Chapter 7
The early morning sun peeked through the clouds as Murphy knocked on his younger brother’s door. When the male didn’t answer within a few seconds, he pounded his fist on the thick wood, unleashing some of his pent-up frustration.
His bear had kept him up all night long, urging him to hunt down Nessa, to find her, and keep her close. It had been all Murphy could do to remain in bed, to ignore the incessant need coursing through him.
Although Nessa had given him permission to visit whenever his instincts demanded he do so, he doubted she meant it was alright for him to show up at her house at two o’clock in the morning, especially when she had only just left earlier that night.
So he’d waited until the sun had come up, and as soon as he finished his current task, he planned on locating his human.
It’s only to stave off the worst of the mating sickness, he assured himself. That’s all.
Murphy heard Tank stomping through the cabin, grumbling loudly as his footsteps drew closer. Still, he continued pounding on the door. If his brother wanted to be an irritating little shit in his life then the least he could do was reciprocate.
Tank ripped the door open, the tall male filling the doorway, clad in nothing but a pair of sweatpants. His breathing was heavy, his beard and short hair shooting out in different directions as he glared at Murphy.
Murphy smirked. “Sorry, did I wake you?”
“Fuck you,” Tank snarled, running a hand down his tired face.
“You’re lucky Hunny sleeps like she’s in a coma now that she’s in her second trimester or I’d gut you for waking her.
” He stepped out onto the porch, and Murphy took a few steps back as he shut the door behind him.
“What are you doing here, Murph? You haven’t come by in a while. ”
Murphy ignored the slight dig, moving toward one of two patio chairs that hadn’t been there the last time he’d visited.
He took a seat, his bear prowling anxiously in his mind.
His counterpart refused to understand why they were here and not in his own SUV, driving toward Nessa.
But Murphy knew he needed to talk to his brother first. Tank had taken far too many liberties over the last few weeks, and it was time to put that to an end.
Propping his arms on his knees and clasping his hands together, Murphy narrowed his eyes at his brother. “You need to stop meddling in my affairs.”
Tank crossed his arms over his chest, still standing. “You’ll need to be more specific.”
Murphy shot up from his seat, unable to keep still as his bear’s agitation grew. “That’s my point exactly. Telling our parents you think I have mating sickness is unacceptable, especially when you didn’t even discuss your concerns with me first.”
Frankly, it hurt his feelings to know his health was the topic of a discussion when he hadn’t even known himself what ailed him.
His entire family had seemed content to keep it from him, to monitor him without his knowledge, and the thought of them whispering behind his back just made him feel worse.
“I tried to talk to you about my suspicions,” Tank argued, wincing as his voice cracked.
Immediately, Murphy’s chest constricted, guilt from long ago resurfacing.
His brother had nearly lost his life the day Sachi had betrayed Murphy.
Tank had killed her brother while searching for information on Murphy’s disappearance, but Murphy’s rescue had come at a price.
Tank had been gravely wounded, his throat almost completely torn out and his vocal chords severed. When he’d shifted to jumpstart the healing process, he hadn’t healed quite right—something that could occur when a wound was too severe or the shift was delayed.
Now, it was difficult for the male to talk, especially for long stints or too loudly. Luckily, Hunny took good care of Tank, and since she’d entered his life, his ability to hold conversations had drastically improved, but it still didn’t ease the remorse Murphy felt.
Clearing his throat, Tank continued, “I tried to talk to you that day I walked in on you hurling your damned coffee cup across the room. Instead, you brushed me off. So yeah, I went to Mom, the clan doctor, and voiced my concerns. If anyone should know of my Alpha’s condition, it’s her.”
“You should have tried harder to discuss this with me,” Murphy growled, his bear bumping against his mind, demanding to be set free. “Now I have Jasper lurking outside my home like a damned creeper, and I’m assuming the phone call from Dad last night was about all this shit.”
“I won’t apologize for what I did. I’m worried about you. We all are.” Tank scratched his beard absentmindedly, his brown eyes focused intently on Murphy. “That’s not why you’re here, though, is it? You don’t want an apology. You’re here because I told Nessa about your condition.”
