His brother was somewhere east of pack territory.Moving fast, his desperation flooding their twin bond—weakened now but still present.
Hunting for a woman who’d apparently decided to face a deadly enemy alone rather than trust the people who’d sworn to protect her.
Stupid, Quinton thought, but the criticism felt hollow even to himself.After what they’d learned about Gregory Torrance—after the storage unit revelations and the evidence of systematic manipulation spanning years—maybe going alone seemed like the only option that didn’t endanger everyone else.
Still stupid.But understandable.
He moved through the apartment, touching objects that belonged to both of them but feeling increasingly certain that this shared life was coming to an end.On Conall’s nightstand, a photograph caught his attention—a pack gathering on Sunburst Mesa, taken just a few weeks ago.Sarah had insisted on printing it, saying every family needed physical memories to anchor them.
In the photo, Conall stood slightly apart from the main group but not isolated.Protective.Alert.The way he’d always positioned himself when they were children—ready to step between Quinton and any threat, ready to fight for what mattered most.
Except now, what mattered most wasn’t just his twin brother.
The realization settled in Quinton’s chest like cold stone.All their lives, they’d been enough for each other.Two halves of something larger than either could be alone.
But mate bonds were different.Potentially stronger even than their shared connection.
And since Nadine had shown up, Quinton had been trying to convince Conall to fight it.
The twin bond pulsed with distant pain—Conall’s growing desperation as he followed whatever trail Nadine had left, knowing it was leading him straight into a trap.Quinton felt his brother’s certainty that she was walking into something designed to eliminate both of them, and his absolute inability to let her face it alone.
He’s going to get himself killed.
The thought galvanized Quinton in ways that days of resentment and jealousy hadn’t managed.
Whatever complicated emotions he had about Nadine’s place in their lives, whatever fears he carried about being replaced or forgotten—none of it mattered if Conall died trying to save someone who’d already decided martyrdom was preferable to asking for help.
But as he grabbed his gear from their shared armory, a different realization struck him.
She didn’t choose martyrdom.
She chose protection.
The distinction mattered.Nadine hadn’t run because she was suicidal or reckless.She’d left because she understood something Quinton had been too blinded by jealousy to see—that Gregory would use Conall and Nadine’s connection against them.Would turn their mate bond into a weapon to destroy everything they loved.
She’d closed the bond and left not to abandon Conall but to save him.
Just like I would have done for Conall.
Just like he would have done for me.
She loved Conall enough to walk away.To face certain death rather than let their connection endanger him.
The parallel barreled into him with devastating clarity.He’d been treating Nadine as an intruder, someone who threatened the foundation of his relationship with his twin.But her final choice revealed something that made his chest tight with emotions he couldn’t name.
He’d been treating the connection between Conall and Nadine as a threat to everything he’d built his identity around.
The unwelcome variable that was disrupting their established patterns, pulling Conall toward loyalties that competed with their twin bond.He’d seen her as an enemy to be defeated rather than a partner to be integrated.
But watching Conall prepare to die for her had changed something fundamental in his understanding.
This isn’t about choosing between us.It’s about adding to what we are.
The thought should have been threatening, should have triggered the same possessive fears that had been eating at him all along.
Instead, it brought something that felt almost like relief.The twin bond didn’t have to be weakened by Conall’s mate connection—it could be strengthened by it.Enhanced by the addition of someone who understood sacrifice, who would fight to protect what mattered most.
That’s not an enemy.That’s family.
