Page 53 of His to Defend

“I’ve screwed everything up.”

“Pretty much.”

Ryker glared at his cousin but after a moment asked, “So, what do I do?”

Luke laughed and rubbed his nose. “Oh, that’s an easy one. Stop running and man up.”

“What?” He jumped to his feet and paced a few steps away before turning. “That’s what I’m doing.”

“No.” Luke shook his head. “You’re running. We’ve been over this.”

“I’m leaving to protect her.” He stopped himself from saying more, because Ryker didn’t know how much Luke knew about what he’d done. “She deserves more than this. More than me.”

“Oh yeah?” Luke’s cocky grin was starting to really piss him off. “Do you know that?” He stood and crossed his arms in challenge. “Did you ask her? Or did you just take off?”

“You don’t understand, Luke. It’s not so simple. It’s not just…” Fuck it. There was no point keeping the secret any longer. “I mated with her,” he blurted. “Without telling her.” It killed him to say it aloud, but he needed to face it. A hundred times over if that’s what it took. Ryker swallowed hard. “She doesn’t even know what I am.”

Luke was silent for a moment. Ryker was sure his cousin would lose his temper the way his brother had. He’d rage, but at least then he’d understand why Ryker had to leave. Hell, he’d probably escort him off the ridge right away.

“I know.”

“I know I shouldn’t have—wait.” Ryker stared at him. But Luke only shrugged. “You know?”

He shrugged again. “Yup. Chloe told me.”

“Chloe knows?”

“All the women know.” Luke leaned forward on his knees. “And I suppose all the men know by now, too. We’re a close group. Besides, we already knew you guys were fated. That didn’t take a genius to figure out.”

“So you understand why I’m leaving.”

“Running.”

“No,” Ryker corrected him. “Leaving.”

Luke grabbed a rock and heaved it over the ridge into the valley below. “Can I ask you why?”

“Why I’m leaving?” Ryker joined him on the edge. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Not even a little bit.” Luke threw another rock before he turned to look at his cousin. “I mean, I get that you think you’re saving her from some sort of terrible life with a shifter and that since you broke the code, which you did, you have to punish yourself by denying your instincts and running away.”

Luke’s continual choice of words were starting to piss him off, but Ryker swallowed back his annoyance and focused on what he was saying.

“So, I get all that,” Luke said. “Especially since I’m pretty sure Liam had something to say about it.” Ryker raised an eyebrow, but Luke just chuckled. “We all saw Liam at the wedding,” he continued. “He didn’t stick around either, so I was pretty sure he had something to do with why you left, and when Chloe told me about Nina and the mark, well, let’s just say it wasn’t too hard to put it all together.”

“What does Liam have to do with anything?”

Luke laughed. “For a smart man, you’re pretty fucking stupid.”

Ryker growled and clenched his fists.

“Go ahead and hit me again,” Luke said between chuckles. “But you know it’s true. And letting your brother convince you to leave your mate…that’s pretty fucking stupid.”

Ryker relaxed his hands and kicked a rock, sending it flying over the edge of the cliff. “Fine,” he admitted. “Maybe I’m not making good choices. But Liam didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know.”

“That mating with a human was wrong? Even if it’s fated?”

Luke’s words hit him hard. He’d never said it out loud. “Yes. Mating with a human is wrong. Grandfather would—”