“Inside, Evelyn, please,” Victor growls, and Evelyn moves away from him. She looks between the two brothers for a moment, and though she would usually push against an order like that from Victor – or anyone, really – something, in this case, suggests that it’s best not to engage.

So she simply moves away, quickly climbing the steps to the porch and disappearing through the cottage’s front door.

“What the hell is wrong with you,” Victor snarls when she’s gone, advancing on his brother, feeling the tips of his claws start to poke at his fingertips.

“What’s wrong with me?” Rafe challenges, holding his ground. “What the hell is wrong with you, Victor!? Letting Walsh go, because Evelyn decided that she wants her dad to go free?”

“Enough!” Victor shouts, slashing the air between them, his fangs lengthening. Rafe’s eyes go wide at this – Victor is usually in perfect control of his transformation, but something about this has really set him off –

But still, this decision – it goes too far –

“You can’t let her do this, Victor!” Rafe shouts, his own fangs lengthening in response to his brother’s threat. “He will do it all again! Everything you fought for, he will take from you!”

“And you think I can’t manage that threat?” Victor asks, still advancing on Rafe, their bodies close together now. Violence is in every line of Victor’s muscles as he stares his brother down. “You think I haven’t considered this? You think I have made this decision easily?!”

“However you’ve made it, it’s the wrong decision! You’ve got to make him pay!”

“It’s not my decision –“

“You’re going to let her decide! Her be the arbiter of justice in your pack – in our pack!? And Walsh’s too – the pack your sons will inherit – she gets to decide its future?”

“Who else should do it, Rafe,” Victor asks, his voice low, his pulse racing now, barely keeping a leash on his rage as his brother insults his Luna again and again. “Who would mete out justice in this pack, if not her? It is her father’s fate, hers, her sons’, for which she decides –“

“She’s too close to it!”

“Precisely why she should decide!” Victor cries, shoving Rafe now, making him stumble back a few steps. “There is no one for whom this decision is harder, you i***t! She has spent days being tortured by this – having to face the actual people who this decision would affect! And she’s sobbing in my arms because she’s had to make it – and you come along and challenge her on it!?”

Rafe snarls but Victor lashes out, pushing him again – hard enough that he falls to the ground.

“Stay down, Rafe,” Victor snarls, standing over him. “You will learn your place in this pack – even if I have to teach it to you by force –“

“My place!?” Rafe rages, snarling at his brother. “On the ground – lower than her – I’m supposed to take the decision of a Luna as law!?

his head at him, taking a step back. As Rafe watches, Victor leashes his self again, his fangs

asks, still panting with anger,

“What?” Rafe asks, baffled.

lower than a Luna. That you’d

not what

“You f*****g i***t,” Victor snarls, “don’t try to deny it – try to get one over

– that even if those hadn’t

just shakes his head at him again. “Don’t you get it, Rafe?” he asks. “This is why she won’t come back

filled with objections,

as his words meet his lips, Rafe realizes that

man, an Alpha, who always sees her as lower than him? Who always understands his

He lets himself fall backwards into the gravel of the drive, his head bouncing, but

But clearly…

your head that being Alpha is not about having complete control and shaping the world into what you want.

you figure out

brother

as he reaches the stairs. “If I’m not the earth…then

rise to her when she calls. You

walks up the stairs and into the

back against the gravel of the dark drive, staring at

_______________________________

with me as Victor stalks up the steps and heads towards the door. Ian crouches on

he whispers. “Is Uncle Rafe going to get run over by a car if one

to

turns to me, scared. “Should we

a little mad. “Let

interrupted when Victor opens the door, coming into the dark

his head at

voice soft but even. “You wouldn’t want us to miss the show,

calls, curious. “What

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