You Will Be Mine (New Horizon Book 3)

Chapter 27: Gabe

I’m still in my bed and I don’t even know what time it is when I hear the front door slam downstairs. It’s either the stupidest intruder ever, or it’s someone who has a key. That basically narrows it down to Garrett or my parents, and since my parents never just barge in like that, I know it’s my brother.

But I’m not in the mood for any brotherly love, so I don’t make any move to get out of bed and go greet him. Of course, he doesn’t seem to be in the mood to take a hint either. I hear him pounding up the stairs next, and sigh when I realize he intends to force a confrontation.

I don’t mean an actual confrontation, but I realize when he rips the sheets away from me and starts pulling me up out of bed that he might be here for exactly that.

“What the hell, man?” I demand in protest, trying to wiggle out of his grasp.

But he’s mad, like really mad, angry enough that he’s coming at me with the strength of three men. Three werewolves even.

“Get up, you ass,” he growls at me.

“What’s got you all bent out of shape?”

He’s got me up now, on my feet, though I’m still just in my boxers. I turn to face him and see that he’s red with anger, glaring at me like I haven’t seen him since he found out about me and Gabby. And just like then, I have no idea why he’s here and what I could possibly have done to set him off like this.

“What did you do to Jeannie?” he demands, and I can tell by the way he’s clenching his fists that he’d better like my answer or one of those is coming for my face.

“Nothing,” I insist, holding up my hands in surrender. “I swear, I didn’t do anything to her. She just got upset is all.”

“People don’t just get upset. There are reasons,” he persists. “She won’t tell me what happened, but she was definitely crying, and I know it has to be you. It’s always you.”

“Oh, come on, that’s not even fair and you know it.”

“Fair? I’ll show you fair.”

And before I know it, there’s a fist coming right for my face. I manage to duck and spin out of the way, and I don’t want to fight him back because I know that whatever he’s upset about probably really does boil down to something I did, though not recently. He gets like this sometimes, and it can’t be helped. I stole his mate, intentional or not.

But what has me concerned is his mention of Jeannie. I need him to tell me what happened, but he’s apparently not interested in talking with anything but his fists at the moment. Which is why I should probably just let him have his way. He’ll get it out of his system, and then we can talk.

Once I maneuver us far enough away from the bed and most of the stuff in my room, I stop ducking and let his fist make contact. It hurts, just like I knew it would because my brother is no weakling, and it makes my head spin for a second. I’m surprised that it didn’t knock me out because I don’t think he’s holding back in the least this time.

I put my fists up to try to block some of the worst of it, occasionally letting a punch through if I feel like I can take it, and only making a half-hearted effort to fight back. He’s demanding it. Not fighting him back only seems to make him madder.

I don’t know why, but it occurs to me part of the way through that if I do become Alpha and he were ever to challenge me, I’m not confident I’d come out the victor. If there’s anyone who can go toe-to-toe with me, it’s him.

I finally get sloppy, and he manages to land a solid blow to the side of my head. I step back, disoriented, tripping over a table behind me and landing on my ass with a surprised “oof” as I hit the floor.

But fortunately for me, that seems to be the satisfaction he was looking for. He drops down beside me, as out of breath as I am, and I glance around to see that I far from succeeded at preventing damage to my belongings. We made quite a mess.

“I’ll get you some ice,” he offers, all emotion including rage now gone from his tone.

No apology either, but I wasn’t expecting one. Whatever it is he thinks I did, he also seems to think I deserve what I got, and I accept that. I probably do, even if I’m innocent this time.

“Nah don’t worry about it. I’d rather you tell me what’s going on with Jeannie,” I answer him. “Because I swear, I didn’t do anything. Not anything new, anyway. She found out about my, uh, poor conduct is all.”

Garrett leans his head back, closing his eyes and wincing as if that revelation causes him pain.

“You do understand that to someone like her, that’s a big deal. That’s not nothing,” he scolds me. “She just found out that she does in fact have one of those special werewolf mates just like she wanted, and he’s a slut. And not only that, but he’s too thick-skulled to see anything wrong with that.”

