Caleb.

I only wished the truth were easier on my brother.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked.

“Yeah. Stay out of the way. He doesn’t need any more burdens right now.”

The words were like a gut punch. Surely I had misheard, had misunderstood.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, expecting him to backtrack, to clarify, to say it was a poor choice of words, but he only stared back at me with those cold, slate-grey eyes.

“It means that an Alpha isn’t only judged on his own qualities,” Ethan said as if he wasn’t tearing into me with freshly sharpened claws. “Abe might have been able to smooth over that business with his mate, but you’re his sister. He can’t distance himself from your weakness.”

The business with his mate. I had watched my father banish Alyssa Graves for the crime of claiming to be Caleb’s mate—for the crime of being half a witch—and she’d walked straight-backed out of town with nothing but a duffel bag and what was left of her pride.

Was that what Ethan wanted for me? Did he wish he could give me my marching orders, have me disappear from my brother’s life?

“No one cared when I was the Alpha’s daughter,” I tried to argue. I wanted to sound strident and unbothered, but I only sounded so, so young. Weak, just like he said I was. “Why does it suddenly matter that I’m his sister?”

“Because Abe had already earned the Pack’s respect,” Ethan explained, as if I were a child. “People overlooked it. Now, they’re looking for any weak spots, and you’re right there. Stay home. Don’t act out. Don’t bother him until he’s settled and stable. Got it?”

It was lucky I had plenty of practice with orders like that. I’d thought my days of swallowing back tears and standing to attention had died with my father, but here I was, standing in the kitchen with their ghost.

“Loud and clear,” I said.

There would be no more sleep that night.

Instead, I tossed and turned until dawn began to peek through my curtains.

I didn’t want to get up, didn’t want to go downstairs and face Ethan, but I wasn’t a coward.

I wasn’t going to hide up here until he was gone.

Pulling on a clean t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, I had my hand on the door handle when I paused.

Lying on my bedside table was an elastic hair tie; I only really used them for showers when I didn’t want to wash my hair, but suddenly, that unassuming black band was calling my name.

Snatching it up, I crossed to the mirror on my vanity.

I leaned down until I could clearly see my face; it was a familiar sight, pale skin and severe bone structure, and that single bright blue eye—the other, the white one, the embarrassment, hidden beneath a curtain of shiny black hair.

With my heart in my mouth, I pulled that hair back from my face, brushing it up into a high ponytail.

The girl who stared back at me in the mirror was entirely new: with her mismatched eyes proudly on display, this girl didn’t care what anyone thought.

Least of all, Ethan fucking Cain.