“She didn’t need to know!” Murphy snapped, the leash he kept on his bear slipping for a second.
His hands shook as the beast tried to force its way out, and he bit back a snarl. Squeezing his eyes shut, he took a shuddering breath, willing himself to relax.
“She didn’t?” Tank scoffed as Murphy opened his eyes.
“Look at you, Murphy. You’ve been a mess ever since she was attacked.
You’ve become withdrawn and easy to anger whenever someone pays you a visit or if the slightest shit goes wrong.
She needed to reject you so that you could move on.
Clearly, it’s working, considering you’re finally out of your house, knocking down my goddamn door to talk. ”
Just hearing about the rejection made Murphy’s vision turn red. He pushed into Tank’s space before he could help himself, snapping a hand around his brother’s neck. Tank, to his credit, didn’t fight against the hold, despite his own dominant nature.
“What you told her to do was unforgivable,” Murphy grated out through clenched teeth, his skin itching as his bear rose ever closer to the surface. His fingernails lengthened into thick claws, though he kept them from piercing Tank’s skin. Barely. “Nessa is mine.”
Tank’s brows shot up in surprise, and then the bastard chuckled. The sound was as full of humor as it was rusty, pissing Murphy off even more than he already was.
Did Tank think this was a joke?
“Why are you laughing?” Murphy asked darkly, tempted to toss Tank through his front door.
“I had a feeling you wouldn’t let her reject you.” Tank grinned, even as Murphy squeezed his throat. “You didn’t, did you?”
Growling, Murphy shoved his brother away and dropped back into his chair. Grabbing the armrests, his claws pierced the heavy plastic. “No, I didn’t let her,” he admitted reluctantly. “I couldn’t.”
Rubbing his neck, Tank sat in the chair beside Murphy, staring out at his front yard. “What are you going to do now?”
“She wants me to come to her when my mating sickness is overwhelming.” Murphy leaned back in his seat, feigning a comfortability he didn’t feel. He didn’t know how this situation would work for him and Nessa in the long-term, but couldn’t deny the temptation to be near her any longer.
“I’m surprised you let her leave last night,” Tank stated.
Murphy growled at him in warning, not wanting to continue that line of conversation.
Tank didn’t heed it. “Nessa’s a good person, Murph.
But more importantly, she’d be good for you.
If you can’t let her reject you, then for fuck’s sake, mate her. ”
“You know why I can’t have a mate.” He growled. “Now, Nessa does too.”
Tank’s head swung toward him. “You told her about Sachi?” he asked incredulously.
Murphy nodded, looking down at the porch floor. “It was only fair to tell her everything. She didn’t understand why I was avoiding her. Because of you,” he bit out, “she thought I hated her.”
“You were a complete dick to her when you first met,” Tank said with a huff. “I doubt I convinced her of anything she didn’t already believe.”
Murphy frowned as his bear whined at the thought of Nessa thinking he hated her. “Regardless, we’ve agreed to be friends.”
This time, Tank turned fully toward him, practically drilling a hole into Murphy’s head with the force of his gaze. “Friends?” The skepticism was heavy in his voice.
Unable to help himself, Murphy grated out, “Best friends, actually.”
“And you agreed to that?” Tank snorted. “You don’t stand a chance of resisting Yapper Two.”
“Yapper Two?” He furrowed his brow. “What the hell is that about?”
Tank pointed toward his cabin. “Yapper One is sleeping upstairs.”
Murphy blinked at his brother, both shocked and annoyed. “Do you seriously call your mate a yapper?” He might be mad at Hunny, too, for going to Nessa about his issues, but she was his sister-in-law, damnit. He didn’t like anyone making fun of her.
“I call your mate one, too,” Tank muttered under his breath.
Pushing up to his feet, he shook his head.
“I’m going to warn you now, Murph. I tried the friendship route with Hunny.
It was stupid, and it only delayed the inevitable.
