Three buildings, multiple defensive positions, at least six hostile signatures.Conall handed him the binoculars.Nadine’s inside the main structure—I can sense her through the mate bond, but it’s muted.Probably unconscious.
Quinton studied the situation, automatically cataloging threats and opportunities.The facility was a fortress, designed to channel attackers into predetermined kill zones while providing maximum cover for defenders.
This is a trap,he observed.
Obviously.
A trap specifically designed for you.Maybe for both of us.Quinton lowered the binoculars, meeting his brother’s gaze directly.Gregory knows how we operate, knows we’ll come for her.
Probably.Conall’s voice carried grim acceptance.But we’re still going in.
Of course we are.Quinton checked his weapons.The only question is how.
But before they could begin planning, something needed to be said.
Something that had been festering between them, poisoning their connection with doubt and suspicion.
Quin.Conall set down his equipment, turning to face his twin directly.About the evidence against you—the financial records, the communication logs.
Quinton’s expression shuttered, defensive walls sliding into place.Con, we don’t have time—
We have to make time.Conall’s voice carried quiet intensity.Because I need you to know that I know you would never betray the pack.Never betray me.
Relief flooded through Quinton so suddenly he nearly staggered as his brother’s suspicion lifted from him.You believe me?
I should have always believed you.Conall’s voice sounded thick with emotion.Even when the evidence seemed damning, even when logic said you had to be involved—I should have known you’d never sell us out.I’m sure the evidence was planted, manipulated.Gregory played us both.
His brother’s guilt and self-recrimination colored everything coming through the bond.But underneath it ran something deeper—the return of trust that had been the foundation of their relationship since birth.
Then why—
Because I was terrified.The admission made Conall’s voice rough.Terrified that choosing the mate bond meant losing you.So I attacked the easiest target—the evidence, the situation, anything except facing the real fear that I was hurting the most important relationship in my life.
Quinton’s own shock rippled back through their connection.All this time, he’d thought Conall was choosing Nadine over him.Instead, his brother had been just as afraid of losing their bond.
I made this an impossible choice,Conall continued, his voice barely above a whisper.Made you think you had to compete with her for my loyalty.That was cruel, and it was wrong, and I’m sorry.
Con—
I was too blind to protect my own brother from false accusations.
Quinton met his twin’s gaze directly, the guilt and hope warring in features identical to his own.The fear that had been eating at him—that he was losing his brother to someone who would always see him as a threat—began to dissolve.
She loves you,he said quietly, testing the words and finding them easier to say than he’d expected.And that’s not something that threatens what we have.That’s something that makes our family stronger.
The silence stretched between them, but it was the comfortable understanding that had always defined their relationship.
I was terrified too,Quinton finally said.Terrified of losing you to something I couldn’t compete with or understand.So I attacked the easiest target too—her.Convinced myself she was manipulating you, that the mate bond was artificial, that everything you felt was just sophisticated programming.
Conall’s surprise rippled through their connection, mixed with growing understanding.
And I made you choose between us,Quinton continued, his voice barely above a whisper.Put you in an impossible position.
Quin—
She loves you enough to walk into certain death rather than let that love be used as a weapon against you.
Quinton met his twin’s gaze directly, seeing his own features reflected back but softened by emotions he rarely let himself show.
