Chapter 138

I pressed my lips closed tight and gulped down the saliva that was suddenly filling my mouth.

Nolan licked his own lips. And for a moment I thought the magnetic force that started pulling our bodies together was something that could not be stopped. I think both of us were trying to resist it, but the space between us was just getting smaller and smaller…

And then Evan’s voice came ringing out from behind me, saying, “Sorry to interrupt.”

I dropped my hand from Nolan’s chest and wheeled around to see my brother, sweaty from a workout, leaning against the doorway. He had his arms folded across his chest and was wearing a sweat-drenched sleeveless t-shirt. His biceps were red and actively bulging, freshly engorged from a heavy workout.

“It’s… Evan, right?” Nolan asked, smiling cordially. But I knew he was not happy to see Evan.

And for his part, Evan was not even trying to conceal his own displeasure. He nodded and said, “Nolan. Nice to see you.” The words were polite, but the tone was not.

“And you,” Nolan replied calmly.

“Evan, what’s up?” I asked, taking a few hasty steps in his direction.

“Can I talk to you a minute?” he asked in a half-whisper, his eyes firmly locked on mine.

I shook my head but said, “Okay… um, Nolan –” I turned to face him – “I’m so sorry, I’ll be right back.”

Evan walked fast ahead of me, past Tiny’s noisy, fragrant kitchen and into the den. “What are you doing, Yena?” he finally asked, wheeling around to face me once the door was closed behind us.

“What am I doing? What are you doing, Evan?”

“Stopping you from making a big mistake with that asshole. Yena, you can’t go back to him. Not after everything he’s done.”

“Wow.” My jaw dropped. “First of all, my relationship with Nolan is none of your business, Evan. You have no right –”

“Maybe it is my business, though, Yena. Or are you and I not about to go get on a plane and start a new life together, just the two of us? Am I supposed to stand by your side every day and not say anything when that guy shows up, trying to play you again?”

My wolf had already gotten riled up when I was with Nolan. Lily was already itching to take me over. And now she was ready to fight.

I was shaking with anger.

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that,” I told Evan, staring him down and barely resisting the urge to bare my clenched teeth.

“Yena.” His voice lowered. “I only want what’s best for you.”

“And you think you know better than I do, what’s best for me? You’re wrong about that. And one more thing. Don’t talk like that about Nolan again. I don’t want to hear it anymore.”

Evan tore away from my gaze. He crossed the room suddenly, threw the door open, and disappeared into the garage. I heard the heavy old garage door creaking its way up into the ceiling next, and then a struggling car engine turning over.

NOLAN

“I should probably get going,” Nolan said as Yena re-entered the dining room. “I feel like I’ve overstayed my welcome.”

“No. Stay, please, Nolan.” She walked over and took the blue jacket from him as he held it out to her. “I’m so sorry about Evan.”

“I don’t want to cause any trouble, Yena.” Nolan tried to read the expression on her face. Her big blue eyes were round. She looked… kind of guilty.

And Nolan already knew, the moment Evan appeared in the doorway, that something had changed since he’d last seen the two of them together. The energy between Yena and her brother was different than before.

It made Nolan sick to his stomach, imagining what might have happened.

They’d been living under the same roof for weeks now. Nolan never liked the idea. He despised it, in fact. But he never actually considered that Yena might take an interest in Evan.

Almost immediately he was picturing them together. It made his blood run hot with envy.

And he had been shifting more lately. He had to let his wolf run free almost every night now, to shake off some of the restless energy that plagued him if he just laid in bed alone… so Kent was stronger now than ever.

When Nolan heard the way Evan was speaking to Yena – demanding that she come to him, as if she belonged to him now…

It made Kent want to take the boy down. Nolan’s vision went red.

And he could smell that Evan wanted to fight him, too. But the coward would not meet Nolan’s eyes, after only once briefly glancing in his direction when offering a rather foul-toned greeting to the prince.

Something else the boy could be put in his place for.

But Nolan regained his composure while Evan and Yena were out of the room.

“He left, anyway,” Yena continued. “Please stay, just let me finish up the jacket. It’ll take five, ten minutes max. You could let Tina feed you in the meantime. It would honestly mean the world to her.”

Nolan put his hands up in surrender and let Yena lead him into the kitchen, where Tina did indeed make a tremendous fuss over the chance to serve him breakfast. Yena disappeared back into the dining room, where she’d set up her sewing machine on top of the coffee table.

“How do you like your eggs, my dear?” Tina asked Nolan with a warm smile as he took a seat at the kitchen table.

“On a plate.” He grinned at her and she chuckled.

“Oh, you’re easy, I see. Mm-hmm, makes sense. Big man, big appetite.”

“I really appreciate your hospitality, Tina. And, well, I hope I did not offend your son too badly with my being here.”

Tina shuffled over with a heaping plate of food. Pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs. “Don’t worry about Evan, dear. He’s… hmm. He’ll be just fine.”

The aromas of Tina’s foods were unlike those of the fancy, catered meals Nolan was used to eating at the palace. He took a bite of eggs and was surprised to hear himself make an audible Mmm sound without even realizing.

Tina had her back to Nolan, opening the oven to peek inside. She turned around, grinning, and let it slam closed. “You like?”

Nolan furrowed his brow. “How are these eggs so good?” he asked, spearing a forkful and looking at it quizzically.

“No big secret,” she said, taking a seat across from him at the table while loosening her apron strings. “I cook them in bacon grease.”

Nolan filled his mouth with more eggs, nodding deeply in approval.

Tina sighed, pulling off her apron and placing it on the tabletop in front of her. “It’s too bad you kids can’t work things out,” she said, her tone suddenly more serious than Nolan had ever heard in the woman’s voice before.

Nolan frowned, swallowing, then said, “Yes. It is.”

Tina reached out and placed her small hand on Nolan’s forearm. “Don’t let her go,” she whispered. And she opened her mouth to say more, but then suddenly Yena appeared in the doorway, and she froze.