“No, that’s not true at all,” I argue, fighting back my irritation. “I mean the part about her being disappointed, yeah, and that’s partly why I was hoping she’d know me better when she found out we were mates, so she could have something good to hold onto and feel happy about. But the part about me not seeing the problem with it isn’t true. I do know it’s a problem, and I’m ashamed of myself. I even told her that. She as much as told me that I’m irredeemable anyway, and then she ran away to a tree and disappeared from sight.”

“And then she showed up on my porch this morning wanting to talk to me about it,” he reveals, which certainly gets my attention. “At least, I think so. I had my own thing going on, and we never really got around to it. I just know that by the end of the day, she was in tears, and I assumed it was your doing.”

He sounds both disappointed and frustrated about that, and I can’t help wondering if part of his anger is directed at himself. I’m not going to call him out on that though, but I am going to call him out on the important part.

“You spent the day with my mate and didn’t feel a need to tell me about it?” I grit out, holding back my own anger.

“Yeah, like you would have answered if I had,” he scoffs. “I tried calling you twice earlier, but nothing.”

Damn it. He’s right. I was deliberately ignoring his calls. I don’t remember any attempt to mind-link me, though, which I definitely would have tried in his shoes.

“What was your thing?” I ask him in a deliberate attempt to change the subject. Plus, I’m curious. I wasn’t aware of him having any plans today.

“None of your business,” he replies shortly.

“You just said that Jeannie spent the day with you, which makes it my business.”

“That’s none of your business either because it sounds like she isn’t interested in pursuing anything with you right now, so she can spend the day however she wants to. You don’t have any claim on her until she’s marked.”

“Well by that logic, you had no claim on Gabby either, and she was free to choose who to associate with, so all these years that you’ve been punishing me for it have been for nothing.”

I regret it as soon as it’s out, and I know I shouldn’t have said it, but there it is. And he’s getting under my skin with how he’s acting about Jeannie. I can’t help feeling like I wouldn’t even put it past him to try putting some moves on her or something. There’s no other reason why he’s being so close-lipped about it all.

“Screw you, Gabe,” he tells me bitterly. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Do I?” I challenge him, but he only scoffs and crosses his arms to glare at some random spot on my bedroom floor.

“I’m thinking of going over there in a bit to try again,” he says after a few moments of us both quietly battling the thoughts in our heads. “With Jeannie, I mean. Whatever is on her mind has her really upset, and I doubt she wants to talk to you about it.”

“I don’t want you alone with my mate,” I growl at him. “Just stay out of it. Simon is going back tonight, and she’ll probably talk to him again in the morning.”

“Yeah, good plan. Make her talk only when you can eavesdrop, like that’s not selfish or anything.”

I don’t care if that’s a valid point. I don’t want him alone with her anymore. For the first time in my life, I don’t trust him. I can’t figure out his motivations and he won’t even tell me what he was doing with her earlier.

“You stay away from her,” I demand, not caring anymore if it gets him worked up again. “If I’m not around, I don’t want you anywhere near her.”

“Yeah, we’ll see,” he grumbles, pushing himself up off the floor. “Look, you don’t own me, and you don’t own her. I’m not going to go seeking her out, but if she comes to me again, I’m also not turning her away. And I probably shouldn’t even bother giving you any advice because you don’t deserve my help and won’t listen anyway, but if you don’t want to push her away completely, you’d be wise not to try to control her. She’s had enough of that her whole life. Let her be an adult and make her own decisions for once. Prove to her that you’re not the guy she thinks you are.”

He doesn’t even wait for my response before he turns and starts walking away from me, calling out over his shoulder, “And you really should consider icing that face of yours.”

I hate to admit it, but that wasn’t bad advice. A small part of me is wondering if I shouldn’t let him talk to her, but I won’t because I don’t trust him to actually tell me what’s going on anyway. But he’s right about the proving myself part. I asked her how to show her I’ve changed, and she told me I can’t. She doesn’t believe that I have.

That means it’s on me to prove her wrong.