Whatever you’re planning with Nessa, you need to brace yourself for the only possible outcome. ”
Standing up, Murphy eyed his brother warily. “And what outcome is that?”
“You’ll never be just Nessa’s friend.” Tank grabbed Murphy’s shoulder, squeezing it in reassurance. “You’re her mate. Her true mate. And the more time you spend with her, the more those lines will blur until you can’t hold yourself back any longer.”
“It won’t be like that.” Murphy wanted to believe his own words, but after seeing Nessa last night, his first instinct had been to mark her. To make her his in every way possible, and the urge hadn’t left him.
“If you say so, brother,” Tank murmured, squeezing his shoulder again. Then he dropped his hand to his side. “If that’s all you wanted to talk about, get the hell out of here so I can go back to bed. It’s early as hell.”
With that, Murphy watched his brother venture back into his home. Back to his bed, where his pregnant mate waited for him.
Murphy’s bear lifted its head and released a long, dull roar of longing that echoed in his mind as he left the porch, heading to his SUV. Once it abated, all Murphy felt was his own loneliness creeping in.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Nessa exclaimed with a small whine, rushing through her house as her phone’s alarm blared loudly in her hand. Exhaustion lined every hurried step she took, her eyes bleary and her head foggy from the little sleep she’d actually gotten.
After she’d left Murphy’s house last night, it had taken her nearly an hour to get home, and then she’d been too wired to fall asleep. She’d tossed and turned most of the night, worried about whether throwing her friendship in his face was the right decision.
He hadn’t seemed interested, and given everything he’d told her about his past, she understood. The poor man had suffered a lot at the hands of someone he’d loved, so it made sense that he’d want nothing to do with someone fate had decided he needed.
She didn’t blame him for protecting himself from further heartache. She knew that kind of pain intimately, although their experiences were a bit different.
Nessa bit her lower lip in agitation. She still couldn’t believe that she’d confided some of her sordid past to Murphy.
She’d never spoken to anyone about it before, and even though she’d kept it vague, it was obvious what she’d meant; at least to her.
But after everything Murphy had shared with her, she’d felt compelled to divulge her own reasons for avoiding relationships.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t realized how much she’d actually craved a romantic partner until the chance was gone. Or maybe, subconsciously, she’d just yearned for the idea of being mated to him?
In her romance books, fated mates were so devoted to one another. They would never dream of beating their women or harming them. They kept them safe. Protected. They nurtured and worshiped them.
After everything she’d been through, it sounded perfect. Like a dream come true, even though the aspect of being in a relationship was still daunting.
Jason wasn’t like that with Hunny, though, a voice whispered in her head. He was an evil bastard—
Nessa pushed all thoughts of that man from her head, determined to have at least one day without suffering a panic attack or crippling anxiety.
She turned off her phone’s alarm as she hustled toward the front door, her tangled hair falling into her face.
With a huff, she tossed her phone onto the table in the entryway, running her fingers hurriedly through her strands in an attempt at professionalism.
It didn’t matter that she owned her own shop and technically set the hours; she still hated showing up late.
I really need to hire someone to help with the shop. Then she might actually get to enjoy sleeping in every so often. But hiring someone meant she’d have to deal with a stranger in her space, and she didn’t know if she could handle that.
Snatching her boots up from the floor, Nessa slid one on and then the next before bending down to lace them, her thoughts wandering back to Murphy.
Would he take her up on her offer? Not just to be friends, but to stop by if he was struggling? She hoped so, but given how he’d kept his distance over the past few months, she doubted it. Not to mention, he was proud and headstrong.
Straightening, she grabbed her jacket from the hall closet, slipping it onto her shoulders before plucking up her phone and purse from the end table and rushing to the front door. She ripped it open, all but throwing herself onto the porch as she whirled around to close the door behind her.
She was in such a rush; she didn’t even realize someone was at her doorstep until she careened into them, her back slamming into a hard body.
Letting out a small shriek of pure panic, she whipped back around, her fingers gripping the handle of her purse tightly as she swung it instinctively.