**Parker’s POV **
I follow Remy through the back door and into the morning chill. The <b>sun </b>is over the treetops, casting shadows across the grass, but the warmth hasn’t reached us yet.
Remy’s pacing along the tree line, his jaw tight, hands shoved into the pockets of his hoodie like he’s trying
to hold himself together.
He doesn’t look at me when I stop beside him. He just stares out toward the forest like it might offer him
an escape.
“You okay?” I ask.
Heughs bitterly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
I shrug, giving him time to decide if he wants to talk. The silence is brief before Remy exhales and shakes
his head. “I can’t do this anymore, Parker. I can’t keep pretending I’m fine when I’m not.”
“I know,” I say softly.
His eyes finally meet mine. They’re bloodshot, like he’s barely slept. “Do you?”
“Yes, I’ve known for a while.”
His shoulders stiffen. “Known what?”
“That you’re in love with him.”
He blinks, then swallows hard, his voice cracking as he says, “I never meant for it to happen.”
“I know<i>,</i>” I say. “We don’t get to choose these things, these feelings.”
“And you’re not disgusted with <b>me</b>?” he asks.
I smile at him softly, resisting the urge to hug him. “Of course not, you’re my brother. I will never stop supporting you<b>, </b>especially not over who you love. Hell, I wouldn’t even care if it’s the Grinch, just as long as you are happy.”
He nods slowly, looking down. “It’s pathetic. We made rules to avoid this. I’ve tried to stop. I’ve tried to hate him. I even thought about leaving the pack for a while, but I <b>can’t</b>. Nothing is going to work.”
The pain in <b>his </b>voice guts me. I step closer but don’t touch him. He’s too raw. Too breakable in this moment, and he isn’t much for physical affection. He never has been.
“He’s not <b>mine</b>,” Remy whispers. “He never <b>was</b>. I’m trying to ept it… butst night…”
His voice falters, and he turns away like he can’t bear for me to see his face.
“You heard them,” I finish for him.
He nods. “I tried to drown it out. I went for a run, but I was too close when they when it started. I heard everything. Parker. Every f*cking sound. Every moan, and I just broke. I sat in the woods and I broke”
My throat tightens. 1 know.” I admit. “I was going toe to you, but I figured you wanted to be alone.” “He chose her,” he says bitterly. “He chose her and I shouldn’t even be angry, because she’s good. She’s so f*cking good for him, and he’s crazy about her already. I see it in his eyes, but I..” His voice cracks. “I loved him first.”
“I know you did,” I whisper.
Remy drags a hand down his face. “And he knows it. I might not have said it, but he knows how I feel. He always has. Maybe that’s why he kept me close, or maybe he was just trying not to hurt me. But I can’t do it anymore. I can’t keep pretending
I’m just the loyal beta, the friend, the one who’ll always be there.
“You don’t have to pretend,” I say.
He shakes his head again, his voice barely audible. “He used to look at me like I was enough, like I mattered. I don’t think he will even see me now. Not really.”
<b>I </b>step forward and ce a hand on his shoulder. “Remy, you’re not invisible, he’s sees you.”
His eyes finally lift to mine, full of grief and years of buried emotion. “I would’ve given him everything I
have. Would have done anything he asked. I knew this day would likelye, but I didn’t expect him to
dismiss me so quickly, to be so happy about it.”
“I know.”
Remy pulls in a shaky breath, and I can see how close he is to crumbling again. I should leave it. I should let him have this quiet grief and not drop another emotional bomb on top of the mess we’re already in. But this might be how I can help him. This might be how I fix it for him.
A tear runs down his cheek, and he doesn’t wipe it away. “What do I do, Parker? How do I let him go?”
I have to tell him. I know this couldpletely break him if I’m wrong, but he deserves honesty, and he deserves hope, too..
“There’s something I haven’t told you,” I say quietly.
“What is it?” He asks, a conflicted expression on his face, like he’s unsure if he wants to hear it or not.
I swallow hard, the words trying to stick in my throat. “She’s my mate too.”
His whole body goes still.
“I felt the bond,” I admit.
Remy doesn’t speak, doesn’t move. Just breathes, shallow and silent.
“I think she could be yours too, Rem.”
“She’s not,” he whispers. “She’s going to take everything from me, isn’t she?”
Chapter
“No, Rem, if I’m right, then she may just give you everything you want. If you just give her <b>a </b><b>chance</b><b>.” </b>
“How?” He snaps, “she’s going to take you all from me and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it!”
“There’s still room for you.” I say softly.
