LUISA

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Five hours later, the doctor finally stepped out. “The surgery was successful. He’s stable now and should wake up any moment from now,” he said before disappearing down the hallway.

My breath shuddered out and my shoulders sagged. The guilt didn’t go away but it was manageable.

I turned to Trystan who leaned in the doorway, one shoulder pressed to the frame.

“Three years, and you never mentioned you had a brother.” My jaws clenched. “A twin brother.”

Trystan's eyes remained on his brother through the little rectangular glass. “It didn’t matter.” His jaw flexed.

Of course it didn’t. I never did. If I did matter he would have told me. If I did, he would never have rejected me.

When he rejected me, I didn’t feel my wolf, Tara, ripple like they described, but my heart burned. Burned just like now, as I watched him.

As I sagged against the wall, a thought slithered in my mind. What I had done was attempted murder, and it was still punishable by death.

A chill soaked up my insides.

I clutched at Trystan’s hand, and his eyes widened.

“You have to help me.” My insides coiled that I had to beg him, but I proceeded. My life was on the line.

“I didn’t want to shoot him. Or you. I just wanted to scare you.” My voice cracked. “Intercede for me, you’re his Alpha.”

Trystan dropped his chin to his chest. “I can’t,” he said, his gaze never reaching my eyes. “I’m not the Alpha.”

The words didn’t compute. Not in my head. “What?”

“I’m not the Alpha, Luisa,” he snapped, his tone bitter. He tipped his chin towards his brother in the room. “That’s Alpha Trystan.”

The words didn’t sink in. They just hung in the air like a humorless joke.

“My real name is Trevor,” he muttered.

A jolt gripped my heart. My palm itched to slap him, but I barely had the strength to breathe.

Three years.

For three years, I’d called him Trystan.

I’d given up everything—my family, my pack, my link to the moon goddess—all for a man whose name I didn’t truly know.

“Why did you lie to me?” My voice a ghost of a sound.

Trevor didn’t flinch. Didn’t answer. Just stared at his brother, his gaze like he was battling his own demons.

Something in me broke, but I didn’t get the time to mourn it, as I caught a movement from the glass. Alpha Trystan sitting upright, ripping the IV from his hand.

I swallowed. The monster. The Beast of the East. All those stories—those terrors. It wasn’t the man I had loved and dated, but the one I’d shot.

My skin prickled, and my legs moved. I burst through the door and threw myself into a bow.

“I’m sorry.” My voice ragged, desperate. “ I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to.”

The stranger, the mark, the gun—the explanation all tangled in my throat.

The bed groaned as he rose from his bed. His tall frame eclipsed over me, as he moved forward, swallowing the space between us.

Against my will, my eyes flicked, dragging over those striking familiar features. The same high-bridged nose. The same chiseled jaw. The same inky hair.

But the eyes.

They were different from Trevor’s. His eyes were lighter—colder. Like the stories I had heard.

“You didn’t mean to?” His voice was deeper than Trevor’s—rougher, huskier. But still there was this dangerous softness in the way he said it, a coil of warmth and menace wrapped together. “You used silver.”

My shoulders tightened. “I…I..” My words dissolved before they could form.

While my body froze beneath his stare, Tara didn’t.

She remained calm. Too calm. Like she’d known him all her life. Like she’d been waiting for him all this time.

Then the scent hit me. Wild. Sweet. Spicy. Coiling around my lungs.

Our eyes widened. It was like the air around had been struck by lightning. The scent deepened more and more, intoxicating me, sending currents up my spine.

Tara recognized him as my mate.

I’d had this strange mark on the right side of my rib cage for as long as I could remember—two spirals perfectly intertwining. It had always been there, meaningless.

Now it itched, but my hands wouldn’t move—not when the mate pull had locked me in place.

Then a hand gripped me, and yanked me out of that haze, pulling me back to his side. “She’s said she’s sorry,” Trevor said, his voice low. “Let’s go.”

Trystan was still staring at me—that same knowing gaze. His eyes flicked to where Trevor held my hand.

“She stays.” His voice held that unnerving calmness.

Trevor’s jaw ticked and his grip tightened. “She’s leaving.” His voice came out rougher.

Tristan’s eyes remained on Trevor’s and my hand. Like it was distasteful. “I’ll be the one to decide that.” His eyes flicked back to his brother.

Their eyes locked and the air between them felt like it might explode.

I stood, dwarfed between both men, the tension brewing with them made my skin throbbed with a gnawing heat.

Trevor smacked his forehead. “Why are you always butting into my business,” he gritted, a vein throbbing at his temple. “This is not your concern.”

“She almost killed me,” Trystan countered, “this is now my business.”

Scoffing, Trevor pulled me behind him.

Trystan stepped forward. Just a step. And it was enough. Enough to feel his presence on my skin.

“Let her speak for herself,” Trystan said, his eyes never leaving mine.

“Luisa, come with me.” Trevor’s voice cracked in a way that made my skin sizzle.

My heart ached, begging me to follow him out the door.

But when Trystan’s voice—low and commanding—rolled over me. “Stay.”

Tara snapped to attention, a shiver rippling through her.

Go.

Stay.

My heart, in sync with the strange mood, thudded anxiously, as if it was going to burst.