Chapter 76

Chapter 76

I put my hands on the porcelain sink. I had two days to figure out more than simply running away from the two people I cared about the most, and maybe it all started with her. Maybe if I could tell her the truth, it would give me enough courage to tell Derrick too.

I grasped her hands as I turned, her eyes wild with my rapid action.

"I need to tell you something tonight, after we close the store." Her gaze sharpened, her hands clenching around mine.

"If this is important, I'll tell every one of those goddamn wolves to get out of here right now." I shook my head, a small smile tugging on my lips.

I hoped it had been her who had found her mate; she would have made someone so happy—she wouldn't have ruined everything like I was going to do. I stepped past her to the kitchen again, taking an apron from the hook and putting it around my waist. She gazed at me like I was being ridiculous.

This was going to be the last time we'd be like this, squabbling and working together, and I was going to appreciate it.

"So the new girl?" I inclined my head to the woman who was working awkwardly behind the counter. "Have you talked her ear off yet?" Vera scoffed, thrusting at me with an endearing amount of annoyance.

"Well, if I didn't have to talk for the two of us, maybe I wouldn't talk so much." She rolled her eyes. "We're closing early tonight; don't argue with me." And then she was gone, walking back to the front of the store.

My heart felt heavy as I watched her throughout the day, the bond we had established dissolving before my eyes, but this was the only thing left for me to do—it was important to keep her safe even if she would hate me after it.

Keeping up with the abundance of customers kept my mind off my slide. The wolves of Derrick's pack sought every moment they could to watch me and to consume something manufactured from my hands. It was a lovely sensation to be wanted, but being the talk of the pack sucked when you weren't much of a people person.

When the sun started to drop in the late afternoon and I could hear Vera start to guide people out of the bakery, that was when the darkness inside of me arose again. My heart was beating in my ears as I wiped down the same counter for the one-hundredth time. The need for my partner and the ache for the truth were two excruciating sentiments coursing through me, yet this was it.

The quiet of clients, the shuffling of furniture, and I waiting for her to scream out my name.

A peculiar feeling overtook me while I waited; it tugged at me and tore—"Kylie, I think you need to come out here." Her voice was tight, and the peculiar feeling evolved into something frightening, the black tresses slamming directly into my gut.

Something was wrong.

My body moved without thinking as I hurried towards her voice, my powers prickling at my fingertips as I arrived at the front of the store.

I could feel the vibrations of Vera's panicked pulse rate, yet she glared at my brother with fierce contempt, her spine straight and her gaze lethal despite the fear that flowed through her.

Kyle was standing in front of her, his palm wrapped around the chain against her throat, the tiny wolf pendant squeezed between his forefinger and thumb. An incomprehensible look crossed his face as he glanced down at it, and then his attention fell on my best friend's face, his brows wrinkled in uncertainty and his eyes narrowing into something that looked like—

No.

It couldn't be—could it?

Well, I wasn't going to find out.

My power shot out of me in a blaze of light, the force shoving him to the other side of the room, giving me enough time to jump over the counter and get to Vera.

I pushed her behind me, my arms tightening around her waist as I used myself as her protection.

"What the fuck was that?" Vera said with disbelief.

My magic was a force to be reckoned with, and she had a front-row seat.

My blood was rushing through my head, and the panic of my discovery was a little lower on my priority list as she fumed at me. I had half expected her to pull away from my safety hold, but her grip on me intensified.

"You've gotten stronger." My brother said the strong burst of power I had sent at him was now dropping flat on my fingertips as he pulled away from it.

He didn't look anything like the last time I had seen him; the frightening face he was wearing was pulled back slightly, and the shadows he had hidden behind had unfurled. He was still a tremendous force of muscle, but now he appeared older, tired, and worn out.

My heartbeat was a dissonant sound. The last time I had seen him, he hadn't been alone, and he hadn't been friendly.

I turned my head furiously as my eyes examined the scene, looking for—"She doesn't know I'm here; you don't have to. I lifted my hand to him again, the untamed energy flaring like a lightning storm. He cringed at the sight of it, but this time it wasn't just my life on the line.

"Touch her again, and I'll throw you through that window." He wrinkled his brows before he let out a brief exhale through his nose.

"That magic you're harnessing right now can do more than throw me through a window, Kylie—be careful with it; I have no intentions of harming either of you." His attention flickered to the woman behind me, and suddenly my heart was thumping out of pace.

I observed him as he straightened his body, but he stayed where he was, taking note of my fragile feelings. I was one step away from breaking like glass, and he knew it, but what he knew about me wasn't important right now; the only thing that mattered was how I was going to get Vera out of here without her getting hurt.

"Magic?" She whimpered as my hold on her tightened; this wasn't the way she was supposed to find out.

"You don't get to call me that name; you lost that right the other day when you tried to kill me!" My whole body was trembling, and I was torn between two individuals.