“You think Callen can’t love more than one person? We’ve always expected our future mate to be open to loving more than one of us, so why can’t Callen, too? If all four of us are her mates, then you get him too, Rem. You will be bound together for life by her, and I think she is
the kind of woman that would ept what you and Callen have.”
Rem shakes his head. “You paint a pretty picture, brother, but you’re forgetting something… she isn’t my mate. I haven’t felt a single hint of a bond with her<b>.” </b>
“That’s because you haven’t given her a chance. When you see her, all you see is red. You only see what
she is taking, and not giving her the opportunity to show you what she could be offering. You’ll never sense the bond with her if it’s masked by the pain and hatred you are carrying,” I try to exin.
“I don’t hate her,” he mumbles, his eyes lowering to the dirt at his feet.
I blow out a breath. “I know. You hate the situation, but just try to let it go. Give us a chance, because I
refuse to believe I’ve been blessed with a mate that isn’t yours too.”
His shoulders tremble, and for a long moment he <b>says </b>nothing. Then finally, <b>in </b><b>a </b>voice so quiet, I almost
miss it, he says. “I’m scared.”
I nod. “I know.”
Remy turns his face toward me, and the raw emotion in his eyes nearly breaks me. “But what if I’m too
“There is,” I promise. “There’s a ce for us both. You just need to let yourself believe it. I haven’t told any of them I feel the bond yet. I didn’t want to overwhelm her, and I want us to do it together.”
He <b>stares </b>at me for a long beat, his expression unreadable. Then, with a broken breath, he leans forward and rests his forehead against my shoulder.
I wrap an arm around him. It’s not often he epts affection, so when he does, it feels good to hug him, to have him need me. He doesn’t cry, <b>not </b>exactly, but his whole body shudders like he’s been holding himself together too long and is only now allowing himself to shatter.
“We’ll figure this out,” I whisper. “Together”
He nods against me, silent <b>and </b>shaking “How do I even start? How do I fix the damage I’ve already done?”
finally
I don’t <b>answer </b>right away. I just hold him while he falls apart. The morning light creeps over <b>us</b>, sharing its warmth like it knew we needed it.
When Remy finally pulls back, he looks wrecked, but lighter somehow. Like he’s given himself permission to hope again, and that’s enough for now. That’s a start.
“How do I fix it?” he asks again, his voice raspy. “I’ve already given her such a terrible impression of me.”
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“You start by showing her who you really are,” I say. “Not the beta. Not the guy who hides behind bitterness because he’s afraid she’ll figure out how much he’s already hurting. Show her you, Remy”
He scoffs softly. “I don’t think she wants to see that.”
“She hasn’t seen it yet,” I shrug. “You’ve given her every reason not to. But that doesn’t mean it’s toote. Not if you try.”
there. “I
He drags his sleeve across his face, wiping away thest of the tears, pretending they were never the don’t know how to be someone she’d want to keep<b>.</b>”
“You don’t have to be someone else,” I tell him. “You just have to stop hiding. If you are her mate, then she will love who you are. You were made for her, and her for you.”
His eyes flick to mine. “What if she never feels the bond?”
“Then she doesn’t. Don’t forget, she is human. They don’t feel it the same way we do anyway,” I say simply. “But you’ll still know you tried, and maybe, just maybe, when the pain and anger are not screaming so loud inside you, you’ll feel it too.”
He exhales a shaky breath and nods slowly. “I want to believe that.”
“Then let’s give you something to believe in.”
Remy looks down at the earth beneath our feet like it might offer him courage. “I’ve given her every reason to hate me, Parker. Not because she did anything wrong… but because she took him without effort,
because he looked at her like she was his future, and I was just his past.”
I reach out and grip his shoulder again. “She’s not your rival, Rem. She might be your rado
His lips twitch like he wants to smile.
your redemption.”
“I’m not asking you to be okay overnight<b>,</b>” I say. “But maybe today… you stop shutting her out. Maybe your
just look at her, and let her look back. Don’t make her ufortable or feel unwee.”
He nods slowly, his expression uncertain, but there’s hope there too.
“I’ll try,” he whispers. “I can’t promise <b>more </b>than that.”
“That’s enough for now,” I <b>say</b>. “It’s more than enough<b>.</b>”
“Okay,” he breathes.
I turn back toward the house, and he walks beside me.
I stay quiet, not wanting to <b>spook </b>him, but I can’t keep the grin from my face as we walk. I feel like we are on the brink of securing <b>our </b>future with our mate, and that fills me with a giddy excitement I’ve not experienced since I was a child and Ronnie <b>was </b>exining fated mates to us.
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