And Then There Were Four by Lilith Carrie

Walking back into the suite we were staying in, I headed straight for my room. I didn’t want to see anyone, and the last thing I wanted to do was talk. My head was a swirling mess of confusion over what had happened.

“Ivy!” Damian’s voice called out as the sound of the front door opened. “Ivy??”

“Will you shut the f u c k up?” James snapped as the sound of his bedroom door opened.

“Where is she?” Damian replied, and as I sat in my room, I couldn’t help but sigh.

I had gone out to find Damian and Hale to bring them both home and, instead, I was met with chaos and heartache. Damian and Hale had both been in the arms of other women, and my heart clenched at the fact they didn’t seem to care for me.

As tears streamed down my face, I quickly wiped them away only to have my bedroom door thrown open, and Damian’s dark eyes staring down at me.

“Ivy, please let me explain—”

“No,” I snapped, shaking my head. “Your actions spoke louder than words, and I don’t think there is anything for you to say to change my mind.”

The s o b s I fought to hold back tore at me. I had given myself to him, and was falling in love with the idea of all of them being mine, and yet he did this to me.

“Stop it,” he growled. “You’re going to listen to me. That was all an act. I had to make her think things were okay with us so that I could find Hale. Otherwise, we would never have found them.”

Stunned by his confession, I couldn’t help but feel that there were things he was leaving out.

“Did you kiss her?” I asked him.

“What?” He was taken aback by my question, but at the same time, I had to know.

“Did. You. Kiss. Her?”

Laughter escaped him as he shook his head, “I don’t see how that is relevant.”

It was clear, though, that the answer to my question was yes. “So you did. Guess you will do anything to stay undercover then. Especially since you and she have a very close history.”

“Who the f u c k told you that?” he growled angrily. “Did James tell you that?”

“No, actually, he didn’t before you act s t p i d ,” I replied, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Then who?” Standing to my feet, I ignored his demand, and walked towards my doorway where he stood.

“Get out of my room, Damian,” I argued, holding myself together as I tried to close the door. Only to be stopped with his firm grip on the frame and a cold glare in his eyes.

“We’re not done talking.”

“Damian, perhaps you should listen to her. Tonight has been eventful enough.” Hale’s voice called out from just out of my sight, and pushing past Damian, I stepped into the hallway to see him standing there looking at me.

“You came?” I questioned, trying to understand why he had decided to leave.

Nodding, he sighed before bringing the bottle of whiskey to his lips. “Yep. Call it curiosity.”

Watching him, I could tell that the Hale I once knew was gone. No longer was the s e x y, happy man I had fallen for in my presence. But instead was a man who has grown cold.

“You don’t love me anymore, do you?” I asked softly, staring at him. I wasn’t sure what I hoped for, but it wasn’t a cold glance and a small laugh as he shook his head slightly, as if unsure on how to answer.

“It’s hard to love someone who was never really yours, isn’t it?”

The answer painfully tore at my heart, and not wanting to let them see me cry, I turned walking into my room, slamming the door behind me.

How could I have been so foolish to think that things would be different this time?

*****

Damian’s POV

Never did I want things to be this way.

The moment she had walked into the club, I knew I f u c k e d up thinking I could have things the way I wanted. Thinking that she wouldn’t come seek me out, because that was who Ivy was.

She was beautiful. The most beautiful woman in the room, and I broke her heart.

I didn’t need the matebond to tell me I had. What killed me the most was the look she had when she saw Hale. She had waited for days to find him, and her excitement was crushed when he acted as if she was nothing but a problem.

My wolf howled at me to punish him for hurting our mate.

“You f u c k i n g idiots,” James snapped as I stepped into the living room with Hale beside me.

“Watch your mouth, James,” I growled, “You have no idea the problem you caused.”

Laughter escaped his lips as he clenched his fists, “I caused? I didn’t f u c k i n g cheat on her.”

“Neither did I!” I sneered. Looking towards Hale, I watched as he took a seat on the sofa, softly laughing to himself. “What’s so funny?”

As his eyes met mine, he raised a brow. “The fact you two are fighting over a woman who doesn’t belong to us. The bond is broken, and you told us to move on Damian, so what are we doing here?”

His complete disregard for her angered me. I didn’t understand why he was acting the way he was because it was completely out of character for him.

“Because the bond wasn’t exactly broken. The bond is still there. She gets to choose whether she wants a normal life or she wants us as her mates. We were given a second chance.”

My words seemed to confuse him as he leaned forward on his knees shaking his head, “what are you talking about? That isn’t possible.”

“It’s true,” James finally spoke up. “That’s why I was able to mark her.”

“Why didn’t you mark her then, Damian?” Hale asked me, causing a deep breath to escape my lips as I ran my hand through my hair.

“Because I messed things up the first time, and I wanted all of you to mark her first before I did.”

My confession swirled in the air, and as Hale leaned back into the sofa once more, I could see he was contemplating what I told him. As if my words were believable, but then they weren’t.

“So after everything that happened, you expect me to forget the pain I went through, and act like we are one happy family again?” he questioned while glancing between James and I.

“I don’t expect you to do anything for me. I expect you to think of her. She gave up a normal life to be with us and even put off finishing school to come find you all since you took off. She loves you, and she didn’t break the bond. That was my fault.”

“You’re right!” Hale snapped. “It is your f u c k i n g fault, Damian.”

“I don’t need you acting like this. Just f u k i n g go see her,” I growled, trying to control myself. I had given my brothers too much leeway over the years to speak to me however they wanted, and I was growing tired of it.

“No,” Hale said flatly as he continued to drink. “I don’t think I will.”

James gasped at Hale’s remark, looking at him wide-eyed. “What? Why?”

“Because I don’t trust the bond the “goddess” supposedly bestowed upon us. I won’t allow myself to be hurt again by some woman. I tried once, and Ivy is everything that I want in a woman, but I won’t be a fool again.”

Selfish. That was all Hale was.

Turning on my feet, I stormed off towards the front door and slammed it behind me as I exited. I couldn’t believe we had come all this way for Hale to act this way.

Talon I expected it, but Hale… there was no way.

He was so scared and torn up about what had happened before that he couldn’t move past it to see the truth. In the end, Ivy was the one who would suffer for it.

The only thing giving me hope was that he came back to the suite with me. Perhaps there was a chance that he could change his perspective being around us. Perhaps there was a chance that he would come back to the states with us.

Only time would tell in the end. For now, I will try to keep my distance from him.