Chapter 266: Chapter 265

Chapter 265 Mason “Asher!”

Quickly, | went over to my best friend where he stood on Quinn’s deck. Asher held a bottle of beer in one hand. He didn’t reach out his other to shake mine. | paused, my arm extended, and slowly drew it back against my body.

He looked pis sed, but when | tried to sense his deeper feelings, the layers and permutations of emotion, |

couldn't reach him.

“| didn’t see you before. Did you just get here?” | asked.

He nodded and tipped the bottle to his lips. He took a long drink, swallowing before finally answering in a distant, bored tone.

“Yep. Wasn't sure | was going to come, since my sister told me you were going to be here.”

S hit. This wasn’t going to be good. | took a deep breath, again tried to find a sense of his feelings, and got nothing.

“Why don’t we go somewhere to talk that’s more private?” | said with a jerk of my chin inside the house.

Asher’s lip curled, and | saw a flash of his wolf rise in his eyes. “Nah. I’m good. Go on and enjoy the party.”

“Dude,” | said roughly but keeping my voice low to keep people from overhearing. “Are you going to be an as shole about this?”

“Me? The as shole? That's rich.” He drained the bottle and tossed it with a clatter of glass into the nearby trash barrel. “F uck you, man.”

Asher spun on his heel and stalked away into the house. | went after him. He was climbing the stairs, but | caught up to him at the landing. He shoved off my arm from his sleeve and went into a spare bedroom. | shut the door behind us.

“Look,” | began. “I know | have some explaining “F uck, You,” Asher gritted out. “Explaining? You make it sound like you stepped on my toe when we were taking ballroom dance lessons. You f ucked off to Constantine, and you never f ucking came back!”

“I'm sorry” | tried to reach out to him through our mind link and found only a steel wall. | couldn’t tell if it was because he was blocking me, or if my new bond with Xander, Zane, and Lanie had broken the one I'd shared with Asher.

Tuck you, and f uck your sorry. You’re buddy-buddy down there with that arrogant pri ck Asher spat “That arrogant p rick is my brother”

“He’s the Alpha of the pack you should be running!

“Tm the Alpha, too Asher took a few steps away from me. Confusion filtered over his face. Then rage. “What?”

“Orion’s dead.”

“You did it?”

| shook my head. “No. It’s a long story.”

“I've got time,” Asher said in a tone so cold it raised the hair on the back of my neck. “So you’d better get talking, or I’m out of here.”

| went to the window overlooking the backyard, scanning it for sight of Lanie. She and Quinn were still sitting together on the rocker. Without turning around, | sketched out the confrontation with Orion, and how the vampire Malachi had killed him.

“And when he died, | got his Alpha powers.”

“And Xander lost them?”

“No.” | shook my head, turning at last. “We're both the Alpha.”

“That’s f ucked up. All of this is supremely f ucked up. But you should already know that.” Asher shook his head. His voice had gotten quieter, but his fury vibrated off him in waves.

I sent out a soft push of Alpha energy, intending to calm him. He recoiled. His hands went up, claws extending as his canines dropped.

He snarled. “Don’t you f ucking dare.”

| backed off. “I should’ve been in touch. But there’s been a lot of s hit going down, Asher. I’ve been ah fucking busy, okay?”

“Busy kissing Xander Constantine's as s, | guess? What happened to our plans? Everything we talked about? | guess that means s hit to you. | guess | mean s hit to you.”

Before | could stop him, Asher shoved past me and out the door. He pounded down the stairs, and | ran after him, taking the steps two at a time so | could catch him as he hurtled through the front door of Quinn’s house. | snagged his sleeve, but he yanked it away and kept going.

“| don’t want to fight you, man,” | growled, taking another swipe.

4 He was heading for his car. | lunged again, meaning to grab his sleeve, but my own claws were slightly out, and | tore the fabric.

Asher whirled, his wolf rippling his entire body. S hit, this was the last thing | wanted, but | could feel my own wolf rising, snapping and snarling He was going to change right there on his sister’s front lawn in front of everyone, and | was going to have to do the same to stop him from tearing out my throat.