“It was his ex-girlfriend, actually,” I told Evan.

“What the fuck?” he snapped. “Why was she even there? And why the hell would he be dancing with his ex?”

I smiled. It felt good that Evan was angry for me.

And it made me realize I was angry, too. I had been so forgiving with Nolan about all this, trying to be patient. But there was a big part of it that was his fault.

He should have told me about the texts from Gina. He should have warned me about her.

“I don’t really want to go through the whole thing again,” I told Evan. “I was just telling Tina about it. It was a weird situation, and I think Nolan was trying to get her to leave, when she did the whole fainting thing.”

I realized that the doctor at the hospital did say Gina had a heart attack. But there was something fishy about the timing and how it happened. And when I looked at her, supposedly unconscious in Nolan’s arms, and saw that little smile twitch across her face…

“Yena,” Evan said very seriously, “are you alright?”

“I’m feeling a little better now.”

It was the truth. Talking to my family had quickly improved my mood.

“Good.” Evan let out a sigh. “Look, I know you say you and Nolan are in love…”

I felt my face turn red and was glad Evan couldn’t see me. I just had never talked with him about my and Nolan’s relationship before, and this conversation was starting to feel more intimate than I’d expected.

“But,” he continued, “I will kill him, Yena, if he ever hurts you.”

I thought, Suuuuure, and held back a laugh.

As if Evan could take on Nolan in a fight.

Nolan was at least eight inches taller than my brother, and had a hundred pounds of pure muscle on him. Not to mention Nolan’s… other abilities.

“Thank you Evan. It’s nice to know you’ve got my back.”

He paused, then said, “I miss you, Yena.”

“I miss you too. What have you been up to lately, by the way? It’s been so long.”

“Ah, nothing important.” He cleared his throat. “That reminds me, Mom told me about your plan to travel to the human world soon…”

“Yeah, that’s actually why she gave you the phone. I was about to ask you about it.”

“Are you going for sure?” he asked, sounding excited.

“I think so. I’m waiting on the school, but it sounds like I’ve got a good chance.”

“And… Nolan?” It sounded like my husband’s name was hard for Evan to say.

“He’s okay with it. Not really happy about it, but he said he’ll support me.”

Evan was quiet.

“So,” I continued, “are you interested in taking the trip with me out there? Tina said you might not mind helping me get there and get settled in.”

“Yeah. I would love to, but…”

“But what?”

“I was actually thinking that maybe I could stay there with you. Not just to help you move. I could find a job, something to do.”

“Really?” I hadn’t been expecting that.

“Of course. We would be worried about you Yena, if you went out there all alone. Especially considering how… high profile you are now.”

I gave the matter some thought. It definitely did sound less scary, going to live in a foreign country, if I had my brother there with me.

“Are you sure?” I had to ask him again.

“I’m sure.”

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s talk more about it later then.”

“When are you going to come back here to visit us?”

“I’ll come by soon. I miss you guys so much.”

“I miss you too, Yena.” Evan’s voice sounded heavy with emotion. It caught me off guard.

I was hearing a new maturity in him that I respected.

Maybe Evan had finally grown up. He wasn’t the brother that teased and picked on me anymore. He was someone I could really talk to.

Just then I heard familiar footsteps, and I looked up to find Nolan in the doorway. He had his hand on the door, like he’d been about to knock, but stopped when he saw I was on the phone.

“I gotta go,” I told Evan. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Alright,” he said. “I love you, Yena.”

I smiled and said, “I love you, too.”

Nolan walked over to the couch and sat down next to me.

“Tina?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I talked to Tina, and then also Evan. It’s been forever since I talked to him.”

Nolan got a strange look on his face. He was trying to hide and hold back some sort of strong emotion.

“You okay?” I asked him.

“Yeah.” Nolan looked away. It seemed like he was thinking hard about something.

He cleared his throat, then looked back to me. His face had reset to neutral.

“So that was Evan you just hung up with?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“And how is he?”

“Good.” I came very close to continuing on to tell Nolan about Evan’s plan to travel with me, and stay with me while I went to school. But something stopped me.

I was starting to get the feeling that Nolan was jealous of Evan.

That didn’t make much sense. Evan was my family – not his rival.

I considered that Evan did threaten to kill Nolan if he ever hurt me.

But that was just a thing big brothers say.

NOLAN

Nolan’s wolf had his heart pounding hard in his chest.

Kent was enraged.

But the prince kept himself composed.

Evan. The young wolf that wanted to be Nolan’s competition for Yena.

Memories of their encounter, the day Nolan picked Yena up from their family home to move her into the palace with him, started to flash through Nolan’s mind.

The way that boy wanted his little sister was pathetic. He followed Yena around like a puppy dog. Eyeing her body and practically drooling.

And Nolan walked into this room just in time to hear Yena telling him… that she loved him.

Back then, Nolan had felt completely in control. He had stood close to Evan, so the young wolf could see how much bigger and taller Nolan was than him. He’d taunted the boy as he took Yena away.

Nolan had felt completely in control then.

But now… everything was spiraling out of control.

He flashed on a quick vision of hitting Evan in the face. Knocking him out, sending him crashing to the floor with a single punch.

That would feel good.

But it would feel even better to fight Evan as wolf.

The little werewolf wouldn’t stand a chance against a Lycan.

Yena touched Nolan’s hand. It snapped him out of the murder fantasy, which had just started to get really bloody in Nolan’s mind’s eye.

He felt himself being taken over by the animal inside.

Yena looked concerned. She opened her mouth to speak again, but before she could, Nolan attacked her.

He pushed her down into the couch and threw all the cushions off to make enough room for him to get his body on top of her.

Yena let him throw her around. But she was looking up at him with a doubtful expression.

She was thinking about the morning. And how he had let her down in bed.

That wasn’t going to happen again.

Kent had Nolan’s blood boiling. He was full of anger. Desire.

And a bunch of other feelings that Nolan didn’t even have a name for.